BRINK OF LIFE

The central idea of the poem "BRINK OF LIFE" revolves around the inevitability of aging and mortality. The speaker reflects on the physical and cognitive decline that accompanies old age.

If the days should seem uplifting no more,

And with oldness, the juice of the arteries scantier

Mustn’t I know I should my timer tell

They’re numbered, and say ‘it’s enough’?

To fervor, do I the last constancy not intone?

For though I may the hands of the timer

Forcefully turn them backwards

When it’s the brink of life

Signs of age, flair, retreat to where they must:

Aural sense, memory and sight fail me often,

The clout of my limbs with increasing intensity

And recurrence, overtly leave me betrayed

And I soon dredge up, I am mortal!