THE SWING OF LIFE

             The Swing Of Life

                I've been delighted at the sight
                        Of berries in thickets,
              And splashed water at the lasses
                 At brooks, streams, and inlets;
       With wildness I have played up and down
                     The bubbly laps of rocks,
         And pull'd the roots across the swamps
                     For swinging over crocs.

           I've drunk love notes of birds across
                   Riverine planes and hedges
        And chased down fowls and flies among
                   Blue bells and reeds and roses;

     Bathed in boundless raptures, rock'd have I
                 With brandies, and soft drinks,
           And carried along each day and night
                On round and round my swings.

         From bestriding the big cats and bisons
                     To sailing down the creeks,
                  From frolicking at cascades to 
                     Beholding from the peaks;
                Dictated have I, predated have I
                         By grit, by my conceit.
                  Many a promise have I made
                    To break through the limit.

                All o'er the land, the sky, the sea,
                     Like the Ruler of The Three,
                 I've look'd down upon others --
                       Entirely all and sundry;
              The time of present never moves
                      And death will never be;
                 And, so, no heed to the future,
                          I have glorified me...

               Today, admit do I, I stood before
                          A mirror and beheld;
                    A phantom, what I truly saw,
                   And asked, in shake of dread,
              If that was really me; fake although,
                        The reply betray'd "No":
              How fast the life did flee! And how
                       Much long will I still go?

                                  ©️ N P Samal