Passion…unbridled

I thought highly of my skill at parenting

Showing my child reality was wise

I spared him from fantasy,  unrelenting

In my efforts to portray truth before his eyes

So there was no mention of Santa, or elf or a fairy

No presents left under the Christmas tree

Fantasies are futile, reality can be scary

Facing it early,  he would more equipped be

To survive in this world, and success achieve-

This is what I had assumed throughout

With strong conviction I continued to believe

That I was raising a mature individual, no doubt..

**

The turning-point came to me one day

When my child picked out a book extraordinary

Despite my aversion to fantasy, I could not say

That “Alice in Wonderland” was forbidden territory

As we turned its pages together, one by one

Amazed was I by my child’s transformation

His imagination ran wild, in every direction

He conjured up stories testing my comprehension.

Enchanted by this tale he made an effort

To read all the words, and sharpened his skills

I then realized, shaken out of my zone of comfort

He had learnt quite a bit in the midst of these thrills-

Seeing his eyes light up with wonder

I realized how myopic my vision had been

So together our duo decided to plunder

Treasures of mythical variety previously unseen

I discovered the joy of losing myself in

A world fabricated out of imagination

And the deeper we continued to delve in

The more it came to me as a revelation-

Instead of teaching my child as I thought

My child was the teacher, and I the taught!

The golden sunsets we watch together

The stories we invent with each other

Imagination of each one working in tandem

Piecing together thoughts picked at random-

Silly games that together we conjure

Shaking with laughter to our very core-

For the thousandth time, I pause to marvel

At my golden luck, as I see the sparkle

In your smiling eyes that has me spellbound

In your exuberance, love for life I have found..

**

These moments are transient, I’m acutely aware

Soon you will change, the idea gives me a scare!

So I try to capture each moment you spend with me

On camera, on paper, quite industriously!

**

You have taught me to live in the moment

To enjoy silliness of make-believe and pretend

You’ve given me  hope and a new perspective

In dispelling my gloom, you are always effective!

Maybe a misfit, a rebel am I

In this world of complexities galore

All I want to do is simplify-

I am tired of constantly hunting for more

Adding more variables to every equation

Acquiring devices of increasing sophistication

Adding more “features”, more “applications”

Labeled indispensable for life’s “simplification”..

Inherent is the implication that life before

These gadgets was difficult and complicated

Technology today has opened new doors

Leaving older ways of living quite antiquated..

**

In my quirkiness, I beg to differ

With each novel device and application

Life which used to be a shade simpler

Acquires a deeper hue of elaboration

Devious is the way this process operates

Creating a need where none existed

Then there is a simple process that satiates

This artificial need- the logic is twisted!

**

Increasingly enslaved by technology

My jaded mind just wants to break free

Downsize, declutter, simplify is my ideology

I strongly recommend one or more of the three!

Orange hues of the winter sun

Percolating through the blinds open

Reminding me of the night before

When my deepest desires did I explore

Waking up with an enigmatic smile

Oblivious of the world for a while

With days bathed in love, nights in passion

Dreaming of spending my life in this fashion

**

Those halcyon days have since then

Vanished without a trace from my horizon

Honeymoon phases do not last long

Time tends to feeble desires strong

The rays of the wintersun now remind

Me of morning madness to be on time

Passion, romance are concepts elusive

The monotony of daily life is not conducive

To spending nights drenched in passion

And wake up feeling unrestrained elation

Once in a while I long for those days-

Of losing myself in a dreamy haze

**

Knowing the experience will never quite be

A treat to the senses like it used to be

That passion I now try to recreate

In my writing so that I can satiate 

A longing to preserve the past as it had been

And be more enthusiastic for the future unseen

Writing liberates me and lets me be

From all constraints of age and time, free!

**

May I go ahead and audaciously suggest

To try writing instead of seeking a therapist

When mid-life crisis looms large over you

Penning down your thoughts may carry you through!