On the Desk of Darkness
On a Monsoon Night,
The afflatus roars in clouds,
And albedo fills the sight.
In the darkened gorge,
Among the alleys
And gravelled ways,
A lass on a jade.
Apathy of her own,
Gazing upon the dog in the kennel,
Barking and crying at it.
And when she gazed and gazed upon
The dog of ash on kindlings,
A murmur of sight on her lips,
And a wet eye with a glaze.
With a jolt, she stood up —
The roar now a voice,
The sight now white,
And the white now light.
From sight to light,
And light to white.
Categories:
gravelled, 10th grade, allah, wind,
Form: ABC
Mother nature cannot quite replicate
The way Your mind perceives the universe,
The beauty's in Your eyes that shapes Your fate -
Precious, though far from perfect, and all Yours.
Well gravelled path, paved smooth, will beckon - yet,
Let Your own compass navigate You through.
To maximize Your dear destiny’s bet -
Don't minimize Your faith and trust in You.
Your attempt to mimic the perfection,
Desire to excel others comes at a cost.
In vain drive to be someone else’s reflection
Your unique charm, that no one has, gets lost.
If we, who make the change, are all the same,
Slim chance for a bright better universe.
Mankind's compelled “making a difference” claim
Relies on diverse minds - theirs, mine and Yours.
March 3, 2023
Categories:
gravelled, character, encouraging, humanity, inspirational,
Form: Rhyme
I scrub and scrub,
trying to erase stains gravelled upon my face.
Age has defined its mark,
solidified a presence in folds and furrows
raked over a once-smooth fabric now heralding me as old.
These seams line my skin,
years claimed my youth
from time I hadn't known had passed
and disappeared too fast
like thieves in the night
creeping without warning.
I smell that newness born with babes,
Oh, how it escapes me,
leaving soiled flesh in its wake.
I'm alive,
still breathing,
but it's sighs of old.
Vibrancy and youth permeate my spirit
until the mirror silently highlights worn flesh,
illuminating my face and
haunting me like a ghost
forever lurking around me.
When I peer closer I see more yet less of me,
fragments of remaining years shadow daylight gone,
like dirt disappearing from a child's face in the rain,
innocence turned to the sky,
tongue gathering pearls.
Age is dark. Quiet. Unobtrusive. Unwelcoming.
These common threads live to capture us all.
Categories:
gravelled, age, change, death, emotions,
Form: Free verse
The Hospital Asile
Like the highway as long it goes
Like the lover's longing
Like the winter's silence
Like prisoned midnight and falling dawn
Like the voyages made by Christopher
Tube lights and window panes,
Sang the lullaby.
The lone street outside,
Sleeps in the womb of night.
Nurses battling with duties and dreams
Doctors gravelled in white and faith
Staffs tested their patience and nestled
Behind the door,
Lay my ailing amma.
Her husband.
Her father.
Her pal.
Or somebody!
The shivering soul and my frozen veins seated in a long bench
Music of my tapping feet in the stained floor tryst with melancholy
Lost of fear is lost
Light of hope had perished
Just like Arctic Ocean covered by ice,
Her body covered in white linen.
And the ticking 3 AM
In the hospital asile
Elevator carried lost spirits,
Looks like ceramic sculptures.
Categories:
gravelled, 12th grade, deep, emotions,
Form: Epigram
we balanced along
The embankments edge,
And past the Dead Dog Tree.
The view from the eyes that
Flew above aerials hum
Left us down in the gravelled
Crawl. Scratch and tap among
The ash heaps and the concrete
Cracks. Left to lie in the
Heart of the seldom sun.
Categories:
gravelled, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Pain
A stand under an acidic rain,
At rest you shall melt
Change in position - continue in motion but memorise the belt
Be exothermic constantly release the heat inside
Forces of the Earth acting against thee - keep them divide
Hold on things unbranched, the bond is weak
Hold on things branched, the bond is strong
Air concentrated with reek -
Water concentrated with pong
Evaporate, through fractional distillation out of human joy
Rise above, create yours - something to enjoy
as a cloud - rain to the ground
you shall be gravelled by what you've found…
Categories:
gravelled, anxiety, dark, deep, pain,
Form: Sonnet
One tall and gaunt with hooded eyes
The other bearded, bent, time-worn and wise
They relished unfurling their intellectual sails
To seek secrets of wisdom on ancient gales
Two wizened old philosophers in a huddled conspiracy
They picked through the bones of archaic mythology
Pondered the tomes of scholars of yore
Then fleshed out the virtues of masters of lore
They sniffed out the dragons of hateful hypocrisy
Harangued and railed against heinous heresy
Decried the dogmatist's intolerant curse
Then like poets esteemed they trundled through verse
Their furrowed cheeks glowed as the whiskey flowed
Voices gravelled and slurred as their logic blurred
They fumbled and mumbled, weary and weaving
As the dying embers of day, dropped into evening
With their feverish fervour fully feted
They stumbled into the night, agreeably sated!
Categories:
gravelled, dedication, fun, philosophy,
Form: Light Verse
Just listen to the dust beneath your feet;
Its gentle voice whispers through the spring grass
Even its warming breath makes you feel complete
But its chill touch, still a sad remembrance…
Do you know where you have been brought? she said
Here where sad stones are with fresh flowers dressed.
Vibrant friends lie still, each in a neat bed,
With etched words speaking of eternal rest.
Snow drops swaying white against gritted grey
And crimson crocus spring in gravelled ways.
But dry dust is scattered in cold clay
And a vase of flowers in the breeze sways.
Here your mother lies as the world ever turns;
But still in mother nature, dust returns.
Categories:
gravelled, bereavement,
Form: Sonnet
I tread lightly on this gravelled road
And on the horizon I see
Lights, skylines to die for
Tantalized by beauty false
For distance rests between the door
And me.
And friends and brothers, enemies alike.
Pass me by, Their journey bleak
For their path is set, the common prime
Their path is set - this gravelled street.
And behind me walk a thousand more
Memories they can only be
Feet blistered by salty shores
Velvet red, but they dance a waltz
A dream of a dream, of Future
They see.
But, I tread lightly on this gravelled road.
Scavenging around for my Destiny
For distant illusions tempt me not.
The road is nought but larceny.
And empty benches line the path,
To the deaf and blind, they beckon and call
But Utopia has their senses wrapped
Too clear to see the hundred maps
That lead them from their agony.
So I wade away from this gravelled road.
To delve further, to simply be.
Present in the moment, I take a seat.
To listen to gravel, under two thousand feet,
To clap to the rhythm of their unified beat,
Dismissing the distance
Between the door and me.
Categories:
gravelled, day, future, metaphor, philosophy,
Form: I do not know?