Something I Look At-430 Poem by Smruti Ranjan Mohanty

SOMETHING I LOOK AT-430
BY-SMRUTI RANJAN MOHANTY

As you age
And walk along the shifting sands of time,
Life begins to move faster than you.
You get outpaced
And are forced to sit with the audience,
Watching someone else perform on the centre stage.

As time moves on,
You find yourself outdated.
A day comes when you realise
You are not only outpaced,
But also irrelevant.
You no longer identify with your own creation
Time makes you a foreigner in your own den.

You don't know
When you became unwanted.
You ask yourself, again and again,
But finally accept the truth:
Nobody wants you in the game.

You sit quietly,
Watching the drama unfold—
On that very stage
You once built
With your dreams,
Your sweat,
Your life.
Now it slips away,
Fading from view

Is it not wise to leave the game
Before someone asks you to?
Is it not prudent to step away from the centre stage
Before it steps away from you?

Somewhere, someone
Still finds comfort in your presence.
Be with them for whom you matter before you turn into a forgotten relic
In the very world you shaped
For the ones you loved.

Is it not wise
To find your own little space
Before becoming obsolete
In another's?

Smruti Ranjan Mohanty
India
23.6.2025
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