our silences need not be jarred by talk, our journeys together being not a race, but rather a peaceful walk,
it is simple, just heart to heart, and soul to soul,
for that is all it takes to render our lives whole … …
Archive for October, 2016
”I’ve walked many a mile, alone, desolate, aimless”, I said.
“not anymore”, she said with a smile,
“we have found each other, even though it may have taken a long while”.
the rains are welcome,
infusing roots of trees, lightning blazes, a cacophonous tapestry of jagged fireworks,
and yet, and still,
the leaves shudder … …
alone, I swim, thrashed by the tides, while high above me a solitary albatross glides.
alone no more, soothing me to my very core,
i hope for days and nights far more placid than those that have passed before … …
we walked a while. she took my hand in hers, our fingers clasping, all else faded, except the hope onto which we both were grasping … …
… …
navigating the path ahead, negotiating the thorns scattering the cold bleak ground,
we walk oblivious of the ravages of tomorrow, not knowing the catapults of bliss and of sorrow,
seeking only peace and contentment here in this torrid realm, adrift at times on waters choppy, hands tied far away from the helm,
yet and still, hope breathes in, the soot of departed yesterdays, seeking evermore the promise of uncharted pathways,
yes, hope breathes, infusing fresh air banishing the stale putrid stench,
urging us ever onwards, imploring us to grab each day, from the detritus of the past,
stilling the mind,
now, today … … …
”we will weather the storms of fate, we shall face the howling winds of life, together“, she said.
what could i say.
i took her hand in mine.
”let’s leave this place, far away from barbed jibes spewed forth and callously said, taking another route where we may peacefully tread”,
“let’s”, I said,
banishing the coldness both jabbing, weighing us both down like lead”,
“let’s”, she said, whispering in my ear, “let’s seek our slice of heaven, far from the reality so filled with words saying it all, though unsaid”.
“let’s”, I whispered, with pain and sorrow no longer filling our paths, strewing our days and nights with cruel dread”.
“let’s”, we both said.
1.
a path leads,
to where wild grasses grow,
sashaying in the summer breeze.
2.
along the path,
lightness settles within,
feeling the grass,
swooning,
tickling ankles,
swaying to lilting bird-song,
a dance of intimate abandon,
brushing remnants of pain away.
3.
melodies float across fields of green,
delicately caressing my heart,
teasing emptiness to flee,
comforting the mind,
to silently be.
4.
walking on,
savouring the peace,
a momentary respite,
casting off burdens of the now,
all is quiet,
a stillness cradling fractured emotions,
the grass in the fields sway,
dusk descends,
shadows lengthen,
nudging dimming light to take leave of the day … … …
dusk falls,
sprinkled shadows lengthen,
shrouding the evening,
cloaking wildflowers, wrapped in idyllic darkness,
awaiting a new dawn
… … … the sounds of thoughts clattering, my neurons sparking,
like Dylan said, my morning recedes jingling and a-jangling,
worn down by this leaden knot, tearing my insides out,
the cacophony drowned in a whisper, lost in a silent shout,
dreams and screams scratching the back of my dry throat,
caged in, liberation hovering like a mirage beyond the moat.
I claw my way, slowly, through a thicket of solitude,
feeling my emotions peeling, stung by unseen nettles,
crawling to an open field, to rest, beneath a sky ablaze with stars,
as my mind glides, brushing the soft grass as it peacefully settles … … …
”I’m torn”, I said,
walking these desolate boulevards, cut by splinters of glass shards,
“I’m torn too”, she said,
so let us walk together, at times alone, buffering our hearts from turning to stone,
let us walk hand in hand, though painful it may be to hold firm, to make a stand,
“I’ll walk with you”, she said, if we share a couple of laughs, amidst the tears,
“We’ll walk together”, embracing the onslaught of the years … … …
Today, as our thoughts and tears and love flow to our beloved President Nelson Mandela,
We, human-beings the world over,
say thank you, Madiba!
Thank you for your life, a life of principle,
a life of struggle,
of torture, of pain, of loss,
of a selflessness that you have embodied so completely.
In this often cold and callous world,
where we have been jaded by war, by intolerance, by racism, prejudice, and so so much economic and social injustice,
your living spirit shall live on!
your body, that has endured so so much,
your heart, your mind, your very self, which injustice and tyranny tried so hard to break,
shines on!
Your spirit shines and shall be the torch that we, your children the world over,
shall carry forward…
you may be struggling for life today,
but you have breathed life,
into the hearts of countless downtrodden people this world over.
I don’t know what to say,
my heart breaks today,
I want to cry, and I am crying now,
with a sense of loss and of sadness that I have felt when my mother passed away,
I cry for my loss, selfishly,
but I know you have walked the long walk to freedom,
the long and arduous walk from struggle and sacrifice to healer and peacemaker and statesman and father, yes,
father to us all…
I will miss you, My father,
I will miss your comforting presence,
I shall miss your smile,
and mostly I shall miss the gentle solace that you imbibed in us all,
your children the world over…
Live on, you shall, Madiba!
in the shacks of the Sowetos of the world, you shall live on in that eternal quest for economic freedom,
in the eyes of the pained and tortured,
you shall live on!
in the whispered prayers,
the silent thoughts,
of the dispossessed of this world who still continue to be left behind in this cruel world,
you shall live on!
Thank you, Nelson Mandela, as you make your way to join the ancestors,
Hamba Kahle Comrade President Nelson Rolihlahla “Madiba” Mandela!
Travel well, and go peacefully … … …
I am the hope that soars across the savannah,
the tears in a mother’s eyes,
the hunger in a child’s belly,
the soot off the miner’s clothes,
I am hope despite.
despite the pain,
despite the deprivation,
despite the struggle for a meal,
I am Africa.
I am hope … … …
3 of my poems in the latest issue of ‘The Thinker’
✌👍✊
the rose and the dew ( gulab aur shabnam )
soothing dew of the dawn, teases the rose in the mist of new morn,
nourishing the rose, encased in a dewy sheath, drops of soothing dew tease tendrils of each leaf,
soothing flowers, the dew banishes the night, in soft hues of exquisite early light:
you are the dew to my solitary leaf, seducing my soul with loving belief,
and I, I revel in the balm of your solace, shunning the pain of this world, with welcome relief … … …
Scribbled Verse 
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