Truths

Ask a famished kid
in any deprived ghetto
deep within
the bowels of the world

and he will say
starvation
was not his choice
poverty
was not an alternative.

But the devil
says
the choice
was yours.

Change motivates,
motivations change
change responds,
responses change.

The power to choose
is still yours.
Ask a famished kid
in any deprived ghetto.

----
"piece.of.mind"

Journey to the Past

I retrieved an old verse that I had written and posted in my college yahoo group as a parting message. The poem was not bad, but my comments seemed too naive :-p. I'm not sure whether this is any indication of how much I have grown as a person in the last five years. But, I think that's what the poem talks about.

Embark often
On a journey to the past
Relish moments
Irretrievably lost.
Stop there!
Never trigger worry
And make
Clocks walk backwards.
Change freshens you
As you adjust to it;
What place
Do memories hold,
How stale
Do things become,
If time stops?!

Wed Aug 20, 2003 6:40 am

Finer Balance

FINER BALANCE

pierces in
the sword

as i attempt
to balance

mountains
on the sharpest edge*

nothing

except
the resurgent gumption

to hell
with the world

compels me
to strike

harder

cut the tide
in two.
---
*(sharpest edge = 'muhlmuna')

You're going right

hello.
i really hope you don't become
depressed at this moment.
you shouldn't.
you have so much to live for
and you've always had.

doing everything that did not happen
automatically to you
so that someone else
has an easier path to his dreams
has been your dream all along.

it's good that you understand
the basic insecurity of people.
especially when precariously poised
at one edge of a hanging bridge
without option but to remain so
because they fear the lurking tiger ahead
and hungry alligators in the lake below.
you don't want to join them, do you?

believe me, your aims are too different from the rest.
as you move relentlessly
across such situations
facing victory
against the greatest obstacles
and failing at the last moment
when your end is at sight
you know there is neither victory nor loss
nothing is difficult
and nothing is important
and your thoughts become loftier.

you will return to the world
where you have time for everything
and do what you always liked to.
you'll be the thinker.
who, one day, will not need thought.
and you won't be sad in doing so.
and never shall you look back
and spill a tear.
now, you cannot.

The Contagion

THE CONTAGION

How long will you yawn?
As long as I long.
How long will you long?
As long as I am.

How long are you?
The mean of my shadow.
How mean is your shadow?
It depends on the light.

How light is light?
Light has some matter.
How does it matter?
Like the matter in space.

How much is the space?
A few feet, not more.
How many feet?
As many as the runners.

How do they run?
They run with the current.
How are they current?
They read all the news.

How, if the news ends?
They just start to yawn.
How long will they yawn?
As long as they long!
----
"piece.of.mind"