Water's Edge.

On the soft ,fine sand lie imprints

Of footsteps ..that once walked that way

A faint outline of blurred footprints

That the rising Tide held in its sway.

For many moons ago there walked

Another ...... dreaming of the stars

With Present and the Future chalked

Unmindful of Life’s unexpected jars.

Though many rising suns have sizzled

Into the cool of the unfathomable Blue

The washed footprints lay nuzzled

By a secluded rock ..waiting to renew..

Into the distant horizon ..their journey.

So what if the Feet are not the same

The Eyes, they will see so surely

The torch of Rising Hope, aflame.

Dream state...and The Awakening

The hurtling bus comes to a crowded stop .

In the sea of humanity I am but a drop.

Alighting quickly I am one amongst the rest.

In the eternal rat race to be only the best.

With the monotonous dreariness of the treadmill

I walk on and up, towards a summitless hill.

With a cursory glance I see the robot army of which I am part

The mechanical motions and the dull steel of the heart.

An unthinking, unfeeling, a dullened and numbed mind

Only a zombie like dream state seems left behind.

The diaphanous curtain billows over the window sill.

Night settles into weary eyes with their eyelashed frill.

Then Sleep lifts me from this world of automaton

And I gently drift the streets with Hope as a beacon.

I reach this hill that was blue in the distant.

Seemed so familiar I knew it in an instant.

In the fraction of a moment I scaled it to the top

For I hitched a ride on a cloud as a rain drop !

All six senses seem alive and well

When in this dream state I seem to dwell......

Which of these worlds, has my life taken?

From which of these dreams do I need to awaken?




Writer's Island prompt : "Fantasy"

To the girl-child.

A handsome prince leans forward in this moment of bliss
My thundering heart gives the beat a miss
As my eyes open to dark reality
And the dream crumbles in all its fragility
Feeling the beginnings of a shiver
Fairness cream in hand ,I stand by the mirror .
I say, letting out a long deep sigh
”There’s more to me than meets the eye”

Twisting , trudging and losing some weight
I do it all to regain my figure of eight .
Everyone says I am in the grip of a vice
As enjoying meals is not very nice.
With sagging spirits and ache in every bone
As I try to become another Barbie clone
My heart cries out at this insensitive sham
“A woman of substance is what I am”

Dressed appropriately and sporting a dot
I serve chappatis fluffed piping hot
While sometimes I do enjoy this chore
I wistfully wonder what might be in store
If this traditional garb I do shed
And help to bring home more bread ?
I dream what turns Life might take
If the choice was only mine to make.

Boundless is the parents’ joy
If they are told their newborn’s a boy.
An unfeeling stoical look is worn
As from my mother’s womb I am torn.
Despite my mother’s bleeding heart
My little life was doomed from the start.
Give me a chance to take this birth
To bring you smiles, laughter and mirth.

With neatly plaited braids and a toothy grin
I think of the school to which I ‘ve been.
It is now but a thing of the past
It’s been months since I went there last.
I made way for my younger brother
Now he goes to school , while I help Mother.
Fascinating Geography and Math he does learn
With wishful thinking my heart does burn.

Even in this age , it’s the same old story.
My poor parents are bent double with worry.
I have come of age , is what I am told
And soon to the lowest bidder will be sold
Like a priceless head of cattle
Already defeated in this new battle.
Stop laying me on the pyre sticks
And let me rise anew like a Phoenix.

I too am a part of Eternity
So all of you , please hear me.
Worshipped in every culture
I still need for you, me to nurture.
Don’t doom me to an unmarked grave
Or shackle me to Life like a slave.
But like a bird , do set me free

To scale new heights of Infinity.

A Burning Question.

Wispy. Black .

The swirling disembodied string

Drifted into sublime nothingness.

Leaving in its wake

An exhausted wick

In a charred earthen lamp.

Returning dust to dust

And ashes to ashes.

But from beyond the Styx

Will there rise the Phoenix ?

All aflame with energies anew

To rebuild a life he had bid adieu ?

If he does , then why did he leave ?

If he left , then why retrieve?

FLIPSIDE.

The floor resounds with the pacing of restless feet.
In silent acknowledgement do anxious eyes meet.
The nurses go in and out, checking the equipment.
The doctor, now and then , says few words of encouragement.

Sometimes there are long sighs or sometimes there are none.
There could be restless movements, if the pains have begun.
Cold beads of profuse sweat may leave a wet trail.
One last effort, perhaps a muffled plaintive wail.

What news will travel through the white antiseptic door?
The sadness of death or of birth, joys galore?
For they are so similar, our beginning and our end.
The very same pains as this world we transcend.

Perhaps the horizon limits our very insight.
What we view as darkness may be Eternal Light?
May be they are flipsides of the coin very same.
Our limited knowledge gives each a different name.

May be Death is not the last curtain call.
It just may be Birth beyond an invisible wall.
Death may not be final , or Birth a mere chance.
They could be the very moment in the Cosmic Dance.

Shadows ...without a doubt

Always when it is time that the day is done

And the darkness of night has just about begun

And the sun nuzzles the breasts of distant hills

And the homeward bird gives out hurried shrills,

That I sense a certain fear envelope my mind

And I can feel something creeping up from behind .

What was that behind the door? A scurrying mouse?

Worried I set off running, from the house ...

Soon my hurrying feet settle into a rhythmic trot

Though my furrowed brow is still with anxiety fraught

My heart beats faster and I quicken my pace

Then some perspiration begins to lace my face .

A little further up and then I turn around

To return home with a confidence newly found !

No eerie silence on entering do I find

Nor the lengthening shadows I had left behind

That were those of the kilos I had lost earlier

And were now trying to get back on to my derriere!!

With a TRIUMPHANT smile I am glad I do not baulk

At the thought of my daily evening walk !!!

Writer's Island : Prompt "Triumph" 18 April 08

Rendez-vous

Foot in mid air , she stills her silver anklet
Tinkling softly , low and dulcet.
She gathers her rustling silken skirt
Sounding like leaves when the wind does flirt.

Her fair beauty turns crimson in the blazing sun
Blushing deeper with thoughts of a loved one.
Her searching eyes flit left and right
Darting like a frightened doe in mid-flight.
Strains for a flute , does her delicate ear
But it’s only a koyal in the peepal near .
Her pounding heart does miss a beat
Her anxious eye does her mind cheat .
For it misses that freshly dug mound of mud
From which flutters a tatter stained with blood.

Foot in air , she wears still her silver anklet
Tinkling softly, low and dulcet.
There is rustling from her once silken skirt
As she walks in the air over the reddish dirt.
Her beauty now ageless though a ghostly white.
Barely visible on a moonless night.
Her searching eyes still flit here and there
Looking for signs of him everywhere
Her ears still strain for the sounds of a flute
In a distance does only the night owl hoot.
Her furtive glance her delusional mind
Are all that has been now left behind.
For grass has grown on that mound of mud
From which no longer flutters a tatter with blood .