I saw Ajoba <br />Not keeping well, <br />Lying in bed <br />How long I can’t tell. <br /> <br />His final resting place was his home <br />In supine position that became his own <br />His confidence sapping <br />With signs of the inevitable end approaching <br />Like a rumbling earthquake, <br />His legs shaking <br />Nature was beckoning him <br />Back into her tender fold. <br /> <br />Then, on 29th March morn <br />He stopped talking to one and all <br />And refused to hear him anyone call <br />No more use of his arms or legs, <br />He stopped moving them altogether <br />His eyes fixed in a vacant stare <br />He had moved on to a world far and unknown. <br /> <br />For days I wondered where he had gone <br />What could he be doing there for long <br />Had he gone to meet his Maker <br />Who had kept him waiting for some reason? <br /> <br />Or was it that in the distant world, <br />He was engrossed <br />In listening to BBC news on radio? <br />Or lost in solving a crossword puzzle? <br /> <br />Or is he taking time to read The Economist? <br />Or talking to R. M. Naik of Rahuri on phone? <br />Or drafting a speech <br />For the Pusa Institute a hundred year old? <br /> <br />Or is he taking his morning tea <br />Or gone for a walk in a slow and unsteady stride? <br />Or is he re-united after six years with Aaji <br />And has decided to stay forever back? <br /> <br />None of these, I am told. <br />Having reached the fullness of life <br />He had said ‘Good Bye’ to everyone <br />And returned to Nature – <br />The mother of all creation. <br />Whence he came, <br />Thence he went.<br /><br />Aryaman Naik<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ajoba-grandpa/
