| Death does not come when you call him However much you call, He never comes : He comes only at his appointed hour - Playing hide-and-seek just biding His time Comes Death one day all of a sudden ! When you are lying alone in your bed of rags, Flies on your face, blood in your nostrils, Knees full of pus, boils on your buttocks With nobody nearby just to say "Ah Dear !" With no strength left to even vomit a thing out And with eyes full of tears mixed with pain You cry out loud - Death ! Death ! O Death ! Can't bear it any more Oh take me away Death !! But never comes Death ! When you are sitting alone in the middle of the night Under the village banyan tree wrapt in a blanket Looking at your younger brother's funeral pyre : In the burning embers you see your wife's dead face - Remember your playmates, school-friends, dead face You cry out loud pressing your aching heart to your chest Friends gone, kin gone, daughter gone to her in-laws : Why do you O Lord still keep me in this world ! You wish, if only could just now come Death !! Never comes death ! When you are relaxing supine on your bed Pressing the radio close, listening to cricket : India versus Pakistan - final match, Just ten runs to win, and another wicket : Your daughter comes near and breaks the news Son-in-law's promotion - ah what a good news, Playing in her lap your four month old grand-son in his soft pink little fingers fondles your beard : "Oh dear one ! my diamond one ! my golden one, my little one ! Ummhh.... let my remaining years all be yours O Lovely One.... !" you softly kiss your grandson's forehead - Just four runs to win : Then comes Death ! |
| HOUR OF COMING |