His eyesight failed him, <br />But in his soldier's hands, <br />Still held like a sword, <br />Was the mirror of couplets. <br /> <br />By every post came <br />Friends' verses to correct, <br />But his rosary-chain <br />Was a string of debts. <br /> <br />[From: Both Sides of the Sky] (anthology ed. by Eunice de Souza)<br /><br />Arvind Krishna Mehrotra<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mirza-ghalib-in-old-age/
