A kiss before I live
A wish to be born, as I dream to live on
As I turn comfortably numb, just one gift do I seek
A kiss from my love, just to make me re-born.
Just to soar into the open skies, on the tattered wings of a dream
Hoping to keep afloat, on the softly blowing breeze of love
If not, to plummet to the ground of reality
And breath my last as the breeze of love kisses me - just so we will be re-born
Mask of Life
What I saw leaning against the glass, reflected my life.
Just short of insanity, yet so full of meaning.
Just blurred and hazy, yet so clear and pristine.
I slowly peeled the mask off my face. The mask of life.
Everything that was meaningless to that very moment, now seemed to have a meaning. However the meaning wouldn't be revealed so easily. There was a clause to it.
The distant star of love needed to take off her mask as well.
Until then, it would all be a dream. A prayer.
A pain that would carve into our heart, cutting us without bleeding.
Hurting us without paining.
"Put the mask back and you will be just fine" So said the voices from around.
A moment in thought and then I threw off the mask from my hand.
It pained as the droplets of rain ran down the past, into an unknown future.
There I stood alone... but all I cared for was that smile I could see in a distance.
My star, no longer mine, smiling for me.
This was the paradox of life opening its door to me.
Broken piece of smile
Just a broken piece of mirth, so lost amongst dark clouds
Painting through her sorrows, a sky in seven hues,
Just beyond my reach, to wipe that painted tear
If only I could fly, and reach the sky so high
Ride Pegasus with his roaring reins, spread lightning in the stride
If only I could smile, and get lost within her eyes
Together ride the lightning to eternal, endless times
Even with Gods
Compounded by the what’s, astounded by the why’s
Can Immortals comprehend an ephemeral life?
A race against death, though we all ride to death
Even Gods do realize, folly with their creation
Lowly mortals wage war, barrels blazing and swords flashing
Why do we not awaken to the drizzle of pure wisdom?
That we slaughter our soul, when we murder another
Even Gods do shed tears perched in Their high heavens
Mumble, rumble and grumble in the sniffle of a thunder
Wonder how we get caught in that tingling light drizzle
Drenched in thoughts raining down jumbled minds in a hustle
Even Gods laugh in colours, when they see mortals stutter,
Stranded and drenched in Their tears from yesterday
Wonder how we survive, battling frowns with sweet smiles,
Vivid as the rainbow, a bright bridge over our troubles
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The irony of life is that the rainbow that arises from Gods laughing at our misery is the very bridge that helps us cross our troubles…An inverted smile filled with the colour and essence of life!!!
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Free Hug
If only he could hear the anguish in her tone, he would have fled. Nature had made him deaf.
If only he could see the hatred in her eyes, he would have left. Nature had made him almost blind.
Situations had made him what he was. It was never a choice left to him.
I would never know whether it was anger or love or desperation or expectation that I saw in his eyes. Two cold blue marbles staring through vacant street corner as the woman he approached for alms paced across the street to a perceived distance of safety.
That was when the old woman walked to him. She gave him a note and just hugged him.
As the old woman continued her walk down the street, I thought I heard a subtle sound, but couldn’t place whether it was from a silent sob or a smile from within.
One thing was for sure as I walked up to that man and hugged him. I was in need of the hug as much as him.
Do You?
She looked into his eyes again, and before he could answer, asked “Do you love me?”
This time louder, and the silence loomed larger and lasted longer.
The silence lasted for what seemed to her like an eternity.
Her clear blue eyes locked in his dark brown eyes, and she was about to ask again.
The same old question she had asked a million times for gazillion years.
Before she could reply, he said “I Love You” just once, but so loud that the entire world around them echoed it.
There was that stunning silence again, and then they embraced. The waves and the rocks, their saga of love continued for an eternity it still does.
Strangers we meet, strangers we part.Yet......
Hands dug deeper into the coat pockets, and the feet increased pace.
I entered the hall and could feel the warmth return. As I slowly walked to the escalator, I passed the flower shop right underneath it. There she sat, surrounded by flowers and smiling as if one amongst them.
The fragrance around was intoxicating, and the only thing that prevented me from lingering more was the hefty price tags attached to each of those flower baskets.
There was an ease and charm about her – probably the result of being in the midst of all the wonderful flowers. Red roses, violets, daisies, chrysanthemums, lilies and then there was her.
Her eyes were fixed in a distance, and there was a serene calmness about her face. She imprisoned a smile that was yearning to break free from her lips.
So many people would have bought flowers from her. So many hearts would have spoken ‘I Love You’, ‘I Miss You’, and ‘I Care for You’ through her flowers.
What was she thinking seated amidst this abundance of flowing emotions? Was she thinking ‘When would someone gift me flowers?” Was she thinking “When would someone say ‘I care for you”?
I was watching her even as the escalator took me up and afar, pulling my mind distant from that of the stranger, like a mother pulling a child away from his favourite toy.
“Jason. Nooo” The young mother’s voice was too late. The toddler was already a fair ten pace ahead of his mom and before anything, had plucked a bright red rose from one of the flower baskets. I stood and watched as the mother came running to admonish her young. Little Jason looked puzzled and startled and what he did next was something out of the blue.
He walked to the flower lady, looked up at her and gifted a beautiful smile. Then he gave her that rose, just as if to say – I care.
