Same day, same time

Clichéd resolutions

Fresh starts

That’s not the norm

 

Same old continuations

Novelty stalls

To monotony we conform

 

Cyclical rotations

The new pitfall

Predictability swarms

Agony

My well woven existence

Slowly began to unravel

Already in visible shamble

On the fringe of complete dishevel

 

Current days feel like

On rocky terrain

Nights are harder, so to speak,

As I beg to relieve the pain

 

There’s the constant battle

To pick between flight and fight

As my body gets chafed and filed

All I seek out is respite

 

 

Festive, the feast

 

 

Hark ye, the holidays are here

Christmas eve beckons all near

The reds and the greens are visible

Out, come the tales and parables

 

A race against the hour to do

Collection of gifts and the ado

It’s all about the thought I say

As the holiday sales, I try to parlay

 

Trinkets laid out in neat displays

As I maneuver the shops in a daze

Does it really need to be in plenty

After all, it should not be about the money

 

On the day, I gather loved ones

Food abundant and chatting tongues

The joy of being under one roof

Of a richly content life, is proof.

Cloaked and covered

Clothed in shackled formals

A tie around my bonded neck

Like the caged bird who sings

I harp on useless jargon

 

Feet leadened by heavy wear

Like the chained elephants’ leg

Roar, he can, bellow at best

I scream to no avail

 

Layers of pieces stitched

Clothing cover my body

All that I will end up with

A piece of simple shroud

 

Silks and fancy polyester

Cuff links of gold, studded

Head to toe, each item

Reeks of nasty captivity.

 

The pure soul escapes

Discarding the body

Why do I then clutch on

To these useless dons

Epitaphic

Resonant is the grief,

And the void burdens

Days are led in subsistence

And heartache extends

 

Placid, the outer remains

Turmoil and cries are

Well cradled within

Bottled up, with a vengeance

 

A life doesn’t cease,

With just an obituary

There’s the memories

In the hearts of who love

 

Life is short and done

Physical, with hurt and pain

But then there’s the fact

For others, it goes on.

 

There’s the clinging

The longing of the past

But, forward is the truth

The present, the moment

Quirky cat videos

Funny, offensive or amusing

People react to it, in many ways

Likes and comments cause a rousing

Move on, they do in few days

 

Symbolic, the creator aimed,

But, was lost in translation

Disclaimer, no animal was maimed

Was needed to appease the nation

 

Cats and dogs come and go

Causes, they espouse are many

Life is, after all, a great big show,

Actors on stage are zany.

Demise

 

 

Death is lackadaisical

A nude awakening of

The only certainty

In all of eternity

 

The barest of emotion

The whys and the how’s

The ceasing of life

But, I have to go on

 

Makeshift plans are made

Overwhelmed and overcome

Irrationality rules

Mind is beaten down

 

Continuity and onwardness

Get hard to relate to

Time can heal, probably

But I shall resist

Space

Imperfectly, it started. Rustic, not

It is all not about me, I need

To learn that lesson and move on.

 

I conjure up old memories and

New insults. I overreact, in

Anger and despair; shedding tears.

 

I want to run, escape this

Human jungle. Faraway into

Pastoral oblivion.

 

All I need is a day of peace, a

Routine without sadness, a

Home to relax in

 

A soul space of escape

Untethered. But, in the midst of

them humans, Ambitiously greedy?

 

Haiku

Inadvertently

I absorb what is around

Certain emptiness

Without a moment of neglect

Parenting, oft analyzed

With no agreement in opinion

Admired from outside

Mired while within

 

He was uptight, fearful

Thoughtlessly transformed

Into constant putdowns

His offspring suffered

 

Bore it well, till a day

With tears became

deluged. Till the yoke

of burden heightened

 

Days were woozy with

Strange emotions. Where

he lacked, others stepped

up. Seamlessly, impeccably.

Righteous pursuit

Of freedom and beauty

Of gratification of purity

Of new beginnings.

 

A sedate existence

Of protected living

Placid to others

Monotony to one

 

A pathetic sense

Of romanticized

Stature, garnering

No respect, none

 

Trials and torments

Troubles and tribulations

Forgotten in a jiffy

Swathed in nurture.

 

Poised to prominence

You, my brave soldier

Venture into territories

Newer and bigger they seem

But I only see your victories

 

Amusing your approaches

A smile to tackle all downers

Elastically adapting to all the

Challenging encounters.

 

Deeply rooted at times

Within your own thoughts

But at ease at making

Everyone laughing in knots

 

A new day, of the year

Tomorrow will begin

Shine bright like the star,

You shall wherein.

 

A mirror to your thoughts

A mirror to your thoughts

Is all I now seek

The forlorn face

Simple requests

And joy at water

 

Helpless you are

With some of your acts

Your legacy

 

While I watched you

A pang of sadness hits

 

Ticking clock in

Quiet time

Amuses you to no end

In tears I stand

As I leave you behind

Celebration

 

Flowers arranged

In beauty

In joy

In hopes

In expectations

In welcome

In pride

 

 

 

 

Flowers symbolic

Of expression of ecstasy

Of shedding the past

Of embracing the future

Update

One of those days it is

Where nothing goes my way

Churn out poetry I try

But dinged and dissed I get

 

Rejected by stalwarts

Reviewed and ignored

My writing never made

A mark, in their world

 

Heartbroken, I continue

Scripting. More drivel?

