Passion…unbridled

I had lived life all along

In various hues of grey

The world to which I belonged

Had night blurring into day,

And the day morphing into night

With indistinct borders all around

No sharp distinction of black and white

Innumerable shades of grey I had found

The lack of distinct hues, the blurriness

Fuelled my fertile imagination

But taking decisions was like a wild guess

The shades of grey clouded my estimations..

**

Then I met him, who idolized

The world of black and white

Life for him was compartmentalized 

Things were either wrong or right

As we united in spirit and soul

The greys merged with the monochromes

The spectrum of white and black became whole,

We welcomed it in our hearts and home.

I showed him the romance of blurry greys

He showed me the science of black and white

And so passed our collective days

With different perceptions, but functioning right!

“A compliment is verbal sunshine”- Robert Orben

I cannot help mention that the poem was inspired by my four-year old son who complimented me on my jewelry today!

The compliment that made my day

How encouraging it was, words cannot say

To the grey clouds populating my sky

It brought a silver lining, I won’t lie

Brought back in my step that spring

My confidence soared up like a swing

Beauty within me I could visualize

Fortunate was I, I did realize

Brought forth my generosity

Made me forget all animosity

Transformed me, albeit for a short while

Into a better person with a warm smile.

**

As I twirled around and did a dance

In blissful oblivion, purely by chance,

In a secluded corner of my brain

It dawned on me, evident and plain

While I basked in the compliment’s glow

My ability to compliment was quite low

My self-absorbed mind then realized

Complimenting genuinely was well-advised

And I resolved from that moment

I wouldn’t miss opportunities to compliment.

**

When I showered a lavish compliment 

I saw, to my utter amazement

A brilliant smile of contentment

And that was a reciprocal compliment!

Judgment pronounced

By life, unfair may be

Without any ounce

Of reason that you can see

Frustrating are battles

That life puts you through

You may prove your mettle

Only for life to defeat you

Why is the fight

So tough for some souls

While others sail right

Through roads full of potholes?

Mysterious are the ways

Of Karma’s revenge

Filling your days

With miseries to no end

Your hands are tied

You just watch and wait

On a roller-coaster ride

You cannot tempt fate..

An infatuation germinated

In the depths of my mind

It grew in size, and instigated

Me to turn an eye blind

To the warnings of reason:

Unchecked and untamed

With each passing season

It got deformed and inflamed

Turned into an obsession

Threatening to tear apart

Bringing, in succession

Joy and despair to my heart

The obsession catapulted me

On a roller-coaster ride

Of emotions, like a stormy sea

I had to face them, with no place to hide

The harder I tried to fight my emotions

The more they tormented me

I then gave up, just went through the motions

From the storm I sailed into calmer sea

Time and distance worked their magic

My obsession died a peaceful death

Eventually, instead of an end tragic

I painlessly put the matter to rest.

What is this life if full of care

Throughout the day we continue to stare

At screens electronic, texts, e-mail

Afraid that without them we are doomed to fail

In this competitive world, in this rat race

There is no room for a snail’s leisurely pace

Deprived of our smart phones, we feel incomplete

Wish all life’s problems were amenable to “delete”

Connectivity is paramount wherever we go

Electronic isolation would be a massive blow

We need our devices even to unwind

Hear music on i-pods to soothe our tired minds

We have our new e-lives, about which we care

Of course there’s no time to stop and stare!

P.S. This poem was written on a smart-phone on my evening commute after being exasperated by a series of texts.

I see the world change around me

An atmosphere of fear surrounds me

Fear- naked, primeval, intense

Dousing the last embers of pretense-

The pretense of equality among men

The hollow claim of love among brethren

Fear borne out of deep-seated mistrust

Simmering hatred that in a flash can burst

Releasing a lava of loathing profound

Singeing humanity, spreading evil around

Where men kill each other for minimal gain

Miserable themselves, on others they inflict pain

In an atmosphere so sharply polarized

How do we raise children unprejudiced?

They are forced to inherit hatred and fear

They grow up surrounded by mistrust severe

If not for us, maybe for future generations

We need to dispel such fear and apprehensions...

Free my soul, free my mind

From the shackles that bind

Me, within a web of worldly desire

Free me from ambition that fuels the fire

Wipe the slate of my life clean

Such that no expectations are seen

Let experiences a blank canvas color

Enrich my life and make it fuller

Let me face each sunrise sanguine

With vigor and enthusiasm genuine

And when the day is done, go to sleep

With no regrets, just contentment deep

If only this utopian life I could create

I would be the luckiest being on this planet!

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “New Skin.”

If there was one thing I could take

From the attributes of a snake

I’d like to learn to shed my skin

Periodically, with a mischievous grin

Turn over a new leaf and appear

More charming, confident, without any fear

Hide for a while my gaping flaws

With the new skin providing camouflage

There are scars within that throb with pain

Visible, they mock me in disdain

If made invisible, I can maybe

Forget the pain they arouse in me

A new skin, like a new, improved facade

Projecting a vibrant personality, a warm heart

A metamorphosis of the best kind

A change of perception, a cleansing of mind!

Preconceived notions surrounded me

Ways different from mine confounded me

I had developed tunnel vision

In rigid ideas I was imprisoned

Where did these ideas originate?

What did this narrow-mindedness precipitate?

When I dwell on these fixations of mine

No logical explanation behind them I find..

I think from my family did I inherit

These prejudiced notions without any merit

Never doubted the dictums passed down to me

Accepted them as gospel truths unquestioningly.

*

As I travel through life’s meandering pathways

Old assumptions are shattered in different ways

I should be vigilant and keep in restraint

The tendency of my mind to taint

My experiences with sprinkles of prejudice-

Such is the conditioned mind’s artifice…

Above all, I shall try my best

To hold my tongue and not express

Before my children such notions

Let them face the world with a mind open. 

If only I could portray

My world in its unembellished way

Unadorned, unedited, bare

If stark reality I could share

Ungainly sobs contorting my face

Shrieks of laughter quite out of place

Dancing to a favorite song with abandon

Cracking up at humorous memories random

Maybe, if uninhibited I could thrive

My world would appear much more alive

If I had no worries about the perception

Of others around me, here’s my confession

I would break through the barriers in my mind

Follow my heart, have a disposition kind

But here I am lost, trying to decipher

How to avoid people’s displeasure

I am imperfect in one million ways

The more I obey, the more I face

Criticism that is inconsequential

Distracting me from work essential 

Therefore today I boldly decide

I am who I am, and shall not hide

Behind a beautiful, dishonest facade

I will not let my life be a charade.

This poem is about the archaic school system that prevailed in India when I was growing up, where learning was tantamount to committing facts to memory and reproducing them during exams.

Lackadaisical in their attitude

Shuffling steps dragging their weight

No inclination to show their aptitude

They go through class in a stuporous state

Expected to learn things abstract

To memorize pages from textbooks insipid

Then regurgitate verbatim every obscure fact

During examinations, so they are not labeled stupid

No wonder they have no enthusiasm

School is nothing but a heavy burden

There is such a deep and wide chasm

Between what is taught and what is relevant

To preparing children for the real world

Teaching them to think, deduce and act

Teaching them tips and tricks for survival

In this competitive world, not teach them just facts..

Let their active imagination soar

Develop the spirit of scientific inquiry

School would  not be such a huge bore

For learning, they would develop a passion fiery.