Resilience
poetry
Grant me Solace
They say it’s important
To acknowledge your feelings,
Mine burn deep
Searing like a heated knife.
Sadness, disappointment
Futility mixed with
Mayhem and barbarianism
The anguish insufferable
Simultaneously we are
Isolated, quarantined
Where will this all end?
Man’s eye like a microscope,
Disproportionately viewing life
Distorted by imagination
Enlarging the illusion.
With no regard
For the ‘third’ eye,
Where lies his clarity
Abundant and beyond compare.
I pray for a united return
Of humanity,
Kindness and peace
Simple joys.
Where greed, power
Egotism are quelled voluntarily,
As realized that we are nothing
But dust in the end.
Yet here we are,
Kings and queens
In a moment in time,
And granted pleasures in multitudes.
What can be that deciding factor
Whether we live in peace and harmony
Or divided and disgruntled?
Gazing up into the sky
The sun, moon and stars peacefully
Focused, levitate and orbit
Constant in their mission.
Down here on earth
I see the equilibrium of nature,
Of which I am a part
With a privy to consciousness.
Herein lies my blessing and solace,
For not only can I sing and dance along,
But also acknowledge the Orchestrator
The One to whom I benevolently belong.
Voices vs Noise
My thoughts inspired by the RBG and current noise.
I speak
For when children
We’re only meant to be seen.
Obedience seen as a great virtue,
Not of the child
But perfect parenting.
The child conditioned
That those in authority , if happy,
Lead to their happiness.
I speak
For the young girl
Who has always waited second in line to the boy.
I speak
For the ethnic amongst us,
Chastised and ridiculed for our natural differences.
I speak
For the elderly, the poor, the veterans,
All those who’s voices are dismissed.
I speak
For all we have misunderstood,
For all we have had a hand in the making.
And now, I not only speak
But pray,
For a call to our senses, our consciousness.
With the raising of that conscious voice,
Only then will any speech
Be worthy for the time given to listen.
Rakshabandan
You arrive and greet
This morning of Rakshabandan.
As always, in full bloom
With unequivocal light and love.
This symbolic yellow rose
Stops me in my tracks
As you, brother, embodied
It’s rich depth and warmth.
Saving me from my sorrow
I see how love transverses all.
Physically no longer side by side
Yet our spirits still unite.
Our bond is clear
My brother dear,
As you remain with and between us,
Your loving sisters.
Today is Rakshabandan, the day of celebrating the bond between a brother and sister. The yellow rose is the symbol, my two sisters and I chose, that represents our departed beloved brother, Dipak.
From an unknowing third party, what should the universe send my way today of all days, but a yellow rose surrounded equally by three buds! What an image of our sibling unity!
Genius Loci- Spirit of a place
What gathers together
Giving rise
To that one feeling
Of being in the right place?
No words needed
As all in the glance
Is acknowledgement, respect
Perhaps even an adoration.
Flourish here
Does the calm,
The peace
More so a mutual love.
Bestow on the self
The same gratuitous presence
And feel yourself at home
Welcomed, received and loved.
Here lies a bond
With no bondage,
A relationship
With no need for any rules.
Belief and faith perhaps
The stepping stones for most,
But this inner knowledge is to be reached
With an ardent and persistent thirst.
Let then the magic
From the ultimate connection
Release it’s power supreme
Second to no other.
So accept and harness
Your own ‘Genius Loci’
And bask in the stream
Of the greatest of loves.
Original artwork of myself and my companion of a short time, Duchess, who claimed my backyard as her home for the last two and half years of her life.
Nature’s Valentine
With your eyes upon me
I stand in your trance
Delicate, supple,
Dare I say, beautiful
Your kindness showers a light
What you see is your reflection
Except you think
The beauty belongs all to me
Together we beam
Bouncing energies that gleam
Much like chicken and egg
Where does this beauty begin and reside?
