Lost

How many times has it happened,
That we lost all hope at trifles?
How many times have we given up,
Just when things began going haywire?

We accept defeat too easily,
We surrender at first war call,
We no longer take up arms to say,
"Beware; I do not go down easy!"

Life now is so much easier for us,
Yet we refuse to face its terms,
We despair at every turn of events,
We halter at every bend the road takes.

We have lost the power to face obstacles,
We have lost the faith that we can overcome them,
We no longer look at them as challenges,
We believe them to be eternal roadblocks.

We have forgotten that we fail for sure,
Whenever we refuse to take a chance that comes by,
Until we decide to get up, take note and make a difference
We have lost the war, we count among losers!

Life

I was living a life of arrogant experience,
Knowledgeable of every move on the mat,
Each new turn of event felt all the same,
I was of the notion, "Been there, done that!"

Lady Luck never seemed to be on my side,
She had strewn my path with numerous trials,
Not many could have boasted surviving them all,
Yet I had come through completely unscathed.

I looked up at the skies and taunted,
"Is that all you have for me to go through?
I still have it in me to face them all over.
You don't give up that effortlessly, do you?"

It is then that I saw those deep watery eyes.
Eyes longing for understanding and care,
Longing for a little word of strength,
Hoping for the love that was never there.

I felt the urge to be by her side,
To make her know I was always there;
To rid those rosy cheeks of tears,
To soothe her heart with words of care.

I tried to tell her how vital she was to me
But somehow my voice choked and I failed;
All I could do was to just stand dumbfounded,
And deep within my heart copiously wailed.

I had lost my most prized possession,
Words failed me for the first time.
I no longer held the enigmatic presence,
I felt like a loser, worth less than a dime.

And then she put her hands into mine,
The smile on her lips showed she knew.
I had been able to bare my heart to her,
Though words used were scantily few.

A strange sense of tranquillity filed my heart,
Life seemed to make sense to me completely anew,
All my previous achievements didn't matter any more,
For it was only now I found the reason to excel.

Life had challenged me to a deadly duel,
And I was the one, who drew first blood,
Life found a whole new meaning for me,
From now on, Triumph was to be my companion.

Compassion

I was travelling alone in a packed train,
Surprising how lonely crowds can make u feel,
Only yesterday I was surrounded by friends,
And today, left alone to hold on to the keel.

A shrill cry broke the chain of my thoughts,
An old lady in rags was begging for money,
She was an epitome of misery and gloom,
Yet some sneered, don'’t know what seemed funny.

I put a hand into my pocket and pulled out the change
A five rupee coin was all I could stumble on there,
A quick snack fought for it with a smile of gratification
The smile triumphed hands down without another care.

Slowly she crawled up to my feet, trembling with hope
I put the money in her hand; she held it up to her eyes,
She realized it was a fiver and not the usual fifty paisa
She was speechless; happiness carried her to the skies.

All the people turned around at once and looked at me
As she showered me with heartfelt blessings of gratitude,
For most of them it was not a generous deed of good,
All they found were colossal faults with my attitude.

I heard one of them speak, "look at these kids of today,
Squandering hard earned money without wee bit shame."
The one next snapped smiling, "Why do you bother,
If their parents can afford to be part of the game."

I was shocked to hear that conversation
Were they really that heartless or ...
Or was it that we are made to think so
Was it the society that was to account for?

We no longer feel compassion in our hearts,
People who do are contemptuously vouched,
Sympathy and Affection are now strangers to us,
Pennies earned are valued more that lives touched.

How is it that we lost this gift of ours?
Love had all along been our speciality.
And look to what we have degraded now
Fighting for trifles with all brutality.

We no longer notice how love can change lives,
We no longer feel its great power of healing,
The magical touch, the countless soft smiles,
The words of wonder, the surreal feeling.

Love means more than we could ever imagine,
Yet we refuse to love the feeling of love
We are more engrossed in what we can get
Than the gifts of love showered from above.

We were not like this in the past,
We must not be like this in future,
We will learn to love all over again,
In a world where we all are together.

Believe

Believe

I opened my eyes; a thousand stared back,

They were looking at me, at my verve,

Penetrating eyes, yet not really seeing through,

Alas! If only they could see the inner strife.

I took it upon myself; I tried to reach out,

I tried to tell them, tell them what it was like,

How it felt, why it was all recurring, universal.

And not unique as they made it appear.

I spread out my arms, it hit a block,

There was nothing in front, no barrier,

Yet I could not cross over, I was stopped,

Stopped by something that wasn't there.

Time and again I hit this obstacle,

Time and again it stopped me,

An invisible wall seemed to mock at me,

I shouted frantically, "It can't be!!!"

My feelings were in a bottleneck,

Waiting to pop up and spurt out,

And spread all around in a fervent spree,

Waiting, for it would never be.

I had to give up, and sit down,

After all I had lost and they had won.

It is then that I suddenly noticed,

They had the same problems I thought as my own.

All this hatred, all this animosity,

Brothers-in-arms to brothers-at-arms,

Ready to exterminate at every minute provocation.

Is this what we really believe in???

"Are we not the Masters of this Creation?"

I couldn't help but wonder.

All that seems to matter is destruction,

We are fast approaching our biggest blunder. 

I realised I had outgrown my petty problems,

We had a lot more to worry about than my whims.

The unfulfilled desires, the expanse of tears,

The magnitude of sorrow and the broken dreams.

And yet, in some way it felt better within,

Even with all the predicament piled together.

The pain was no longer throbbing so hard,

Somehow collective grief felt that much better.

We took in that not only was the grief collective,

So were their causes, causes that tormented us all,

We also saw their remedies right in front of us,

We had to execute them jointly, lest all of us fall.

Amidst this there was a sudden realisation,

The barrier was no longer there.

It was but a mere mental projection,

I had overcome entirely unaware.

It's we, who put the barrier; it's we, who segregate,

Yet it's we who hold the key; we can open the gate.

The barrier breaks down as "I" mingles with "They",

And from it emerges "We" to show us the way.

"The way", you ask, "which way?

It is the way of hope, of faith.

Hope for the future, faith in ourselves.

The belief of a better life we can create.

We realise the similitude of destruction and creation,

How they are the sides of the same coin.

For only if there is destruction,

There can be renewed creation taking place.

The seeming futility of life gives way,

In its place comes the vigour and dynamism of action.

We learn to dream again, we learn to realise them.

All because now we know to believe!!!