Dear Friends, this poem was composed many years ago and posted on ‘Poemhunter.com’. Time here is compared to the money lender and miser Shylock in Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant Of Venice’, where Shylock insisted on cutting out a pound of flesh from the merchant Bassanio, for having failed to pay back the loan taken from Shylock! Hope you like it, - Raj


                TIME THE GREAT USURER
      TIME the great usurer, is a great miser too,
      Always knows the cost of things to be paid
      back by you!
      It readily loans you the desired amount in
      number of years.
      Smilingly assures and allays all your doubts
      and fears.
      It makes the loan to appear like a free gratis,
      So you hardly bother to take any notice!

       But with the passage of growing years and
       life depleting with time,
       In paying back your interests, you got to
       default sometime.
       Precisely at that moment, the usurer knocks
       rather loud,
       And through death takes back its’ principal
       amount !
      
       Alas, Time the great Shylock knows the cost
       of everything.
       When will it learn to appreciate the value
       we attach to things?
                                             -Raj Nandy, New Delhi.