Universal is this beauty’s light
So easy to see in nature’s delights
Yet if so omnipresent
Why so hard to accept
That we are part of the same exquisite design
Come, my admirer
Share with me your heart
So that I may too
See my reflection
Then with such an embrace
Of love, light and beauty
Gratitude can reign
And we both shall have truly lived
Returning Old Friend
Left guessing each morning
As the night sky lingers,
Sun rising faster elsewhere
You tease your arrival.
Tickling the leaves
At the tips of weighted branches,
Sway is soft, sometimes brisk
Ghost-like you change the air.
Mid morning telling
With full force brightness,
Your are not quite ready
To come and stay.
Waiting for your signs
With warm hues of amber and burnt orange,
The longing deepening
For what only you can deliver.
Trees will be crowned
With jewels to be shed,
Giving comfort
And rustle to my feet.
Fall you arrive
Bringing time to reconnect,
As the hearth becomes
The gathering spot.
Time for reflection
Three quarters in,
The year almost done
What’s happened? what’s yet to be done?
Lists never completed
Bewildering and unforgiving,
Instead let’s give thanks
To each day, each season.
Thank you my old friend
You teach how to shed,
Keep gratitude close
And revive for seasons to come.
Alone in the Crowd
A profound problem prevails
Not of drugs,
Alcohol or sex
But of attention.
With lack of stillness
Abandonment of eye contact and listening
Value is lost
In the one on one.
With quality misperceived
Defined by quantity of ‘likes’
Distances traveled
Selfies with monuments.
This scarce commodity
Briefly given
Desperately craved
Now sought for in the unlikely.
These gadgets abundant
Handheld to worn,
Closer than keys
More valued than currency.
What have we become
When what we need
We’ve found in a mode,
Which serves only to perpetuate the disease.
With false sense of belonging
In a crowd yet alone
Hoping to be heard
Yet not a word is exchanged.
“Pictures are worth a thousand words”
But today we cry
No more pictures!
Just give me a moment
And few real words.
Hardest Love
Learning to love
The ‘hardest’ person
In your life
Will be The greatest achievement.
To love this ‘hardest’ person
Means to Accept
Their weakness
Their faults
Their idiosyncrasies.
To love this ‘hardest’ person
Means to Forgive
Their choices
Their mistakes
The pains that are carried.
To love this ‘hardest’ person means
To show kindness in their loneliness
Share laughter in their sadness
Support their efforts
Acknowledge their concerns.
So begin now
To Love, Accept and Forgive
This ‘hardest’ person,
As it is none less
Than You, yourself!
This task appears easy
In this ‘me’ world
But who is it that we love?
The true self or the made up self?
Past the screens and barriers
Lies a tender soul,
Strong and fruitful
Locked away with but one key.
True love is this key,
With the mighty power
To release from all suffering
To embolden with courage.
So unlock this ‘hardest’ person.
Allow the potential
To surface
So love can be felt
Inside and out.
Artwork by Yossi Kotler, curtesy Pintrest.
Breath of Fresh Air
This stagnant air
Pungent with pride
Obstinacy and malice!
Leaves no room to breathe.
The weave so thick
With every cause, every claim
Each voice just another noise.
No surprise there are no winners.
Acute pain or oblivion
Victim or perpetrator,
The weight so heavy, why bother to change!
Just surrender to your place in the chain.
Yet each day there’s a new dawn
Chance to shed the snake skin, leave behind yesterday.
Make the clean break
With a breath of fresh air.
Walk, even run away from the clatter,
But don’t turn that blind eye!
Summon the strength from within
With each in and exhale.
Rotating in our spaces
We may not know each other,
We may not even see each other.
But we are linked by times past and present.
Each one of our acts count.
From a hand in community work
To recycling plastic bottles
Or a simple smile and story shared.
Denying our obvious commonalities is ignorance accepted!
As this one world is home to all.
And even more basic
Is how we breathe,
The same air
In the same way.
So together,
Lets make
And take,
A breath of fresh air.
