Chasing Sunshine

I

A candle burns brightest

When it’s nearing the end,

And when the wind

Blows right in its face;

That is when the flame

Arches and twists, full of grace,

But fiery nevertheless.

A candle does not

Just quietly, go out,

From its meek beginning,

It peters out in style

Right before your eyes,

Its glow, ever brightening

Until it gives up.

II

To be meek and mild

Is not a failing,

But if the child within you

Is somewhat wild,

Straining against the shackles

You’ve held it in,

Unleash its fire,

And let its flame,

Light up every dark space

Of your life.

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In the middle of the day,

One wouldn’t expect

The sun to take a break,

And cease to shine,

Stopping the march of time,

That’s not done, nay!

I remember when

It did happen,

It was almost as if,

The sun didn’t exist –

That it was an elaborate myth,

That was finally exposed,

When the veil lifted

From our deceived eyes;

The birds went wild

Milling the sky,

A right melee!

If only you could see

Any of it properly,

And then,

Just when

Everyone had decided,

That the world was coming

To an abrupt end,

There was the faintest hint

Of a ring of light,

Ever expanding,

Until it revealed

The truant star,

Resplendent in its glory.

And boy, am I glad

That I lived to tell the story!

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Don’t hold on to moments,
Let them go –
Time
Is caught in a current,
With a perpetual progressive flow;
There is no going back,
The wisps of memory
That appear in a flash,
Are but a trickery,
An elaborate ruse
Posing as your muse,
As you trudge through
A mundane life,
Hoping for moments
Suspended in time
To return to you,
Through the portal of your mind;
Never quite accepting
The depth of the illusion.

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Send me to the mountains
To spend my life
In exile,
Banish me from your midst,
Where I struggle to exist,
And gift yourselves
The reset you deserve.

As for me,
I’ll roam the wilderness
Of the lonely slopes,
Breaking off wild stalks
And sucking on them,
While reflecting
To my mind’s content,
On beauty,
Found in bounty,
There on the mountains,
Where my heart
Will finally beat
A gentle retreat
From the bitter grief,
And my mind,
My aggrieved, injured mind,
Will take its time
To forget all that’s not worthwhile,
And finally heal.

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Allow
Your eyes
To flow a river
Of bitter, angry tears,
To cry,
And reveal your fears.

Resist
The urge
To hide them,
As you do often,
Don’t hold them in;
For once, just allow
Their abundant flow.

Breathe
Through your tears,
And through your fears;
Even if you’re alone,
The only one,
To live this bitter, gruesome piece;
Embrace it, all of it,
As only you can,
And through it all, just breathe.

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The little girl surveyed the mess

Broken shards and litter,

Here, there and everywhere;

Looking up to me, she said

“You are worse than me,

That’s a right melee!”

And she was right –

For the things she’d held tight,

Close to her little heart,

I’d let go of, because it hurt

To carry them;

I’d meant to ease

The increasing burden,

Instead, they lay there, broken;

And so was her little self

As if she’d never mend.

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Tired –

It does not begin

To explain

What you feel

In your being

Without and within.

Alone –

A feeling

You’ve always known

Without having

To be told

What it means.

Distance –

A measure

Of the time and space

That exists

Between you and your treasure

A sense of belonging.

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When water freezes

And loses its freedom

To gurgle over rocks,

Play hide and seek

With sunrays peeking through leaves,

Or to give a lift

To a friendly fish,

Does it mourn

The seeming downturn

Of things as they stand,

Or does it go numb,

And embrace the cold as it seeps

Through its very being,

Bowing in defeat,

And paying obeisance to the forces

That call the shots?

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A fugitive

Evading justice

Sought shelter in a dark,

Cavernous cave;

He waited for nightfall

To make an escape,

But it brought no peace

To his hammering heart,

So he retreated further,

Into the pitch black of the nether,

Until he had gone so far

That it made more sense

To find his way to the other end;

And when he finally did,

He brought light

Into the darkest corner,

Now faintly lit,

But enough to reveal

The stories etched

On the wall faces,

The same, age-old stories

Of life and death,

And of the perennial phases

Of triumph and defeat,

For these one cannot escape

Even in the darkest cave.

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Love demands no answers,

Nor does it hold captive,

It certainly seeks no ransom,

To release a restless soul

Desparate to leave,

All of that is but deceit;

And if it is love you seek,

Look for it in the bright sky

On a starry night,

Hear it in the roar

Of a sandy sea shore,

Soak it in, in the dense

Of a rainforest;

A love that will endure

Every test,

Is birthed best

In the heart of nature,

Where love shines pure.

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