Afro- Asian Poem

How long can one man's lifetime last?
In the end we return to formlessness.
I think of you waiting to die
A thousand things can cause me distress

Your kind old mother's still alive
Your only daughter's only ten.
In the vast chilly wilderness
I hear the sounds of weeping men.

Clouds float into a great expanse
Birds fly but do not sing in flight
how lonely are the travelers
even the sun shines cold and white

Alas, when you still lived, and asked
to study non- rebirth with me,
My exhortation were delayed
And so the end came, fruitlessly

All your old friend have brought you gifts
but for your life these too are late
I've failed you in more ways than one.
Weeping, i walk back to my gate.


BY: VIKRAM SETH