I was told I began—
so I assume I am.
No proof—
only a feeling.
Only learned assumptions,
repeated until they
find a foothold, and hold.
Ground gives—
footing slips and slides
taking sides.
Floundering with truth
devoid of scaffolds
the self loosens its chains.
What’s held firm dissolves
to what this is, now it questions.
Failing again and again—
the whys and wherefores
outlive the free fall
without a chute,
without a ripcord.
Certainty petrifies—
the floundering
within the foundering.
What the teacher taught stands tall
until something breaks it—
and even then,
doubt breaks what's real,
into a simple reflex reactions.
Beauty—
held in the eye
vies with
eye-spy-with-my-little-eye
to catch the beholder's drift.
And in that loosening—
the floundering deepens,
the foundering drifts away
from the its mooring
on the foundation.
Ignorance, confidence you need--
Just two things in life to succeed.
Mark Twain said this long back
Of crackpots on one track,
Here’s Trump, out to prove Mark Twain’s creed--
He, whose ignorance vies
With his confident lies,
Chickens out in the end indeed!
____________________________
Happenings |20.09.2025| Humour, politician, USA
Ever since we called thee as grief O Life,
Heavy hast thou turned, light as leaf O Life.
Not sprightly, but nigh painful do thou feel
As if ye climb up a stiff cliff O Life.
Hence, thought up I have this remedial pill:
To bestow thee boost of life brief O Life.
In this world, unfortunate seems just he
Who vies with thee with needles tiff O Life.
The long and short of life be this, O life,
As is with guest, so with life brief O life.
___________________________
Ghazal | 25.07.2025 | life, brief, grief
?Black soil 'n' seeds
?Black waters
?Black axe
?Black trees
?All grew the girl into a woman
?
?Black house
?Black home
?Black hue
?Black terrain
?All grew the boy into a man
?
?Black weather
?Black wind
?Black storm
?Black war
?All grew the feeble into a strong one
?
?Black strips black
?Black bruises black
?Black vies against black
?Black beats black black 'n' blue
?All makes the good to snap
?
?Black is beautiful
?Black is not bad
?Black makes for sovereign peace
?Black is mother earth
?Black breeds beautifully brave babies
Written July 14, 2025, for contest Sponsored by: Robert James Liguori
************
So tiny, yet so vast: a square of purple flame,
A postal stamp formed from forever lame.
Houses at its center a half-cast, cloudy glass,
Trapped in a gilded cage of grief and lilac crevasse.
Bedecked in the hue of storm-light, a figure stands,
A gaze carved from ache, hair as comet strands.
Static roses, suffused in blue, stood behind,
Each petal burned by cords, yet spirit did not mind.
Rain doesn't soak into his skin or asphalt as he vies,
Yet, unshed tears flow from the dream to the sky.
The water leaves his clothing with faint rings,
But in this dampness, nostalgia unfurls its wings.
O, how you bend and blaze, purple witness—
A design firmly woven into the yarn of threnody.
Your quiet strength lingers as words fade,
A melody that pain cannot shatter or jade.
Let this stamp be a symbol in all mortal prayer—
For timid souls who dare not weep amid silk fare.
A poignant lament for love wrapped in mauve grief,
A message sent to a visitor, destined for the glyph.
What today weighs light in your life
Would one day swell, feel fairly rife,
Pages of your life, getting full,
Would look ever so beautiful.
What seems today unknown to you--
You who has not known what is love--
Would when love sparkles with its hue,
Leaving today out of my groove,
I feel lost but not of my hope,
My love still gives you a long rope--
A rope that ties
Defies,
Vies.
_________________________
Musings |21.02.2025| love
Note: Time was when love was burning bright, but unreciprocated. It slowly lost vigour, a fact reflected here by diminishing size of the stanzas, and yet…
What avail his vim,
Fulfilled dream, world at his feet
If lost he has him.
What good his great goal,
What, if his fame headlines hit
If lost he’s his soul.
What, all power and puff,
What if world vies, him to greet,
Should his voice call bluff.
_________________________
Senryu |11.07.2024| self/soul
July 20 Praises to God Bible Meditations Based on Proverbs 24-26
Key Verse – Proverbs 24:21 My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change.
