Smrutiranjan celebrates death in this poem, exclusively for Different Truths.

oh, my near and dear!
don’t stretch my life
beyond nature’s favour
when death is a certainty
why are you so reluctant
to accept the reality?
when hours and days are numbered
of what use adding a few more?

my body never listens to what i say
my mind is not with me, somewhere else
i am not the same i was
the battle is over, yet to fight the war
how long you will stretch my life and what for?
is a body having very little in it
going to serve you and your purpose anymore?

don’t drag me to the icu
i don’t want to languish in pain
waiting for a death so difficult to come by
i lived life to the full
let me live my last days as i wish
with all that i loved and lived with
in open air and bright sunlight
let me take my last breath
in the midst of kith and kin
take the last few steps
slowly and silently and feel the moment
that stands between life and death

don’t put me on a ventilator
i never want to lie motionless
enduring all the pain that comes my way
silently suffering with none of my friends
hands and legs, eyes and ears to stand by

imagine life on life supports
how horrible it is with organs after organs
failing leaving me to witness my trusted friends dying one by one making me the sole survivor to endure the pain and agony
with a few drops of tears oozing out of my eyes

my dear!
death is a peaceful transition from
one state of consciousness to another
our ignorance, desire and attempt to stretch it make it unnatural,
unbearable, sad and pathetic.
if you love me, let me die as such
with the cool breeze and bright sunshine drenching the whole of me
let me bid farewell
to my beautiful world where i was loved and betrayed, smiled and cried, lived the whole of my life in hope and despair

©Smrutiranjan Mohanty

 Photo from the Internet