The Unlucky Ancestor Poem by Ruta Mohapatra

He looks out
From the deep hoary past
Three generations back
A tall handsome man
Felled at the peak of his life
By times unforgiving axe

The fruits of his hard labour
Wealth piled high like a mountain
Frittered away by wayward sons
Generations after him
Sliding down the social ladder
Like tears moving down his cheeks

He stands rooted there
Immobilized, robbed of all his glory
As the way moves ahead
As his story passes from lips to lips
As his grand and great grand children
Aspire to be like him