Who Has Sent The Old Age? Poem by Narsinh Mehta

Who has sent the old age? I thought youth was here to stay!
Even threshold seems a mountain now,
Even the village outskirts seem remote like foreign lands to me.
The hair on my body has irreversibly grayed
Even the small pail is now the mighty Ganga for me!
Who has sent the old age? I thought my youth was here to stay!

Nobody asked for it, then how did it come? I never looked forward to it!
At my house, I am humiliated, 'Shove his cot in corner’ they say.
You may love laddoos in childhood, but in your decline
You perpetually crave for rabdi and relish sev!
Such are the burning vices of the ripe old age!
Who has sent the old age? I thought my youth was here to stay!

In morning, hunger torments my life,
And they say, ‘Well, he is not dying. Why doesn't he sit in one place?’
Who has sent the old age? I thought my youth was here to stay!

Many sons had I, today their wives are cursing me,
Sons-in-law have taken all of my daughters- see what is one’s plight in the old age!
Who has sent the old age? I thought youth was here to stay!

All of my nine nerves have now come away: my hour has finally arrived.
Women disparage me, children swear at me; such is the final moment!
My sons have at last arrived at the door:
Only to take the purse from my chest and go away!
Who has sent the old age? I thought my youth was here to stay!

How shameful is this old age! Hence, O cast away your vain pride!
Only because of pious ways,
Mehta Narsinh has made it beyond this world.
Who has sent the old age? I thought my youth was here to stay!