Words come easier now

But accolades shall never.

In the news

 

 

Menacing the trends

The slump continued

Unprecedented levels

To downward milieu

 

Models and resolves

Unravel shabbily

Money turns hands

Quickly, craftily

 

Rampant are setbacks

The unfulfilled dreams

Money talks the talk

Brings out human extremes

 

The ups and the downs

Aren’t easy to stomach

All  hunky dory, at rallies

But not so much at plummet

 

All and sundry claim

Their share of the pot

Experts and laymen

With their pain are wrought

 

The vagaries of nature

Is well applied here

All the stochastic motions

Begin to now appear

 

The laws of the finance

Of capitalistic market

Stands out unscathed

While goes on – this racket.

 

Nostalgic melancholy

I come back, here again

I wander far, but I go back

This place is welcoming

Within, time stands still

 

Musty the smells are within

Floors been walked on

Overflowing with things

Stuffed to the gills with belonging

 

Generosity lies inside the doors

Aging gracefully the structure

Brimming still with souvenirs

Of the many past decades

 

Once, a shiny new build,

Now a museum of sorts

Collecting dust among others

Time flies, but is rooted

Wistful

Parallels I draw between

His accomplished life

And my transient shambles

 

Something calls out

A borrowed family

None to call one’s own?

 

Compensation for loneliness

Are the acquired things

That money begets

 

Choices were they?

Or plain ol’ destiny

Shackling him

 

The point of no return

No escape

When here, its final

Exchange

As I listen, I am reactionless

Within I shake my head

In disagreement, I think

I am unsure of it, myself

 

Conversations are beautiful

I participate meekly

I never voice out strongly

But I nibble aplenty

 

Wallflower, I no longer am

Small talk comes easy

Social chatting my forte

But it never was this way

 

Get on my nerves some do

I control myself with élan

Some I blast out amply

Then brood a while in regret

Off you go... yet again

 

The ding of the ringing bells

Woke me up from my reverie

Sweaty palms and parched lips

Put an end to any revelry

 

Dreams, no, nightmares

Plagues all of yesterday

An apprehensive optimism

For it was ‘back to school’ day

 

Books and pens, my first love

Armed with thirst for knowledge

Like New Year’s resolutions

Many things today, I pledge

 

The first week flies by

Reconnecting rediscovering

Then begins the hard work

And at the teachers’ cowering

 

Days go by in rapid pace

The its time to test

Hours as I pore over my books

I meekly let out a protest

 

The realization sinks in

The teachers stand firm

Gently guiding the astray

With pride, your work, affirm

 

And, it is all over

Times to say goodbye

But one things stand out

The strong bonds of an ally.

 

 

 

 

Train tales

I am left with the shake

The aftermath of a locomotion

The big beast of burden

Just whizzed by this station

 

Like rooted in time, I stand

Unable to process it all

If not pulled away

I could stay till nightfall

 

The 70 coaches fly past me

he passengers waved and smiled

I soaked it all in with feeling

For after all I was a railway child.

 

The hustle of the world

For all of five minutes

Embarking of its journey

The lifting of my spirits

 

Snaking away slowly

Way past my line of sight

I am left pondering

At my lonely plight

 

Goodbyes are hard

But its only until next time

Then a cheery hello

Such is, of life, the clime.

 

Inspired by: Imaginary Garden with Real Toads

 

Photo credit: Douglas Salisbury (through Imaginary Garden with Real Toads)

 

Lost in thought

By the side of the river

The silver meander

I walk, lost in thought

To refresh renew and repair

 

The chirping of the birds

The slow swaying of trees

The lush green beneath me

And the blissful breeze

 

A perfect picture they paint

I, however, am rooted within

I look inside my heart

Oblivious to the worlds’ spin

Sensitized

A nasty itch began

Eyes twitched and teared

Runny was the nose

It was just what I feared

 

I knelt down in despair

A silent cry I gave

There it goes again

The ills I have to bear

 

Trigger what was it by

I began to ponder

And, then I faintly heard

A very distinct purr.

Summer days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the last leg of the day

From summer of this year

Is the crisp warm evening sky

That will soon disappear.

 

Rituals of the warmth

Imminently to be replaced

In respect of the freeze

With cold, as days are laced.

 

As it had often been done,

A hop and a skip outside

Shall be a thing of the past

As, nervously  are huddled inside.

