The Poetry Marathon

I am flawed
Very much so
I make mistakes
A lot of them too
I stumble and fall
With nothing in my path
And don’t even ask
About responsibilities and tasks!
I am easy to anger
I can be mean
Though just as easy to appease
With cakes & ice-cream.
I am flawed
I know
But that’s what makes me
Human
Very much so!

I weave
day in, day out
stars
galaxies
humans
whatever comes to mind
I weave
with help of morning dew threads
light as snow above
sturdy as boulders below
threads are good
threads understand
I only create
the rest is up to them
if they stitch, heal or ensnare
what’s that to me
when I just weave?

one’s happy ending is built upon
many, many more sad ends

for you, who now, stands on a pedestal
didn’t you lose your sleep to get there?

and the one who is revered by the crowds
didn’t they lose their right to act human?

you fell, you cried, got hurt, tried again
tears were the only warmth you received on cold, cold nights

yet now you are here, above it, above all
but didn’t you lose a part of yourself to be here at all?

your days of happiness is built upon many more
days of sadness, pain, loss, grief and despair

But why linger on that past now that you are finally here…
happy, content, serene… but are you?

There it stands
But not really
It’s a tree without legs
A rootless tree

A rare sight in wild
Something that shouldn’t survive
Yet still it does and thrives
Showing off a crown of lush green

But how and why?
Something that’s so beyond reason?
Maybe, maybe not
You see, it’s not alone

Another tree stands by its side
Complete with healthy roots
And sturdy trunk, which it uses
To support its friend in need

Humans, I think, are similar
We survive because we band together
We thrive because we grow together
So why must we fight?

Let’s all be like the healthy tree
And share our roots,
With our brothers and sisters
So they can survive as well

And thrive!
Like that rootless tree.

When I was a little girl
My grandma used to tell me
Stories of times past
And people that lived long before me

Stories of kings and queens
Warriors and sages
Stories with lessons
And sometimes, a little reason

Parables from Ramayana & Mahabharata
Stories of Buddha and Guru Nanak
Tales of morality from Panchatantra
And of course, tales from her village of old

My favourite was Dukko
(That’s what you call a super old lady)
And her goats four with names all funny–
Hudere, Huneel, Hulay, Huran

Once two thiefs, all cunning & mighty
Decided to steal Dukko’s goats
Oh what a tragedy!
For the old lady had no one but them

But as they approached her house
Late one night
The goats started bleating
And woke up their old lady.

As the first goat spoke
Dukko called– “Hudere”?
The thieves were shocked!
“Did she just say- Who is there”?

Not wanting to take a chance and being discovered
Both crouched down, so as to avoid Dukko’s nazar
But as the second goat spoke
Dukko called– “Huneel”?

The thieves more shocked than ever
“Did she just ask- who is kneeling”?
Let’s not take a chance and lie down
Then no way she can see us here

But as they did so, the third goat spoke
And Dukko asked– “Hulay”?
The thieves were both now frightened
“She can see us, she asked who lays there!”

And thus throwing away thoughts of stealing
They both started to make a run for it
When the fourth goat spoke
And Dukko called – “Huran”?

“She can see us still!
Asking who is running!
She must be a witch!
Let’s not come back here!”

And thus the thieves ran away
Without looking back
While the goats bleated happily
All was at last safe!

Note: Here ‘Nazar’ means sight

(Based on hour 13 text prompt)

Misfortune falls unexpectedly
You are just there
Going about your life
When suddenly
The world turns upside down

You question –
Why me
What did I ever do
Wasn’t I good enough
A human just striving to survive?

You look on as time passes
As friends leave you behind
As everyone questions
What’s wrong with you
As everything falls apart

You try and pick up
The broken pieces
Try and recreate
The complete picture
But some pieces are lost forever

Crying and despair
Scorn and loneliness
The feeling of drowning
While people stand and watch
Scoffing– how come you can’t swim?

And then, in the deepest despair
Through the depths of ice water
That suffocates you
Reaches out a hand
Do I finally have a friend?

Someone who cares and understands
Teaches you how to swim
Accepts you for all your mess
They don’t care if you don’t put up a front
Just for the sake of it

They know and they are here
And if one thing you gained
Going through all the trauma, guilt and despair
Is a friend who will stand by your side
Even in the face of misfortune.

People like people who are positive
Fun to be around, complete human
You and your demons and your broken pieces
Still have a place to go, to call home
A person that misfortune gifted you.

How to keep a room
warm without fire or electricity?

When the people closest to you
gather in one place –

Warmth comes naturally!

In the eleventh hour
It rises
The water bearer
With its vessels that carries
Life itself
Flowing,
Adapting,
Nourishing,
Destroying
The water is life
And death in itself
Though the bearer himself
Doesn’t know
The power it holds
The power it wields
On the circle of existence itself
For it just carries the source
Every eleventh hour
As it rises
Day in , day out
the vessel that carries
Life itself.

A new day arrives
And you can’t hide
In the warmth of night
Anymore
You must go out
And about your life
Even as you put
Your brave face on

A new day arrives
And you still need to survive
Go out and about
With all the fear and doubt
But go you must
It’s the part of life
So put your
Brave face on

A new day arrives
A new chance to thrive
Even as world goes on and on
It’s a part of life
You can’t always cry
And more often than not
You gotta put your
Brave face on.

Humans die, we all do
Then it’s time for burial
Returning from where
We came too

A body made of elements
Back to elements we go
The choice of how
Is already made for you

Some by fire
Burn away sins,
Only Ash
to remember you by

Some in water
Going with the
flow of life
Till the bitter end

A few through sky & air
Becoming food
To replenish the natural world
As it once did you

And many more still
Who are laid to rest
In the lap of Earth
And bidden goodbyes

But no matter what
Burial you recieve
You were here and you have lived
Death is just yet another beginning.