Worthless Life

Worthless Life
P K Routray

A flooded river to cross,
a saint took a boat to go across.
The journey was long,
The boat man was rowing, singing a song,
To mitigate his pain of labor,
and to turn his toil from monotony to pleasure.

The saint felt pity on the poor boat man,
He wanted to help him to have peace in his life span.
The saint had studied many a scripture,
On many philosophies he thought he was a master.
He asked the boat man,
“ Do you know God and his domain,
Do you know where were you before your birth?
Where will you go after the death?
.
Have you read the Vedas and Koran,
Bible, Guru Granth Saheb and Buddha’s nirvana?”
The boat man’s song got interrupted,
He answered “I am illiterate,.
I donor know your God but I know this river,
I learnt how to swim and row from my ancestor.
From childhood I earn my bread from this river,
I am only a boat driver.”
The saint took a sigh with a long breathe to express his grief,
“You are unfortunate, as your life is not living worthy to my belief..
Your life is valueless and a life as good as dead,”
With all sympathy for the boat man the saint said.
The boat man humbly asked “Swimming do you know?,
To this the saint told a proud “No”.
The boat man told “The boat is sinking, I am going,
You pray your god and meditate with your scriptures to save you from dying”.