The time is coming when we just have to ‘divorce’,
When nothing can keep us together—no earthly force.
It’ll soon be a final separation, once and for all,
Between us there’ll then be a permanent wall.
You’ve grown old and your hair is now grey,
Your eyes are dim, your skin’s begun to fray,
Your knees now ache, your shoulders now creak,
From the pain of it all release you will soon seek.
Faithful companion you’ve been for many years,
Accompanying me through many joys and tears,
For as very long as this mind of mine can recall,
But soon the curtains on our ‘marriage’ must fall.
You’ve been fiercely loyal through thick and thin,
Inseparable friend in every situation I have been.
Not for a moment have you ever left me,
Can there be more faithful camaraderie?
Through you it is that my life has unfurled,
Through you it is that I have seen the world,
Through you it is that I've experienced it all,
Through you it is that I've met both rise and fall.
For all these years you have been my home,
Even now you’re with me wherever I roam.
But soon a day will arrive I do know
When our separate ways we must go.
When it’s commanded by the Divine Force,
The end of our friendship, our final ‘divorce’.
And then never will we ever get to meet
To relive this ‘marriage’ that’s been so sweet.
Before that happens, I now really must say,
To you, in whom I’ve lived since that first day,
When I arrived on this planet so many years ago,
When as a newborn almost nothing I did know.
Before my time here’s up and I have to return,
Before I’m called back from my earthly sojourn,
And to Earth’s great bosom you may finally go,
Dust returning to dust, in a strange Divine show.
I’d like to thank you for being such a great host,
Sheltering me inside you when I needed it most,
Being home for me throughout my stay on Earth,
Ever since here I was made to take birth.
Such a devoted friend none else have I seen,
Accompanying me through all that I've been,
Enfolding me always in your caring embrace
O body of mine—hands, feet, limbs and face.
Despite your old age and troubles galore,
You’ll be with me till here I’m no more,
You stay close to me till the very end,
That I can be sure of, O trusted friend.
Then when we ‘divorce’ you’ll go back to the soil,
Doing good again to some soul, once again to toil
As a body for someone, or someone else’s food.
It seems that this is your nature—just to do good.
Thank you, O friend, for all you have done
For me all these years with complaining none.
O body that’s housed me all this long while,
When we ‘divorce’ may it be with a smile!
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