POESY : TIME, THOU FRIEND AND FOE IN THE ALTERNATE PHASES OF LIFE

POESY : TIME, THOU FRIEND AND FOE IN THE ALTERNATE PHASES OF LIFE

At the beginning of life

Time is our greatest friend.

Towards the end

Time turns enemy.

Those that have discharged their duties well,

Who have thrown off the shackles of life thus,

They are ready for the Grand Departure.

For them the boat is waiting.

Those who idled away the allotted time

Pursuing pleasure and its sister pain,

They are caught off-guard in time

And are doomed to damming death.

They find no boat waiting for them

But must drown in the salt-sea of delusion.

To unknown terrain they perforce must travel,

Perchance fraught with fear.

Oblivion is their lot, is it?

Not so. For Nature is merciful

And recycles life here on earth.

They must visit, revisit the place

And carry on with their unfinished task,

The grand mission of self-fulfilment,

'Operation, liberation of the soul'.

A third way is open as well,

To live brave and to die brave,

Working for a mission.

Some worthwhile work,

Some selfless service

That caters to the common weal,

Some such labour of love as well

Can deal death the deathblow. 

Written by Sugata Bose