In the ladder of life, I climb, one rung at a time, when birthday arrives
Friends and well-wishers come and party begins with candles blown.
Gifts and parties, a gala affair, or one intimate dinner and joyful I smile.
Lights go dim and silence permeates, I reflect: where the time has gone.
Memories left to recall. Some sweet, others best-forgotten but cannot.

Youth came and went, like the fragrance of the mid --summer night's breeze.
Here a moment ago, then gone, like a fleeting thought or a pleasant dream.
With the blink of an eye, cosmic Vishnu appears and flips the time, says the sage.
Beware of advancing age and degrading of this cellular body; a life is spent and yet,
I pretend-Things are not what they seem; I have endless life; I drank the elixir of youth.