Sunset

A thousand dawns

Fooled him

Into doing things

He never held dear

And when the sun set

Then arrived the night of shame

He blamed the sun

For the one day

That never came

He believed that everything could wait. One must take things easy. What’s the hurry?

And true to his philosophy, he took every day easy. He never got into a 9-5 routine but was comfortable in his ‘all day long relax’ routine. Things were good. Money was never a problem. There was no need to work. He had inherited more than he needed.

He had one passion, though: books. After the late-night parties, once the hangover had settled-in, he would sit in his reading chair,with a flask full of coffee, and read his next favourite book. He had a library that could be the talk of every booklover. It had shelves of books, both poetry and prose, containing carefully curated classics and contemporary bestsellers. He could spend days, and even sleepless nights, in the company of his beloved books.

He had made a promise to himself, long ago, that one day, he would write a book of his own. One day… but not today. Today, he would take it easy. And it was in this same casual way that he treated a lump in his groin - not today, but soon. And, each day he kept postponing his visit to the doctor. Soon, things got worse. He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The prognosis was not good. Time was not on his side. He knew that, and he also knew that he had to write that book of his dreams. Now, there was a deadline looming over him, literally. He regretted wasting so much time in the past. Lying in his hospital bed, when the doctor 50... Fireflies at 3 am came to check on him, he had only one question to ask. “I feel weak. I need to start writing my book. When do you think I’ll have the strength to start?”

The doctor held his hand, looked at him and said, “Hopefully, soon son. But not today. Today, you need to take it easy.”