Our Life And Our Dreams Poem by Mayank Sharma, manipal

The birth of a child-a miracle of nature,
The world prays for them to grow big in stature;
Provided with the best possible within the means,
On a foundation of high hopes now his future leans;
The childhood teaches him the songs of joy,
Welcomes now the terrifying books replacing every toy;
The body then grows up and mind confused,
Nobody seems to be nice and not at all amused;
The kid is then forced into a race,
The tough world that he’s got to face;
Without knowing what you’re good at most,
Education and pressure start scaring like a ghost;
And comes then the wonderful time called college,
No more of rules and no more healthy porridge;
And like all the good this comes to an end,
A supportive hand nobody’s ready to lend;
The closest are tense about the future’s will,
A situation shouldn't arise for survival that you’ll kill;
Somehow himself he lands him a job,
The parents are happy he didn’t join the mob;
The search for a life-partner begins with a boom,
Supporting a family puts his wallet in gloom;
Then he turns into a being the parent,
The thoughts build castles in future instead of present;
Repeats the same old mistake as his dad,
To straighten the kids he shows that he’s mad;
Puts his kids into the same race track,
But memories of his teenage never seem to come back;
He learns to work and works to earn,
So his kids go to college and stuff do they learn;
The kids get on the same old life story,
Towards the same goals- job, family, money and glory;
Working all life to retire in peace,
Working so he can pay the kids’ college fees;
Then retirement brings on the next stage of life,
Diseases surround him and his beloved wife;
Towards his death bed now he slowly walks,
No more can he hear what the next guy talks;
Living on pills think how he feels,
In constant pain he nowadays reels;
The question of achievement suddenly strikes his mind,
With none of them his life seems to unwind;
The dreams that he used to have as a child,
To fly up high or discover the wild;
Had all of them faded into the hands of this life,
To support his family – his kids and wife;
And then he waits for death to strike,
The idea of death he suddenly seems to like;
He did not fly – he did not hike,
Never could he take out his mountain bike;
In the rat race he’s lost all dreams,
Barely for existence has he lost all his means?
Then perishes this man with the passage of time,
Now think of living after reading this rhyme;
The world is big and the time is short,
For everything is money- you’ll realise it’s not;
Do you want to die with such thoughts in your head?
Without having lived you’ll die in bed;
So take my word- live as much as you can,
Or die while you ponder upon your existence as a man.