In The Evening Of Life Poem by JIBAN GOSWAMI

In the twilight of life as I loll on my rocking chair
My eyes look but do not see all that's around me
I ride piggy back on memory's fragments
To times gone past and lost forever.
Lullabies wafting in the evening air evoke mother's scent
I have sought that scent in every woman
Love possibly smells always like that.

Strains of music escaping mind's debris
Chase me like willow-o-wisps
evoke elation without any apparent reason
the triggering event a blur in past's detritus.

Familiar smells rap on memory's doors
unable to open leap over them
hazy memories play hide and seek
trying to restore bygone bliss.

Passion's blazes are now dying embers
I can still smell their heady fumes.
Once they blinded sanity and prudence
I traded them for fleeting glimpse into paradise's portals.

I close my eyes and there I am
walking on lonely trails going nowhere
in deep dark forests
with mystery in every nook
Chirps of cicadas drowning cooing of birds
Scent of grass riding pollens of wild blooms,
Gurgling streams sing paeans to freedom
Mossy soil waits sun's warm attention
They all come in rushes and tiptoes
As I loll and rock in the evening's glows.

Children's laughter balance mourners' wails
Glitter of opulence match poverty's stench
Darkness of clouds bring peacock's plumes
Irrevocable Karma splashes life's canvas
In diverse hues of preordained colours.

I resign to the futility of shedding tears
Against karmic justice spread over endless rebirths
The life I see is only a hiatus
In time's endless continuum
An act in a long-drawn play
other acts are yet to be played
before Karmic fairness be grasped.

I'll keep doing what's left undone
Taking pleasure in doing them well
Relishing life's gifts as they come
They are unique and meant for me
My life is special and I'd live it the way I want
Future holds dawns biding time
they can only bolster my resolve
to make the best
Of the time I have
to leave behind as I depart
A soul better than the one I got at birth.
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(Guwahati 2nd August 2014)