An Ode To Life (Of Beginnings and Closures)

Everyone and everything is a story

Not allegories, but stories

Stories of joy, stories of pain

Stories of losses and of gain

Each day, a new leaf to turn over

Of beginnings and of closures

We look to create our own tale

Like those never ending rails

One fine morn, I had the writer’s block

Out of ideas, nothing to concoct

I sat idle gazing at the horizon beyond

Waiting for the pen and my imagination to yet again bond

And there I saw, a puppy running brisk

Away from this world’s complexities and its tryst

And on it ran towards the end of the road

Into the comfort of its mother’s cote

Their love makes me believe

Believe in a happy life full of joy

Far from sorrows I now relieve

And one I’ll always enjoy

Near the pup, I see an elderly man on a rickshaw

Toiling for his hard earned bread every day

And as he fits into this life’s jigsaw

The complexities of existence eludes me, I say

For he is at an age to finally rest his soul

The time to relax and marvel at the life he’s lived

And yet, on and on he toils still for the day’s goal

Isn’t this so torn and ripped?

Curious for my soul is, I walk towards him

“You are so old, and yet you work

At an age where you have lost all your dirth

Don’t you have someone to take care of you

A son or a nephew?”

With a wry smile on his wrinkled face, he says,

“Son, my family went astray when I sent my son to work away

In some land far away

He sent us money whenever he could

Until one day, his soul was stay put.

Fire took my son, my life.

And in his breath resided my wife’s

When she heard of his sudden demise

Her eyes couldn’t muster to cry

A week later, the mother of my child

Bids me adieu, bids me goodbye

And here I am, in solitude

Living the little life I have in quietude

And then one day, I find this job

Of dropping children from their home to schools

In their giggle and in their sob

My heart rejoices for time minuscule

In their eyes, I search for my son,

And in their mother’s caress, my wife

Thus is my existence, always on the run

Run until the end of my life”

I stand there, appalled

In awe of this man’s strength

Under the sun burning like scald

With emotions ever so intense

I run inside to gather some stuff

Clothes, brand new, cash, and some food

For I never could fathom life to be this tough

And that I can also do something good

As I give him all this kind,

He is reluctant at first, and then his eyes swell

Swell with tears of love and happiness combined

Ink to life’s ultimate quill

That man, now long gone

Is one of those few born

With all my worldly possessions, have made me feel torn

Torn by true happiness that they adorn

As I sit here, with my writer’s block

Out of ideas, nothing to concoct

I feel like my emotions, unlocked

For, graceful water can also tear down a rock

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TOS

Also on my Wordpress Blog: https://theoccasionalscribbler.wordpress.com/2017/06/15/of-beginnings-and-closures/