To Live Before I Leave Poem by mohanan viswambharan Nair

I don't want to grow old and leave the world
without having enjoyed and lived to the fullest.
I long to walk once more along the narrow path,
among the paddy fields, beside the brooks,
from their gentle source to where they end.

I want to wake with birds in the early morning,
chirping, singing, playing and resting still
on the guava tree in the backyard hush,
where the saplings stretch and grow,
Where the butterflies float kissing each flower.

I want to play hide and seek with my dearest
in the dark corner of the old vacant hut
to kiss her, hug her and talk to her in silence
while a snake crawls past our bare young feet.
hissing, as if to swear it hadn't seen anything,

Together, we see the sunbeams slip
through the broken thatches.
On monsoon days, dark clouds drift
across the wide and open sky,
thunderbolts dancing in their midst.

We watched them awed and silent,
I have lost the most beautiful days,
lived with father, mother, sisters and brothers
Yet still, it feels like yesterday -
a warm memory that never fades,

I wander over them like a slow wind again.
Though I know there is no return
to lost childhood, Youthful days,
I am reluctant to leave here just yet-
to leave the greens of everything.

Here I stand on the threshold of the old age
knowing the life's gentle truth:
returning to childhood is impossible,
I'll live the rest of life as it comes,
for life is to be lived, not merely recalled.



Mohanan V Nair