POEMS ABOUT AGEING

THE FINAL BURDEN

THE FINAL BURDEN

[The burden of old age]

As I near the biblical
Figure, four score and ten,
I know that now I must go,
But yet I don’t know when.

As I look back at my life,
I cry as well as smile.
For a while I’m comforted,
I feel a pain awhile.

I’ve seen many a summer,
And winters I have seen.
Through sunlit paths, as also,
Dark alleys I have been.

But now that I am fragile,
Sunshine scorches my skin.
Yet in the shade I shiver,
My age I just can’t win.

My movements are now painful,
My creaky joints are stiff.
My breath is now so labored,
I crave for just a whiff.

I thank you Lord, for all the
Kindness that you have shone.
But as I end my journey,
All of my strength is gone.

Though it is as You willed so,
My old age I do fear.
Please call me back unto you,
This burden I can’t bear.

M C Gupta
20 December 2005