When I traverse by a lift, <br />want someone beside <br />since I am apprehensive <br />of lift's midway ceasing, <br />as I am claustrophobic. <br /> <br />When I ascend the multi-storeyed <br />I dare not look down, <br />my head reels, <br />I envisage a gravity fall <br />as I am acrophobic <br />and also basophobic. <br /> <br />13 was my lucky number <br />till I lost my father <br />on a fine 13th. <br />Since then my mind <br />cautions me of a bad omen <br />if some auspicious happening <br />is to launch on thirteen <br />as the syndrome of triskaidekaphobia <br />has stealthily set in. <br /> <br />I avoid visiting friends <br />where dogs are their pets, <br />fearing licks and bites of canines. <br />I heave a sigh of relief <br />when pets are fastened aside <br />proving that I'm a cynophobic. <br /> <br />Also when cats peep into my kitchen <br />sensing the odour of fish and milk, <br />I shrink to myself <br />at the sight of felines <br />and immediately realize <br />that I am an ailurophobic. <br /> <br />But a trip to a foreign land <br />when beckons me, <br />my mind becomes a hovercraft <br />and takes on an immediate cruise, <br />oblivious of all my phobias. <br />As I realize <br />a single phobia is yet to <br />take me over <br />' Xenophobia'-as the term appears.<br /><br />Swatimalya Chattopadhyay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/phobias-2/
