Life taking its new course all around,
but in this room, life coming to an end!
No stir except the sound of faint breathing,
strangled hoarse within her feeble throat.
Walking over to the bed, I took her fragile hand,
and stroked it mildly in slow rhythm,
Smoothed the soft fleecy hair, lying dishevelled
that remained once so neatly combed.
I watched life gently slipping away,
The inevitable end to an eventful play!
Breaking all bounds, memories cascaded out,
and the mind changed into a river in spate,
Fondly surveyed her features and the face,
with a foreboding of never getting another chance.
Looked into the heart that held within,
an ocean of love that ebbed and swelled.
Words struggled to fly out from my lips,
Words never, ever said,
but took for granted that she knew.
I sensed the dampness on my cheeks,
and a lump forming within my throat.
This woman taught me once for all,
I could do what ever I set my mind to,
Who with wings out spread stood hovering,
Over her chicks when eagles swooped down.
Exhorted to brave daringly ahead,
through the dank and dark corridors of life
chasing the glimmer of light,
at the threshold of a brighter world.
Insisted on not to beguile the just,
But hold on to truth always.
I stood silent, my gaze fixed on the limp figure,
Now resting calmly on a propped up bed,
Her dried up bosom heaving high and low,
I knew her breath slowly dying down.
With a strained belch, she turned her head sideways,
With a sudden flutter, her sealed eyes were opened ajar.
Her benevolent eyes fixed on my face for once,
Did a smile fleet across that pallid face?
Oh! The eyeballs suddenly turned upwards,
And her mouth, slightly opened to let out the breath
She went noiselessly with so much ease,
like a feather, falling gently on the ground.
Vacantly I watched a solitary loon flying west ward,
and beyond the horizon it disappeared like a mote.