At Your Feet, My Dear! Poem by Raghurama Raju

I know, you are there waiting for me!
Mistaking everypasser- by for me!
But, dear! I am not keeping my word!
I do not come to see you as I promised!
Call me a liar, a vagabond, a worm in the gutter!
They do not hurt me because I love you -
I don't come because I am afraid
Your rosy skin may no longer be rosy now!
The firm muscles of the past may be hanging loose on your frame now!
Your lovely locks that vied with thedark clouds then may be fleecy now!
Beauty like many beautiful things in life
evaporateslike the scent of musk!
The moon, the breeze and even the trees -
belonging to our times are still young and beautiful!
Why only we need to obey time like the slaves of a savage king?
Sorry, dear! I do not come to see and spoil
the image I preserved long!
Parade before me like an angel in our imaginary garden!
Be there like a goddess in my mind ......
Never growing old, never becoming sick and never looking worried!
Let me be there, at your feet, like a priest
adoring his deityforever!