Juxtaposed - Growing Years And Declining Age. Poem by Om Chawla

Toddling years of early life,
Laying hold of what it finds
Making sense of surroundings.
Uninitiated in guile and deception,
Trusty credulous without inhibition,
Comes the youthful impetuous phase;
Of infectious charm and winsome grace.
Defiant and in relentless pursuit
Of dreams utopian
Of tempestuous passions,
Of jealous possessions
Of love's sweet and lingering impression
A surge in life
An urge for life
Everlasting dream of buoyant life.

Hour after hour, day after day
Being withers in gradual decay,
Furrows emerging on an emotionless face,
Timorous, insipid and fragile,
Infirm hands, loose in grip
Leaning in support of walking stick,
Skewed eyes struggling in their gaze,
Vainly trying to look through haze.
Shrivelled wrap over dangling skeleton
Lonesome, deserted or abandoned
Struggling to be
Or a wait for ceasing to be.
Life a boon or a curse
Juxtaposed facets of human life.