Let Me Go Before I Decay Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

My limbs stretch not, my spine stoops,
My joints bend not and my head droops;
My eyes spy not Nature’s species pry
My ears hear not the rumble in the sky

Horrid happenings around don’t make me bristle
Nor happiness in others makes me whistle
Pain that torments others stirs up no pangs
Hatred and envy open no fangs

Before my backbones bend and bow
And the spine stoops too low
To fall on my knees at dusk and dawn
To pray to remain agile like a fawn

Before I cease to know for good
What I am and what I do
Where I am and where to go
To reach my home to eat my food

Before my darling’s smiling face
Fades in my memory into a haze
And the heavenly place that witnessed our days
And nights together in peace doth efface

Before I turn into a statue living
With least emotion, bent and bowing
With a vacant mind and little thinking
And staring at scenes with little feeling

Before I need to be bathed in bed,
Smeared with scent from foot to head
And like a babe with spoonfuls fed
Left in unknown hands untended

Before love comes near disguised as hate
From none other than my intimate mate,
My distress aggravates and I curse my fate
And implore God to show Heaven’s gate



Before incontinence dribbles my spirits away
Keeping my bosom friends at bay
And alluring flies to have their way
Signifying the last stage: slow decay

Flowery and fruitful my life did I spend
Weary and worrisome may it not end
An old age, dependent and love starved in a haven
Is better spent in Heaven