The lady gave him a pat on his head, gave the flower back to him and guided him to his mom.
Seated in her wheelchair, the flower lady waved goodbye to the little boy. Little Jason was waving and jumping in joy as he walked away with his mom – the bright red rose in his hand.
There was a fragrance in the air. I didn’t know if it were from the flowers or from the joy around.
I slowly walked off to my apartment all the while thinking - Strangers we meet, strangers we part, and in between we enjoy it all - spring, summer, fall, winter and spring.
The night sky was getting colder, but nothing could steal the warmth from my heart. The warmth of what I had seen. The warmth of love unfold.
Bedtime Story
Mist arose from her watery abode, and slowly weaved a blanket in the air around. The blanket was a protection against the prying human eyes, as she treaded on air, to visit her lover – the Moon.
Mist, the daughter of the Night and mother Earth glowed in anticipation, as the rays of the Moon touched her gentle skin. Silver fingers reached down to hold his love as they lost themselves in each others eye.
No whispering of sweet nothings.
No loud promises of eternal love.
Just the two of them, shivering in the moment of a cold embrace
The mischievous Breeze whistled as he passed by, but ‘Mist and Moon’ were in a world of their own.
An occasional Cloud tried to prevent the son of Sky love the daughter of Earth, but the night Wind shooed them away.
They remained lost in their love, until dawn broke, heralding the rise of emperor Sun, master and commander of the morning sky.
Moon and Mist hung on as much as they could, and silently bid goodbye for the while.
As Sun spread his warmth and authority around, Moon faded in compare.
Mist wilted in the heat, her blanket of protection slowly falling apart.
Her tears of separation rolled down to cling on to the leaf blades around and glowed like pearls before being consumed by the Sun.
Far away, in some distant corner of Earth, the Mist arose yet again from her watery abode…. Moon was waiting …
Beginning of the end
Frozen in a moment, wondering if we could ever work back the heavy arms of time.
Stopped for a moment, wondering if we could ever comprehend what we label as fate.
Puppets we are, with the strings being pulled by unknown arms.
Singing, dancing, laughing, crying, and acting our life to an unknown script.
As mysteriously as it all started, it ends...
A cruel world that makes us smile when in tears, and drops us into a black hole of sorrow when we feel things couldn't be any better.
Another scene from the act of life. Another role in the scheme of things, and we wait for our chance to roll the dice... and we wait for our chance to roll the dice
The colourful bridge of unending hope
Reassurance
Just to hold her hand, like a child, his fingers entwined with his moms
And sleep in the peaceful reassurance of her eternal presence.
Just to be lost in her eyes, like a traveller back in the lane of time
And walk in the reassurance of her presence, all the way I walk my thoughts.
Just to drown in the silence of her smile, as it infectiously seeps through me
And smile in the reassurance, of passing it back when she has an inverted smile.
Just to rest my head on her lap, as her motherly fingers run through my hair
And turn comfortably numb, in the reassurance of being born together again
Raindrops racing down the heart
Recede - the rain did, and the wind had calmed down, yet the raindrops rolled down. The more they tried to cling on, the faster they rolled down.
Finally they seize to roll down the window pane, as a rainbow slowly spreads out in the distant horizon, smiling inverted in a sky filled with new found colour and splendour.
It sketched a bruised heart. The rain and thunder within had lashed and seized. The tears were carving their way down the cheeks, racing to settle down the bottom of that very heart.
Clinging on to those eyelashes, clinging on to those cheeks, wishing silently for an arm to reach out and wipe them. Wishing silently for a heart to share the sorrows with. Praying for a reason to smile.
The bruised soul praying for a lap to rest on, wishing to look up and see the inverted smile on the face of that unknown soul. A rainbow of hope spreading the colour of love and its caring warmth.
As the next drizzle drenched my soul, I silently prayed for a touch that could heal...
Song of Life
Saw a little girl chasing the sea-gulls on the lawn. The gulls would fly when the girl ran to them and then lazily glide back to the grass. The girl would turn back to continue her mission. The gulls repeated theirs, muttering and quacking...
An elder gull seemed to tell another - 'Look at this crowd that comes and leaves like the light green waves hitting the quay rocks - bidding goodbye in their every splosh. Everyone is too busy taking photos of the bridge and the opera house. No one seems to have time to rest their limbs, listen to the song of the waves, feel the caress of the breeze, watch the dance of the leaves. This little girl is the only one who has the time to play with us.'
I sat down to see what I was missing - to listen to their dialogue.
The younger gull asked 'How long will she play with us?'
The elder one replied 'As long as she is pure of heart. As long as she has no fear. As long as there is no apprehension of an unborn tomorrow and a dead yesterday. One day she will be like the majority of her race, too busy for fun, too occupied to smile, too involved with life to know what it is.'
The younger one quacked 'Thank You' and then both of them flew off.
The little girl watched them, called them back, not knowing they wouldnt return.Like time, they had flown off into a distant horizon, leaving memories to cherish. Memories she would run back to, some day in a distant future.
The young couple who were setting up the speaker system and musical instruments in the meanwhile had now started singing. She sang her worries into the night as he plucked the guitar strings. The notes of worry flew out as a sweet melody and created a symphony with the splosh of the water and the whistle of the wind. The leaves were dancing.
I was the silent spectator...