Oh Lord! I am jealous.

Oh, Lord! I am jealous

P K Routray

At their twilight days of leisure

in the evening senior citizens gather together

generally in a park close to their residences

to gossip from mole to mountain sharing umpteenth time the experiences.

One afternoon I was alone in that senior citizens corner

waiting for friends to join to shape our evening course further.

I saw a child of around three years old on a tricycle

speeding it at his best with spirit and joy at its pinnacle

I got lost in the child with my mother behind me

I had no fear, no worry as all powerful was she.

With no past to recall and reflect no future to apprehend

what a celestial joy it was the time in him I could spend!

Forgot I that those days were long over and hard to remember

suffer I now from many a disease living on medicine countless in number.

Spirit, strength and stamina have waned and I am not going to gain

Long lost are these days in this life it would never come again.

I came back to real self at a friend’s call greeting me

Hey child! Let Lord bless you, save you as to you I do envy.