Tag: poetry

Storm

There bellows a strong wind
A storm arrives from strange lands
Just to irrevocably change
Everything that is and will be

Overnight it sweeps away
The cobwebs of Time
Changes the entire
Landscape of survival

There is no way to stop
The raging winds, tides
Lightning or the rains
No way to lock it all away

Change becomes eternal
Certainties uncertain
Life transforms
For better or worse

What remains same
Are dawns and the dusks
Motion of the planet
And yearnings of a heart

There is no going back
To recreate what it was
One that did not withstand
The winds and the storm

Yet condemned to hope
And dream
We sail our ships
Trusting oceans of Time

Life and Death

Stink of death
Hits the nostril
Some poor creature
Took the plunge
Not realising perhaps
Its certain death

We can’t see it
But stink is unbearable
More than the
Death itself perhaps
Of that pitiful creature
That was living

Life and living
Death and dying
Polar opposites
Starting and ending
Out of nowhere

An unbearable stink
An indelible mark
Life slips away
Just like that
Into the cloak of death

Our Story

It is rather strange
How we get planted
In our own stories
Unintentionally

All characters
However likeable
Or unlikeable
Play their part

A hero
Could be an
An anti-hero
Or vice versa

Characters often
Become variable
Refusing to be
a constant

However chaotic
This drama of our life
We script it
Or it scripts us?

We get planted
Uprooted
Worshipped
And Cursed

For some we
Become breath
Toxic air
For others

Remembering
Forgetting
Othering
Dying

Ironically
We measure
Our lifetime
As Time and not Life

Revisiting the Past

What looks like a wasteland
Exactly that’s where
My home stood
With a beautiful garden

I stare at that land
That unsold dirty plot
Not belonging to anyone
Yet belonging to all

It was once upon a time
guarded by a tall wall
The wall is also half gone
While rest is totally erased

The land is covered with grass
The same grass we despised
But yet picked the holier ones
For the offerings

Along with the garden and home
My people and trees are gone too
I can almost hear the voices
Which lived there

How was it all demolished?
Brick by brick?
Blow by blow?
Or was it natural decadence?

I guess, I came looking for her
That barefooted wild girl
Who ran to school and cycled,
Played and giggled in the garden

As I turn around,
I find her on the wall graffiti
A barefooted wild girl
With her back turned upon the world

Strangely the roads
Where I learnt
To walk, run and cycle
Have remained the same

Just like the stubborn grass
Memories are stubborn too
So are some friendships
And roads we return to

Random Musings

Yet another new year
Is back with the old baggage
Of fears and cautions
Prejudices and bigotry
Lurking shadows of
Diseases and death

They tell us
To hang on
To seek hope in
Science and prayers
Look for silver linings
And healings
Lost love
And musings

While prejudice kills peace,
And pride our compassion
While hate spreads
Like wildfire
Our comforts get
Traded and sold

While we lose our voice
And rights
Like Jesus
Or phoenix
Maybe they will rise
Just like balloons
Filled with their breath

Those little street urchins
They bear testimony of
Our collective failures,
Our naked emperors
Maybe their balloons display
Everyone’s lost smiles!!

#2022

Musings on Love

Death of loved one 
Is difficult to endure
But death of love itself
Is impossible to accept 

At times
Just like a bird
It simply flies away 
No reasons given 

For some death of love 
Is slow and painful
Resentment just grows
Like cancer

For others it is a sudden death
Heart simply stops beating
For the other
It leaves behind a void 
A wasteland of promises

Love may seem a gift
A burden, a nostalgia 
A baggage or a lesson
Just like life itself

Love can grow at unusual places
It can grow roots
In most hostile ground
And bloom like a wild flower

Love is a life breath
Breathe it in 
As long as it lasts 
Cherish the illusion
  
It often brews a storm 
Out of mere flapping of
A colourful butterflies
On a lazy afternoon
 
Just like a storm 
It rages and ravages 
Dazzles with rain
Light, colours and rainbows 

For those who claim forever
It becomes a habit
A known rhythm of heart 
That resonates 
Till the vibes lasts

Then there is that rare Love
Whose beauty lies in its brevity
Whose grave you build within
Which gives you strength 
To endure its passing 

Hate stands no chance
In comparison 
Love lurks in nooks and corners
In that gentle pat 
Love has life's back