Ode To Life And Death, A Twain Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Flame flutters and tide wanes without reason,
Death drops shutters as life sinks in a pit,
Day looks dull when hind dark clouds hides the sun,
Night is moonless, no stars are still well-lit.

Life's throbbing breasts hide failing heart beneath
As if to mask a universal truth,
Unpalatable though, Death bares his teeth,
And when life dies all it dreams is of youth.

And man returns carrying no suitcase,
As life leaves amidst unfinished hopes hemmed,
As loveliest words get frozen on face,
O as rarest poems may die un-penned.

And as some life-long goals remain un-scored,
As one-sided love remains mute, wordless,
Life is set sailed to move across un-oared,
Towards a new life-term, sailing clueless,

As death comes two un-dotted times to dot,
To bring together two random journeys,
Sepulchral silence falls, church bells toll not,
The air thickens as if, freezes as breeze.

Frail like kid's paper boats life collapses,
A puddle's all it takes to soak and sink,
No world wind to tilt it to drown, just breeze,
The life when hastens to reach its last brink.

Yet, much maligned death, is no enemy
Of life— on a first-name term with many,
Pleased to walk with life till eternity,
For such largesse still he gets a penny!

To death, morrow may be the next moment,
His future tied on a tenuous thread,
He lives half-shut eyed, instant to instant,
And still the last goodbye is such a dread.

A twain between which a lot stays common:
Life lives fearing death, death of life unknown.
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Musings | 03.05.12 |
Topic: life, death