A day to spend

Everyday I am given a full day to spend
But everyday someone grabs it away
Snatches it from me.

Sometimes it drops out of my wallet
And I do not even hear it fall.
Even a good day I forget thinking it was bad.

Then there are those who collar me and claim my day!
‘It is debt owed by generations before you,
You must pay the installments…’

Others forcibly mortgage it by saying:
‘You can have a few moments to spend
The rest we will credit to your remaining life
And settle accounts when required.’

I yearn to have
A full day to myself, if only for once
And to spend that one full day with you
Is what I truly desire.

-Gulzar