Sanjukta’s poem, exclusively for DifferentTruths, delves into the enigmatic nature of decay, highlighting the inescapable decline of life’s relentless pace.

It wasn’t decay
When the milk tooth
Tumbled out
A set of new teeth
Appeared at lightning speed

Was it decay
When power glasses
Were fitted on the perfect eyes
That looked perfect
But saw so little

Then decay went unnoticed
None noticed the slow and steady
Footfall entering through the pores
Till one day as the tireless tearing hurry
To complete chores inside and outside the home
Receded as the relentless march
Of chronology went on

The moisture dried
The fast pace slackened
Knees creaked
Eyes blurred
Fatigue fattened
Indolence urges

Hair changed colour
The FALL began
Not just hair
But falling down
Anytime, anywhere

The heart was attacked
The brain was stroked
Not a love touch
Trickling blood

Devastated all the motors
Speech became speechless

Diastolic, systolic beats
An orchestra within the womb
And systematic outside
Jolted, jerked
Panic and pressure
Sugar to be measured
There was no other way

Decay declared itself
The winner
Till the Phoenix rose again.

Picture design, Anumita Roy

Dr Sanjukta Dasgupta

Dr Sanjukta Dasgupta is a poet, short story writer, critic, and translator. She was a General Council of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, member and the Convenor English Advisory Board Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. She is the President of the Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library, Kolkata and has twenty-six published books. Her poems have been translated into German, Serbian, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Kashmiri, and Tamil.

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