Vikram Seth - How Rarely These Few Years

How rarely all these few years, as work keeps us aloof,
Or fares, or one thing or another,
Have we had days to spend under our parents' roof:
Myself my sister, and my brother.

All five of us will die; to reckon from the past
This flesh and blood is unforgiving.
What's hard is that just one of us will be the last
To bear it all and go on living.

Vikram Seth

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/how-rarely-these-few-years/