Our lives may be parallel but
our personalities and attitudes
are quite different.
we have both been successful in
what we do, but have used
methods that suited our journeys.
you do what you do that best suits you,
I am what I am for what defines me.
we do not need to clash with
our differences in our experiences,
we can share the satisfaction of
our achievements.
if we can learn to live with our
mutual sense of happiness and well
being, there is much joy to be spread.
So when we meet, let us have a consensus
of opinion, based on mutual respect,
so we can have a meaningful dialogue,
where our bond is strengthened by
understanding,
and our lives enriched by stability,
further journeys made easier,
that fill our spaces with peace,
we can still walk away with our
differences and attitudes.
Life is a successful field
if we learn to curb our wild instincts,
and learn to respect each other’s charms
and the need to keep our differences.
You may find it empty mirth,
Or some meaningless chatter,
But for how so vague its worth,
I choose to write this letter.
Let me tell you, my old man,
What ‘tis that makes one human.
I scarce know if it’s better
To talk, or write a letter,
But as is self, puffed with pelf,
Rare, it listens to the Self.
To me it’s such a pity
That we humans should know not
What constitutes humanity!
Minus money, its colour,
Prestige or be it power,
Caste or community,
And whatso else and any,
Save, O man your dharma
And born of it your karma,
Then take what’s left as balance—
Which, still is quite so immense,
That is man’s humanity.
____________________________
Monologue |02.09.2021| Free verse
Poet’s note: The true self always tries to be in touch with the pretender self, call it one’s ego, but as it happens it hardly listens. And out of frustration it chooses to write a letter. Yes, it is only a monologue, for I think, no meaningful dialogue is possible with a pretender.
For Letter to your Future Self Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Silent One
We heard the screams.
Water to water,
fire to fire.
It was not marginal pain.
A meaningful dialogue
had started in unhinged doors.
The house is empty.
You come out from nothingness
to share the slogans.
The country wakes in the eye of guns.
Someone was fishing in troubled
waters. The bread becomes crazy.
Under the black moon
the white, hungry mouths.
A sacrifice !
Satish Verma
Breaking the boundaries,
you released energy.
Life was an immense emptiness
with dotting of pain and sorrow.
Counting did not help.
You had to escape
to painless unawareness.
Nameless you moved,
unacknowledged, unsung.
Humility became a meaningful dialogue,
reverberating in the creative minds.
The contentment
did not need any followers.
The occult gratification,
did not need any fame.
The cessation of agony
and anguish was important
for becoming.
Love and compassion became palpable;
when your heart poured,
when silence became eloquent,
when words become phrases.
And intelligence moved
beyond transcendence.
SATISH VERMA
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