Spare me

Spare me the agony
Of vain arguments
that masquerade as wisdom
--the stacked single row of cementless skyscraper bricks
that fail to see the sky behind
Or the earth below.
The themandusness reinforced by its own shadows
The shallow echoes that sport
the tribal headgear of scholarship
shared in places where no child smiles
The sharp-edged weapons
of ancient ideas and laboured footnotes
living in memories oblivious to the morning sun
Spare me.

(c) N.Madhavan, 2014