Only When A Soul Departs

By: Shazia Yousuf

Day begins, day ends. Time is running fast; so much to do but such little time. There’s hardly time for anything. We are all the time busy in a race against time. It seems as if life would come to a halt if we stop doing all those things that we are busy with. Without even stopping for a while to realize what we are doing, we go on with that daily rut.

There are so many people around us, who we take for granted. We think we’ll talk to them tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes. We plan to visit them, but something or the other which is more urgent comes up. We do think about them, but blame the busy schedule for not being able to give them our precious time. Some of our dear ones, we don’t even find time to think about. Let’s face it, we do this.

Only when our loved ones depart, and we are struck with the pangs of sorrow, everything comes to a sudden halt. Life comes to a standstill for us. The rest of the world goes on with the same speed but we are excused from it. Everyone understands and does a workaround without us being a part of it. We are left to come to terms with the sudden sorrow that life has thrown at us.

But time has slipped out of our hands. All we are left with is memories accompanied with pain and regret. We will regret not being able to spend quality time with our loved ones. The heart will ache with the burden of all those words that remained unspoken. The sorrow of not being able to absorb all the wisdom that died will drown us.

But time heals. Gradually the rut of life will resume with the same speed and fervor, but that empty space will remain forever in our lives. What a pity, we realize this only when a soul departs…..maybe that too for only a short while and then get back into that same rut, till life comes to a standstill again…