The bird and the tree

Once upon a time on a giant tree
There lived a little birdie
He loved the tree as his brother
Oh so very fond they were of each other

But soon it was time for the bird to fly
And then the bird began to cry
He wanted the tree to come along
Because, he thought, together they belong

When the tree refused, the bird lost his cool
And called him a loser, a fool
Why does he stay stuck to a place, he thought
Doesn't the tree get bored at all?

The wise tree smiled and thus spoke
"My dear brother, I hate to see you go
But it is my dharma to take roots and stay
As is yours to grow wings and fly away

To who we are, my dear, let us stay true
And let us each do our duty as nature willed us to
So fly away, dear brother, to a new tomorrow
Do think of me, but without judgement or sorrow"

The bird, now happy, took off to fly
Spreading its wings in the sky so high
It looked down and waved at the tree
And saw on its branch another little birdie

Written on March 27th, 2021

Standing by the door

The lights are shining, the music blaring
Everyone is dancing merrily on the floor
Too shabbily dressed, too shy to enter
I resign to watching from the door

My heart yearns for a good dance
But my feet refuse to leave the door
Then I look around and I find him
As much a misfit as I am, perhaps more

"Shall we?", "Let us", our eyes converse
We hold hands and take a few steps gingerly
A few songs in and we find our rhythm
Soon we are lost in the ecstasy

So don't fret if ever you are not
The star at the center of the dance floor
You can still dance a great dance
Even if you are just standing by the door

January 16th, 2021

A million times

Your heart beat inside me
A million times
Before it stopped all of a sudden
I wonder what I did wrong

I will think of you
A million times
Wistfully in the years to come
I wonder what you would've grown to be

I will also smile
A million times
As the sorrow fades and life moves on
I wonder how the heart heals so fast

Let me say this out loud
Just this once
You gave us joy and hope for a few brief weeks
I wonder if we will ever feel complete

Originally written January 14, 2017. 

Wedding Vows

They say life is a roller coaster ride
With many ups and downs along the way
Some falls, I may be able to save you from
But some I cannot, try as hard as I may
I cannot promise the ride will be smooth
But I promise to hold your hand all through

They say two people cannot always agree
Raised as we are with different faiths and views
Sometimes, we may listen to the other and change ourselves
But sometimes, we may do what the other doesn't want us to
I cannot promise to do all that you ask me to
But I promise to always do what I think is good for you

They say the path of life has many forks
Which path to take, we have many choices to make
Sometimes we may follow the same path, holding hands
But sometimes, we may choose to walk along different paths
I cannot promise to be with you every step of the way
But I promise we will be back together at the end of every day


In every healthy relationship, including marriage, it is always good to know what you can promise, and even better to know what you cannot. 

The lady in white

"She is blue" said the one
"No, she is red" said the other
Yet another saw her in yet another color
And the fight, with each minute, grew louder

They saw her through their glasses of different colors
There was simply no way they would see her the same
The spectators, though, cheered and egged them on
For them, it was just another game!

And there she stood in the middle, the lady in white
"Truth" was the name by which she was called
She sighed and whispered (or so I thought)
"If none can see me right, do I exist at all?"

Backdrop: the polarized debates raging on in India (and the world over). Humans are inherently biased and our perceptions always distort the truth. Even if an absolute truth were to exist, our puny biased minds are incapable of seeing it. If we were to at least understand and accept this limitation of ours, the world would be a much better place. 


PS: Feels good to be back with the writing after a long gap! And I've tried a painting to capture the mood of the poem as well.

Beauty and the beholder

There it lay on the sands of the beach
A precious stone amidst worthless shards
On its outside, scars from the rough waves
Inside, a brilliance beyond words

On that beach one day walked a girl
Whose search for inspiration along the shore
Ended when she picked up the stone and saw
A beauty that no one had seen before

At that moment it was hard to say
Which was brighter - the sparkle of the stone,
Or the glint in the eyes of the girl
Because she could call that gem her very own

The devotion of an admirer is sometimes as beautiful as the object being admired itself. There is beauty indeed in the eyes of the beholder.

October 23rd, 2010.

On a somewhat related note, here is an old poem of mine from many years ago.

Goddess in Stone

I search for beauty, day and night
To quench my restless and thirsty mind
I drink from every brook I find
But I am still thirsty, I know not why

Then I see her, a goddess in stone
In the middle of a forest, standing alone
Ah, my heart, with joy it leaps
And lands itself right at her feet

Her cold eyes (as cold as stone can be)
Tainted by no feelings, desires, or need
Have a pristine beauty that only I can see
That makes my heart dance with glee

The world thinks I am insane
To waste my life at the feet of a dame
Who cannot love me the way I do
Who cannot say "I am yours too"

But I do not expect the stone to melt
Just to worship at her feet I am content
All of myself I offer at her feet
In the ocean of love I forget I was ever thirsty

August 26th, 2006.

Strength

From the roof a heavy weight hung low
Held up by strings in number three
In time the weakest two snapped and let go
And their loose ends fluttered in the breeze carefree

With the lone string holding on as hard as it can
I began to wonder if it was fair
That the world should reward the strength in a man
With the burdens that the weak cannot bear