What's good about growing older?

The days get more and more familiar

The nights get longer

The waves get louder

And the winds grow colder.


The growing discomfort stabs the chest.

The eyes always tired, command rest.

But this numbness never goes away.

This numbness, year on year, is here to stay.


The excitement for newness is walking out.

With a scarf around its neck, it turns around 

And I stare at it right in the face

And I ask if that's all it takes


To forget and leave everything behind

Like snapping your fingers and resetting your mind.

And it tells me in a seemingly bitter tone

That everyone is bound to end up alone.


What's good about growing older?


The fears get real

And the thoughts that appear

Sear through my chest like a blunt blade,

Forcibly, slowly, till the vision fades.


Life is either entangling or detangling before my eyes.

Trying to know which one it is, my time flies

Everyday, what is it that I should do to fight

The fastening of the clock, the darkness turning to light.


As I grow older, year by year

All I can see and hear

Are these empty wishes of joy and happiness.

Because what I really keep feeling is this lasting loneliness.


I blow the candles and I cut the cakes

I eat the food, however it tastes.

The friends are watching and the family too,

But why can't I feel happy when they sing happy birthday to you?


Every passing year, I wish for the same

For things to remain more or less unchanged. 

But the days keep turning warmer and hotter and colder

And so, I question again, what's so good about growing older?


- Priyanka Pal

Comments

  1. Nina6 February 2022 at 23:58

    Yes this is one thing most younger people are unaware of. Most of our parents and grandparents go through a lot of fear and anxiety as they start ageing quicker than ever and there comes a point where they almost cannot find much meaning in life. Lovely poem, well rhymed, covers all the questions that arise in the mind... Lovely work Priyanka! Thanks Hetu for publishing this :-)

    ReplyDelete

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