And half-buried  bones of the dead
I remembered all the words earlier philosophers said
The evening calm and deadly silence I faced here
Could be the mirror image of the after life there
The graves of my ancestors reminded me how short our lives were
And that there was no time for the grudges to bear
The water, air, earth, nature
And the surrounding atmosphere
Told me I would be a part of them soon
And the brief enlightened life of mine was certainly a boon
The distant burning funeral pyres reflecting in the faces of the living ones
Asserted that we were just flickering candles
Which would one day be blown away by the roaring wind
Therefore I need not give importance to ego, pride, money and fame found
Here on earth- this life was merely a passing phase
It should not be wasted in an unimportant vanity chase
It did not matter whether a person was a king
And walked in a golden ring
Or a president of a nation who greedily
Acquired lots of wealth and walked on a red carpet freely
Or a beauty queen who had a luxurious milk bath
And wandered on a flower path
Or a pauper whose move
Was only on a thorny pave,
All that a person needed in the end was a six feet earth-
To turn into dust- I realized this Ultimate Truth.

Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa
Copyright© 2010

(Based on my painting Ultimate Truth, please click on the picture to see it)