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Palak Shrivastava Poem
The thunder struck and the heavy rains came,
He struggled for survival, fought hard.
The downpour wouldn’t stop, the streets now flooded,
the man now lay unconscious on a boulevard.
The next morning, the Sun couldn’t rise,
the clouds overpowered the garish star.
People ran for their lives and took all they could save,
But many couldn’t make it very far.
He opened his eyes two days after the storm,
Hungry, thirsty, broken from inside,
He now lay in someone’s once happy abode,
Which now was in a chaos shattered by the tides.
The clouds had finally emptied all their water,
And now gave way to the mighty Sun.
Which beamed like a king back on his throne,
But beamed on a town- lifeless and numb.
The man stood up with all his might,
Glanced across the destructed hall.
Not a single voice heard, neither a cry, nor a scream,
Had the winds and the water taken them all?
He felt a chill run down his spine,
He felt he was nearing the end,
As if everything was over and everyone was finished,
There was nothing now left to mend.
Until the words of his master suddenly came to his attention,
Came quick as a lightning and gave him a direction.
He had said when the night is the darkest my Son,
It’s time for the Sun to shine and the day to come.
Could he run for his life and turn a blind eye to this town?
Could he stay blessed if he did so?
He now had his master in front of his eyes,
Who said “Go Son, this is your time, be a hero”.
His hands trembled, his legs couldn’t move,
As he stood staring at the family picture on the wall.
The smiles and the laughs on all those faces,
Could he bring back that smile at all?
With sheer determination, he wiped his face,
Turned around and looked straight at all the chaos,
This was going to be difficult; he knew that very well,
To be able to win over all this loss.
He took his first step forward, grabbed a rod lying there,
And jumped upon a thatched roof floating away,
He rowed with his eyes searching everywhere
For anyone who was alive amidst all the rubbles of dismay.
After an hour, he had almost ten seated on that roof,
Either crying, cursing their fate or helping him row,
But he did not shed a tear nor showed the slightest worry,
Even as he pondered where did Juliet go?
Juliet was his wife, pretty, simple ad sweet,
The love of his life as he often called her.
His eyes now longed for her slightest sight,
Even as the light grew dimmer and dimmer.
The people, now about twenty, took rest in a shed,
Even as the roof looked weak and shook all night.
The man now helped all those he had gathered,
Giving first aid and speaking some words of might.
The next morning, the party left again,
left in groups of four and five.
Rowed across the town, called out to anyone out there,
And saved quite number of lives.
In the meanwhile, the man arranged for food,
Fruits hanging on trees that survived the storm,
He soothed the people and patiently about their loss,
Even as he now believed Juliet was far gone.
The creaking roof was now hanging dangerously,
The man realized that it was unsafe,
He gathered the people and sent them to a new abode,
The rains had begun again and so did the lashing of the waves.
The people took shelter in a Church a little farther,
And suddenly heard the roof of the shed fall.
The waves plunged high and the shed was destructed,
They turned around to thank the man who saved them all.
When all of a sudden, they all realized
That their saviour was not present there.
Their hearts skipped a beat when they remembered,
That he hadn’t left the shed and was still in there.
Some rowed on the wood pieces, others swam across
To save the soul who made them believe.
They prayed to God to somehow keep him safe,
Even though the possibility was least.
He still had his eyes open only to see the iron rod,
Which passed through his chest in and out,
He knew his end had come as the light grew dimmer,
He just had Juliet’s name on his mouth.
He closed his eyes as the shed went down,
Floating in the water for a while.
And then rested on the sea bed as the sand covered him,
With his face looking glorious with a smile.
When the crowd couldn’t find him, they returned to the Church,
They knew exactly who he was.
He was an angel, an incarnation of God,
Who came to bless them amidst all the loss.
And sure he was an angel and a hero too,
Coz he fought for others life before his own,
He now rest in peace as he had fulfilled his master’s wish,
And brought a smile on faces all alone!
Copyright © Palak Shrivastava | Year Posted 2017
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Palak Shrivastava Poem
I still remember the day I found you,
because that was the day I found myself.
