A Look-394 Poem by Smruti Ranjan Mohanty

A LOOK-394

Let me depart
when still alive,
alive to my fancies and passions,
to feelings that still find their way,
and priorities that are truly mine.

Not as one dead long since,
socialising with an unknown face,
languishing on a hospital bed,
breathing through life support,
a life prolonged, yet emptied within.

Let me leave with eyes wide open,
looking at the vast azure sky,
leaving my mortal remains
to mingle with their source—
like a breath dissolving into silence.

Unburdened, unnamed,
without a trace to defend or claim,
just a quiet returning
to what I have always been.

Let me depart
when still alive.

Smruti Ranjan Mohanty
India
19.4.2026
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