This world is a maya,
An illusion,
A creation, magical,
To lure and entice
With pleasures,
suited for the mankind.
Stimuli that caresses in various ways
Provocations entice and endeavour to deviate.
Mind weaves dreams of comfort and ease.
Safety of a haven
We forever strive to achieve.
With our limited foresight,
Not knowing what lies ahead
We move along blindly;
Balancing ourselves,
Lured by the promises
The illusions, magnificent.
Then one day we reach the end
Unanticipated distress
When the obstacle is insurmountable
The pleasures of life
Have gnawed and chiseled away
The resolve to brave the odds.
Walking on a narrow strip,
one realises
There is no going back.
A dilapidated castle.
Exactly the place,
Descriptions match
With what he had read.
When moon and the stars
Were obscured by clouds
And not a speck of light
Dared make holes
in night's shroud,
On such a night
In this castle
two lovelorn hearts
had sheltered and rested.
The heavens had opened up that night.
Threatening to thwart their plans.
Elope they however did and
In this castle came and hid.
A little distance outside the city
This old castle had existed
A secret chamber built in its walls
Had sheltered the lovers
From that night's storm's wrath.
Years later, reading the diary of his mother
He found mention of this incident.
Back he, therefore, had chosen to come;
to quench his curiosity
And savour the aura
Of the place’s romanticism
That his parents may have felt that night.
There's warmth in the air.
A familiarity in the smells
That waft up to his senses.
Recollections come,
Wrapped in a blanket of haze.
And his smile begins to break.
Is that a school
visible in the distance?
Wonder why it looks so familiar
When did I come here last?
And then, his smile begins to break.
How many years has it been now?
His mind tries to calculate
The years that he had been away
Where is the pond
with its brilliant white lilies?
Was there someone
who used to beckon me to its banks?
Then, his smile begins to break.
Why have I come here?
He bids his mind to recollect
A sense of connect I feel;
Established many years back, from present?
Did someone, long ago
Made me promise
To come back here one day?
Why do I perceive
the soul of the ancient
Under the garb of modern?
He stands and ponders.
The smile then,
Sometimes of recollection,
Sometimes of bewilderment,
Plays on his face.
When time had stood still;
An adversary,
Refusing to budge,
Hindering the passage
Of life!
Millions of hour glass had cracked;
The sands flowing out
In a rush,
Spreading through the universe
Creating a vast desert.
Its sand dunes
Attempting to entrap
Each step in its grasp,
Striking terror
With manifestation of unending vastness
Attempting to choke
With stillness,
With a sense of isolation-
Friendless.
Time then had aroused
A sense of helplessness.
Amidst this sense of dejection
and the creeping feeling
of inability to fight back,
A small figment of hope
Looms at the horizon,
Daring to defy the gargantuan time.
Walking slow,
One step at a time,
Trying to seek a path
Through this vast desert of time.
So many balloons fly.
So many dreams, ideas,
Aspirations and desire float
In the sky-high.
They float around
In lazy idleness,
Carrying me along;
I fly with them.
They are my dreams, ideas and desires,
Released out of my head;
My ambitious,
achievement oriented mind.
I hope a few of them
Would land somewhere,
Achieving a solid ground sometime
and with them
I would land too.
Solid ground is what everyone needs.
High up in the air
It's all just plain emptiness and silence,
Cold, aloof, unfathomable vastness,
No substance.
How long could a bird keep flying?
Sometime it would need to land
Its feet firmly on solid ground
Come back to reality, pragmatic.
The ground is where
the action is,
where truth resides.
This is where
dreams have to compete.
Ideas will get tested,
Singed in fire
And emerge pure, shining like gold.
Coloured balloons in the sky,
Can do nothing
But only fly!
Engaging in some lyrical athletics whilst painting pictures with words and pounding the pavement. I run; blog; write poetry; chase after my kids & drink coffee.
Straight From My Heart 