You turned my world upside down,
It was a fairytale in which I dwelled.
I loved you much, much much more
Than I ever did love anything else.
Because you were the moon in my pitch dark sky
And the shooting star, that in my backyard, fell.
I didn’t even realize when I let down my guard,
And let you know me inside out.
I stood there with nothing but my naked heart
And never regretted or had a doubt.
I didn’t know why they said good things come to an end,
And all fairytales have a full stop.
Until the day it all changed and came crashing down
The bubble I resided in, did pop.
The reality hit us and hit us hard,
When we realized we could never be.
We were destined to break apart and forget what we had,
Become “Me” and “You” from “We”.
From then on, it’s been all about separation,
About letting you go but holding on to my heart.
About no more conversations, no more bringing smiles,
About being near the finishing line yet going back to the start.
It’s been some days, some months I think,
You’re gone only never to return.
The Sun has set, the chapter closed
But there are wounds which still pain and burn.
I have moved on, at least I think I have,
Though at times I miss you by my side.
“How you would have reacted”, “What you would have thought”,
Your laughter and the way you cried.
At times I see our pictures, our memories together
And I’m reminded of the memories we made.
Yes you’re gone, your absence does hurt
But in my mind, you will never fade.
There will be a day I will get over you,
I’ll be able to think without you in mind.
I will laugh whole heartedly, I’ll smile without pain
And someone worth I will be able to find.
I’m grateful to you for making me who I am,
For making me fall, head down.
For helping me grow stronger than I was before,
For helping me place back my crown.
For breaking me into pieces with your last goodbye,
For waking me up from my dreams.
For showing me that I could stand alone too,
Even though you hit me on my knees.
I’m sure there’ll be someone who’ll join back my broken pieces,
Who’ll bring back the life in me.
But thanks for everything mate, seriously thanks,
For being a beautiful chapter in my life’s story…
Copyright © Palak Shrivastava | Year Posted 2017
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Palak Shrivastava Poem
On a footpath of a street she lay,
It was dark outside her and inside.
Bruised hands, cut lips, dying soul,
She didn’t remember how much she had cried.
At the time he had left her and gone
And she hadn’t been ready for a goodbye.
But to him what had mattered was his career,
And she was what he called a pastime.
And how much she had cried at the time
Her parents said they were ashamed,
To have a daughter like her in this world
Who couldn’t ever keep up their name.
And cried at the time she had no one,
No one who would understand her plight.
Because everyone thought they had enough worries
And hers was maybe something simple and light.
And as she lay, almost unconscious
With all the turmoil in her head,
She decided that it was time now,
To lay herself to eternal rest.
To put an end to all the misery,
To put an end to all the pain.
To put an end to the cyclone inside her,
And never ever let it rise again.
“And that lonely night, I killed myself
I killed that girl who could see no reason to live.
And gave birth to a new life
Who had so much more to give.
I was born a girl with no parents
And a girl who had fallen for no one.
I was born without anything but the torn clothes I had,
And the desire to become someone.”
A round of applause followed and people cheered,
“I had no one by me, no one knew where I had gone.
But don’t you think it’s a different thrill
When you’re making it happen all alone?”
“But Ma’am, that day you had all the reasons to give up,
To end your life then and there.
What kept you alive that lonely night?”
A question came up from the questionnaire.
“When we hate someone to the core,
Don’t we just kill them in our heads?
Stop thinking about their existence,
Like uprooting a weed from a garden.
I was the person I hated the most that night,
For falling weak, playing dumb and expecting,
And hence I killed myself, uprooted myself
But remembered to bring alive a new human being.
Everyone has a choice either to die or start from scratch,
Either to rest in peace or stay in peace with our minds,
And I just chose the path not trodden by many
I took the road less travelled by.”
A roar of applause, “Bravo!”, “God bless”,
were showered as she came down the dais,
The CEO of the established firm then autographed
The books held by her many admirers.
She wiped her eyes that night and looked up at the stars,
It was a night like this when God had given her the strength.
To take the road less travelled by,
And that had indeed made all the difference.
Copyright © Palak Shrivastava | Year Posted 2017
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