I’m a silent listener,
I listen but I don’t react,
Unless if I have to,
And when I do it’s for the good.
I’m also a good observer,
I laugh along with you,
When you think,
You’ve fooled me.
I’m like a shadow,
Dark and gloomy,
But again, I’m part of you,
And you’re a part of me.
I’m like a bridge,
That connects you to another,
An open door,
That leads you from one room to another.
Unfortunately,
And not surprisingly,
I can also be a broken bridge,
Which disconnects you from another.
Many fuss about me,
Many are yet confused,
Many still fear me,
But I’m the inevitable.
How I came about?
I know not,
I’ve been here,
Since the beginning of creation.
I was there during the time of Adam,
Silently stared as he ate the apple,
I was also there during the time of Jesus,
Long before the invention of pictures.
I witnessed the rise of Rome,
And the fall of Hitler,
I witnessed the Holocaust,
And the killing of the Tzars.
I was there when Lennon got shot,
During Luther’s death,
And during the Gulf War,
And still I am here today, what an awe.
You can consider me a foe,
A dreaded stranger,
We have met before,
But you don’t remember,
I am Time,
I’m the ultimatum to Life,
The bringer of Change,
As well as a giver of Hope.
You fear me,
And I don’t blame you,
I’m someone you can’t see,
Even if you try to.
As I say again,
I’m a stranger,
You know me not well,
But I know you swell.
Who am I you may ask?
I would smile and say, “I’m Death,
And now,
Now your time has come”.
I think Life is a poetry of sorts. So if you put it in that context, I feel, Death too is a form of poetry. What is even more fascinating is that I feel, before one dies, Death actually comes to you like a long lost friend, embraces you, recites to you this poetry and then just as you’re shock and surprised just as I am, he takes you away from Illusion to Reality. In the end, we can only believe in one thing and only in one thing which is real and true, Death.
-Sukhbir Cheema, 3rd March 2011