PRAISE BE TO GOD FOR ADMONISHING US
TO FEAR HIM REVERENTIALLY
Praise be to God for admonishing us to
fear Him reverentially to overcome:
Mischievous persons with their meddling pestilence
Mishandled pressures due to mocking pleasures
Mismatched plans midst misbehaving posture
Mistaken plaudits caused by mystifying ploys
Misjudged pursuits along melting poverty
Proverbs 25:22 Praise be to the Lord for
rewarding us for our:
Heart of honour
Hope against hell
Help for the helpless
Hunger toward holiness
Hatred against haughtiness
Proverbs 26:10 Praise be to the Saviour for
rewarding us toward:
Victory from being a victim
Venture that vies over void vices
Virtuous vanquishing with our vow
Valuable vigour against vicious vanity
Valiant voyage against voluminous vexations. Amen!
July 20, 2024
Rosey, had a rose of course
And Dan had Dandelions.
Sonny sought out Sunflowers
And Pete perfumed Petunias.
Maisey dreams of Daisys,
Cyrus clings to Iris.
Pops loves Poppys everywhere and
Viola vies for Violets.
Amy loves the Amaryllis
While Dolly dallies Dahlias.
Don’t miss Miss Chrysanthemum or
Aly’s awsome Alyssum.
James with Jasmine ran and
Percy picks the Jersey Lily.
Casey cares for Camelia and
Phyllis leaps through Lilies.
Angie’s all “Angelica” while
Bob boasts of Blossums.
Fiona’s Flora flies and
Abe craves more Azalea.
Beatrice bathes in Begonias and
Cassie crafts with Calia.
Goodness, 300 flowers or more!?
Oh distain, I’m out of names!
No more room for blooms
I’ll stop meddling, and “petal” on.
I have been here much too long.
I ache for a varied vies of the stratosphere
A spin on the rings of Saturn
Bar hopping on the Milky Way
I know way too much about you
Earthlings,
Making love
Under the glow of a dead moon
A cancer
Destroying
the celestial body
you rely on for sustenance.
I came to monitor your actions
In “The Great War”
(as if a war could be great).
You still have our attention
I shall be leaving
My hope is
That you awaken
To your insanity
For my replacement
Will be much less tolerant
Of your antics.
Words tumble like dice,
nonsense vies with sense.
Life plays hide and seek
with itself.
An artisan mixes clay,
gathers new mud,
spits into it.
He molds a prayer,
words shape themselves.
Each word is a fractal,
of a pregnant womb,
not all, but all the parts
appear
for his seeking hands
to gather in and structure.
Later, once the clay has set,
the worker will craft a cradle,
to reveal the truth of mud.
Ye miss O thou man in mindless vain mirth
That every shade comes from His rainbow's range,
Ye no more than copy Nature, no change,
The picture ye paint scarce depicts thy worth,
Nor music—when His notes ye rearrange,
The mind ye use bestowed hast He at birth,
Not a miracle art thou ‘pon this Earth,
A smart machine at best and scarce so strange.
Take heed, should ye hail thy highly hung head?
Feel not so proud on thy mind's pompous powers,
Ye might have made some tallest of towers,
Not one vies with what Creation has made.
Get down from thy vainest pedestal, then,
Think, willed by whom ye wield thy will O man.
___________________________
Sonnet | 01.08.2008 |
Poet’s note: The last line of this sonnet reflects what is said in the very first verse of Kena Upanishad: Kena eam patati pream manah… Willed and directed by whom is thy mind enlightened?
Diametric …
art and commerce
Twining symbols
colors adverse
Yin & Yang
divergent segues
Each stigmatic
bloddy payday
Fraternal image
Louvre / Montmartre
Black tie bidding
cobbled heart
A poor man sings
a rich man vies
On bartered canvas
—truth defies
(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)
Hollow odes lament where waves crash depthless
Oh! How ocean lacking light spills woe so!
Lackluster grays wail unkempt longingness
Lone stander bleeds the dreams of times ago
O'er the screaming wind, a seagull's bleak cries
weeps of cloudiness usurping the day
Heaven's warmth obscured, and now coldness vies,
overwhelming where vast emptiness slays
Left purposeless, wavering dark takes hold
looping tight a lynch-like corrosive noose
Otiose life sucks vim where sharks enfold,
wrecked in sunless abyss of night let loose
But Sol, unconquerable, beams once more
and the lighthouse sings, full of birds from shore!
(6/10/18)
Open secret, we cannot share
Even though we wish to
Very few dare, with truth to pair
To shed past, learn anew
Right here, before our eyes
As love for love so vies
God within our heart sighs
None may ferret
Open secret
14-December-2021
Quietus
Sub Categories
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