 

A lucky show of the sun

A shy sunny day, in between

The critters come out to play

And, nature does her preen

 

Seasons are a friend to all

Like shopkeepers doling out treats

The cycle slowly moves forward

We see our share of repeats

Parroted

There’s no other locution

Used more often

Reminiscing or speculating

Vocal or written

 

Life without regrets

Utopian at the least

But the joy it begets

Aspired and beseeched

if only.. translated

 

If only I did

If only I could

If only it were

If only he would

 

The hapless sighs

And the lost hopes

The wishful eyes

And incessant hopes

 

A prompt each day

 

 

 

Be you, be cursed

He just throws them

Like that

Humiliating

Belittling, trivializing

Words, sharper than sword

Churning in her mind

They wound her

Pecking away joy

Like a woodchuck

Until the final blow

Striking her down

Negativity cultivated

Cursed by all

From maternal

The heritage, ancestry

Spewed forth

The melancholy, he permeates

To his loved ones

The most loved

Word, with words, he strikes

Forever, mired in such

resentment. Be you, be cursed

The far away gaze ...

 

 

Into the horizon she gazed

Amidst the chaotic crowd

Transported to eons away

As for answers she scoured.

 

Burdens of thought pervaded

Not a moment of respite

There are lives to be saved

Not a day of plain old trite.

 

Amid the race to cure

There’s the other side

Responsibilities to kinfolk

That she needed to abide.

 

She was bound for prominence

Mundane life tied her down

Though pale in comparisons

In banality, she started to drown.

 

Untethered should have soared

Instead against the currents swims

Life is nothing, if not strange

Upheavals are created in a whim.

 

A sort of a tribute ... you know who you are ...

Pipedream

 

Half-baked lines

float around

I write one down

And blanks abound

 

A word stands out

I rush to make a verse

Stubbornly it resists

And, I take a recourse

 

Books and pens I buy

Dreaming a fresh start

But a few pages into

Nothing stands apart

 

I move my place

From work and home

Even a bookstore once

Thoughts continue to roam

 

Not a chance I have

To see through my dream

Of filling up my rhymes

In papers by the ream

 

Infliction

Addicted, I am to the thoughts

To the concept of suffering

 

Defiantly I resist all relief

Not to let go of the misery

 

In the filthy pool of self-pity

I wallow incessantly

 

I wait for the wave of tears

Between now and nether

 

Ridden in the guilt of joy

I refrain from the happy

 

Addicted I am to the pain

The soul wrenching kind

 

In reverence, a homage

Death beckons at will

The gentle souls fulfill

 

There’s an end, to everything

The precursor to a new beginning

 

Some things don’t make sense

Especially when all feel the absence

 

Inspiration he was for all

Humble beginning to top it all

 

On his toes, till the very end

The common he did transcend

 

Dreams and visions he installed

Legacies remained to be built

 

Sacrifices, he stirred in many

From nothingness, he taught plenty

 

For the children, a better morrow

A life of joy, bereft of sorrow

 

Ideas, he worked for, tirelessly

But destiny took him irreversibly

 

A fine citizen, a cherished president

Collectively a great loss evident

 

Mourned by his countless countrymen

His greatness hailed time and again

Adornment

 

The rays of sunshine

Dance with the leaves

A graceful rendition

A ballet of sorts

 

Shadowed amidst light

The foliage prance about

Breezed away gently,

By the summer wind

 

The elegance, the joy

The blissful trots  

The sparkling rays

The rustling trees

 

Operatic allegory

Of the unseen nature

Nestled within

The deep forests

 

No prying eyes

Just carefree abandon

The primal purity

And pristine grace

Mythical demesne

 

 

Resurrection begins in isolation

In werewolves and witches nation

 

Voodoo dolls are blinded aspiring

Nemeses begin their veering.

 

Hunted and branded they’re as fruitcake

Spells are chanted in heart break

 

Alone, they are left to face the facts,

Amidst scorpions, vermin and the bats

 

Perchance among mortals, they appear,

Ordered by the heads to cut off ears

 

An occasional sighting in the royal ball

Is enough to make the subject appalled

 

Persecution is all they have faced

From the face of earth, erased   

 

 

Sunday whirl

Legacy left behind

 

The rains, clouds and the roof,

The game of a lifetime

Merciless, the opponent

Obstacles continued to climb

 

Feels like no tomorrow

The sun shall not rise

Sinking feeling in the heart

Familiarities reprise

 

Dreaded destiny is brought up

Maturity is summoned

Tears are stemmed, through

The rough, emerges the diamond.

A day from the past, today

I seek ways today

To pay my tribute,

There seems no way

Attempts seem moot.

 

Stuck up and formal

The very word sounds

Not meant for you

Whose laughter abounds.

 

I think up rituals,

Ceremonies and rites

I plan to recollect all

Of the sounds and sights.

 

Nothing will bring you back

That hits me hard

No matter what I do

From life you are barred

 

The loss shall remain

The ache gnaws away,

Time lessens the pain?

But not like what they say.

 

Destiny and fortune, I

Seem to call out much,

For want of anything better

That will calm me much.

 

As long as I can

Smile at thoughts of you.

That shall be my homage,

From my heart comes true.

Remembering you, today and always... I pray, it stays that way  

Happy Birthday!