Here I Hang My Boots Poem by Ravi Upadhye

Here I am, calling it a day before time,
The world ridicules me for I quit before the final chime,

To me its been a long haul,
The glory, the agony, the elation and celebration -I have seen it all,

They say you could have waited lil longer,
It would have made you financially stronger,

It was all readily laid out for you on a platter
Poor them, they know not -to me it does not matter,


More than you, I owe it to myself, my sweet better half and to all
those who stood by me,
In your need of the hour, they did not hinder me,

I ignored the little ones when they wanted me most
For-I thought, I owed it to and you would raise a toast

Yes! Indeed you did it occasionally albeit annually,
By segmenting my existence, year by year,

I am not complaining,
Thats the way world thinks,
Now I want to break it cos I am not a cat with nine lives,

After a long time I want to write with a pen and not the keyboard,
Pour my heart out touching the inner chords of souls travelling on
a lonely road,

Correlating and feeling one with their pains and travails,
Singing to them songs that inspire and in their praise,

I would watch the sunset and sunrise every day
Feeling the soothing breeze wafting over a moonlit bay

Or just sit by the side of my dear one
Remembering every moment of our life which till now belonged to strange someone

I would spend time watching my granddaughter play,
Bringing back tenderness, innocence and youth inadvertantly flung far away,

I pray God to help me keep my smile and youthful disposition intact,
So when He knocks at my door, I open it with courage, anticipation and
as a matter of fact