A Grey Lock of Hair

Shattered, Shaken and Sudden

Stormed by an inconsolable silence

Two heavy hearts stunned at an inevitable occurrence

On the way to granny's funeral,

A grey lock of hair caught my eye

That of my father sitting beside me,

And a strange tremor passed through me,

I was hit by a pensive thought:

The day life takes a drastic turn,

Of the very destiny that we fear

Of the loss we tremble

Of the age when I will be all alone,

Though my past landscape would remain the same,

Death  would take us all;

devoid of the lively happy times,

The question that crosses my mind

why does life anyway come to a close?

And memories cast an awfully long shadow,

“death can’t defeat me”, said I as a child

“I will be his friend, playing in the forests wild!”

But that day my hands were chilly,

I held my father’s hand unexpectedly,

Who was preoccupied in sleep,

Life is a long journey,

But getting over its end ,is even longer ;

Isn’t it true my dear reader?

That

The filthy race of stumbling each other inferior,

the war for power,

Is so futile and transient,

I know not ,

why is this grey a constant reminder of the end?”

      

Because Death knows no smiles and frowns

No childhood nor friendships, 

Riches give us solace that is so fake..

Nobody is elevated  in death

Then why bicker about the wealth-ridden cart?

Says the battle I wage to my heart

For we are all scared

Of the dawn of that grey lock in our lives.

~ Rini Barman