A child's play...

The tiny little rabbits,
that hop along the park, regard him not.
He totters along, and in his eyes, his smile,
his wobble, is one expression; every step,
every turn over the shoulder and searching look; all bespeak,
a child who does not move with thought, but moves
with joy — He is untainted, unfettered
and so unprejudiced; he is one by whom
the whole world derives happiness; one to whom
Truth has such deep silence conferred;
that silence seems a thing, of which
he has no need. He is by nature
led to a quietude so perfect, that I behold
with envy, what the young child hardly feels.

 

–He ran towards me smiling, a bounce to his step,
extending a clenched fist; I inquired the nature
of the mysterious object contained therein,
Into those tender eyes I looked, as he proffered
a shiny pebble. I caught a glimpse of silence
dancing in those eyes; and as he pulled away
to find more treasure, I was left stunned
and staring.

--Srividya
Jan 26, 2012

PS: This poem is inspired by the meter in Wordsworth’s Old Man Traveling.

Soldier

I am a soldier.
I am not sure which side I should fight for;
But I must fight-
Because there isn't a way out now.

I can't care which side wins;
I can't care if everything is lost;
I can't even care if I die,
Because I am just a soldier born to fight.

I must fight -
If there is no purpose to life;
There probably isn't
any to death either...

The battle is about to begin,
And the battle must be fought,
I can't run away now,
So I must fight.

-Srividya
Aug 3, 2011

The Difference...

In shame...
One man wishes he were invisible to all,
While the other still has his head held high,
Never giving up his fight.

In grief...
One man wishes to annihilate himself,
While the other continues to plod along,
Oblivious to what grief means.

With a single loss...
One man has lost everything he ever had,
While the other moves on,
With not even as much as a tear.

Amidst difficult people...
One man has built a wall around him,
While the other continues to love and laugh,
At the drama that life holds in store.

In fatigue...
One man has dropped to the earth in desperation,
While the other goes on working,
Like fatigue could never stop him.

In death...
One man has lost the battle,
While the other has just begun,
another wonderful journey.

The difference is...
One man fights, thinking him to be the actor
While the other knows himself to be but the instrument.

-Srividya (Feb 2, 2011)

Hungry

The roaring waves encroached upon the shores,
He reached out his timid fingers to feel ferocity,
With that delicate touch he was transformed,
The recurring dreams had come true,
He had become one of them now!
No tinge of uncertainty remained,
He soared into the sky along with his kin,
Electrifying more people with his soft touch,

Those waves only grew mightier.
Those waves of change had reached the shores...
Silent submission fed their thirst.
Yet they ravaged through the ruins,
Hungrily...

-Srividya
Jan 2010

Am I the dreamer or the dreamed?

I close my eyes and drift
into a dark abyss, into a controled chaos.
Sleep is familiar, so I am not afraid
to dissolve into the unknown wilderness,
the vast ocean of non-existence.

A while later, as if in a dream,
another being arises,
out of the ashes of oblivion,
assuming a new form, a new identity.

With the golden rays of dawn
There is the dissolution again.
Sleep is familiar, so I am not afraid.

But the question always remains-
Am I the dreamer or the dreamed?

-Srividya
Aug 2, 2009

Cosmic Prophecy

A prophecy was made,
in the beginning of cosmos,
for two souls to meet.

Aeons later, in a dimensionless universe,
these souls wafted pasted each other,
with a glimpse of recognition.

More aeons later, limited in dimension,
these souls manifested,
with no remembrance.

Rebuilding that bond,
and deluded by ignorance,
the souls danced.

The prophecy fulfilled,
each with a grim smile,
wafted away - towards destiny.

-Srividya 
May 18, 2008

I run

I am running.
I can't remember where I came from
I don't know where I am headed,
But I see myself Running.

The scenery around me whizzes past,
I stop not even for a moment,
I don't know where I am headed,
But I see myself Running.

The winds are blowing against my directions,
I puff and pant my way through
I don't know where I am headed,
But I see myself Running.

I run, I run, I run.
I have grown old and frail and weak,
I have lost the vision of the end,
I have gathered nothing in this race,
But I run.

In the end, time just outruns me,
and the game has ended.

Srividya
Apr 13, 2008

Chaos

I do not discern the questions

For which I seek the answers!

Unresolved uncertainties persist.
Yet this insanity torments me
To continue to question.

The singular infinite chaos,
Reigns...
Concealing from my intellect,
Even a meager insight
Into this perpetual quest.

The soul shall rise,
The soul shall know,
It shall be,
And it shall not,
In eternity.

Srividya
Dec 19, 2007

Liberation

One unanswered question,
leads to a hundred more...
One unnerving doubt,
sprouts a million more...

I am shattered and shrivelled,
Trying to find what I am made of;
Vacuum and silence - they are all I get,
When question after question
Runs through my head.

In this darkness, I grope for light,
In this nothingness, I forage for substance,
In this shallowness, I desire depth,
In this delusion, I seek the truth...

The liberating truth...

Srividya
(Dec 8, 2006)