At Fifty Four Poem by Saroj Padhi

At fifty four
Dreams hardly endure
Under facts' hard hammer;
Butterflies lose colour
And faint in the heat of perplexities galore;
Emotions ache
Inside dried up joints of a fragile body;
Feelings sink deeper
Into inner rivers of heart
In search of a silent sea;
And sentiments grow louder than before.
A wearied mind wanders on body of wreckage
Trying to gather bits of values
And draw all around closer,
As love's voices grow fainter than ever.
Past is an acquaintance now
Facing me on special occasions;
Present, a friend without inhibitions;
And a companion of illusions is my future -
All carrying me farther from things and beings
Without any decipherable grammar.