An Eighty Five Year Old Flower Wilted Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

An eighty five year old flower wilted

She was an angel
Loitering on the other side
Of our balcony
So aged enough to retire
She used to have attire
That will make any one admire

She always had nice things
To talk about and share
Well matching the mindset
Of younger people
Despite her having lived
Decades ahead of them

She was the most sought after female
In the complex
As she had solutions to most of the
Emotional family issues
And she reached out to people
Who, she felt, need her support

Her language is so sophisticated
Not normally expected
From a person of her age
And she never missed to attract children
With her picturesquely narrating incidents
And stories of the past

She was one of those
Rare still-husband-alive
Auspicious women
And hence it was always to the pleasure
Of the hosts
Organizing an propitious occasions
She graced such functions
With her polished presence

Her husband, a retired army man
Matched her well in looks and gait
He kept his audience in rapt attention
Being capable of convincingly addressing
All topics, politics, economics, and
Anything for that matter

The couple together was a delightful watch
As they induced confidence
In senior citizens of both genders

She lost her husband
A decade back
Her prominent presence
Slightly faded
But, she had her say
Both in family and community functions

She could not, any way, win back
Her original position
As the womenfolk
Started ignoring her as inauspicious
Being a widow

Despite falling sick repeatedly
She had her things to say
With number listening to her
Growing thinner and thinner

It was just a tumbling from the bed
That made her get admitted
In hospital for medical care
And it was only a night of struggle
She joined her husband
In their heavenly abode
And this
Eighty five year old flower wilted