Wednesday, 31 August 2016

The Painting- by Arathi Menon

The Painting
A painting of a lady, one among
The others pinned to the wall
Encased, trapped in glass, frames of
Old oak and silver around them all
And I, a lad, a young poet
Finding ways to while away
Boring hours of a summer holiday
While others of my age would work and play
I sit and think about all day
To find something for my eager quill
Stained with the ink of my thoughts that spill
And found this picture, among the rest
Wondered why, I found it the best
Her hair had the flow of a river, disturbed
And in such mayhem, but a lock
So pale, might have cared less to paint
And yet had the radiant glow
Blazed like the golden sphere of the sky
But, caught me, those dark eyes
Of the lifeless, still Aphrodite
Caused the blood in my heart to rush
Feel it was more than strokes of brush
And then, there was life in every line
Touched the beating heart of mine
“Time’s up!” said the guard
And the illusion shattered hard
I looked back for a last glance, to the wall
At the painted lady on a piece of card

The incomplete book- Arathi Menon

The incomplete book

Under the smiling face of the moon
The nomads wandered by
We were tired, we wished the search would end soon
For our tired legs needed to stop by

The streets were unnamed, with no guide or map
We roamed about in the dark world
But it lead us, the light of the hurricane lamp
To a hut, chalked out by the moon

We  knocked the shabby door of the hut
And we saw nothing but a book
And a feather stained with ink, spilled on the desk, but
There was no one who lived in the room

I lifted up that heavy book
So old, torn and shabby
I turned the dry pages, to have a look
At what was scribbled in there

My eyes ran through the words
Which were the best lessons I have learnt
There were feelings and deeds in every word
But I found that it was incomplete

An old man came in with age in the face
And hair as white as snow
With cracked hands and faltering face
He managed to say “Hello”

He looked at all what he had earned
And he read our thoughts, so deep
He told us “Learn what you have not learned”
He wrote the last words and went to sleep.

My Bleeding Heart -Sreelakshmi Vasudevan

My Bleeding Heart
The one whom I know,
Though was the best,
But the one whom I know,
Didn’t really know me,
The one I loved,
I loved the most,
Then I was in a fantasy world,
Where I could see only him and me!!

The thought of him,
Made me crazy,
But the thoughts of me,
Didn’t really bother him,
The more I said sorry,
The more he went far from me,
I thought my heart was just,
Made to be broken!!

My heart beats faster,
Only for him,
Even my breath,
Tells his name,
But I was late to realize that,
My broken heart can’t be joined,
Once again!!

I wished for a shoulder,
That could solace me,
But all I could see was the darkness,
And when I slew myself in loneliness,
I saw him living happily,
There were times when tears rolled down,
When thinking of him,
But then his another memory touches my heart,
And I start smiling with my teary eyes!!

Then I would think,
Does he remember me,
Like I remember him?
Now I walk the streets alone,
I hate being on my own,
It made me feel like hell,
Thinking about him with somebody else!!

And now, time just seems,
To lose its importance,
When I’m still standing,
In the middle of the road,
Holding him close to my heart,
Cause I didn’t want to lose him,
But he just walked away,
Without noticing my bleeding heart,
That still beats only for him,
Then I walk back to my life,
Living in the hope that,
One day, he’ll come back
                                        -Sreelakshmi Vasudevan

I Am Alone- Sreelakshmi Vasudevan

I Am Alone
When I opened my eyes,
I saw nothing in front of me,
But my shadow!!
I felt lonely at that time,
I felt someone touching my shoulders,
But it was my hair,
Flying around in the air,
I felt  someone shining the torch on me,
But it was the ray of light,
That touched me through the windows,
I felt lonely at that time,
I wished if someone was near me,
To keep away my loneliness

-          Sreelakshmi Vasudevan

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Tuesday, 30 August 2016

Rain in Summer- Arathi Menon

    Rain in Summer

It was another busy day
In the scorching month of May 
The rushing crowd, the noisy streets
An ideal, summer day

And all I wanted to do that day
was just to play, play and play
That is all what a child can think of,
doing on a holiday

I ran out of the house as fast as a train
but my mother told me, "It will rain"
"Take an umbrella, or get yourself wet"
But her efforts were in vain

It was summer and it was scorching hot
and to use an umbrella, so frivolous I thought,
The sun too bright, the sky silver
As to be it ought.

We shouted at the top of our voice
But it blended with the busy street's noise
And we played as long as we could
But then, my forehead felt moist

Pitter! Patter! Fell the rain
And soon filled the potholes of the roads and the drain
And soon got the crowd, locked in the houses,
And the buildings, clean of stain

Ashamed, I ran home, in hasty speed
To my mother's advice, I should have paid heed
And as the heavy drops fell on my head,
to reach home, I thought was the need

But then, I saw the world rejoice
The trees and plants, swayed to its noise
I felt their happiness and wondered, in such a weather
The trees still chose to rejoice

The plants were rooted and I knew it,
And so were the trees, but seemed to enjoy every bit
The storm could shatter them, break or uproot them
but they still kept enjoying it.

They swayed to the strong tunes of the breeze
Which made me jump and dance with ease
Rain can be melancholy or even melody
But the latter was the choice for the trees

As I kept jumping puddles, I understood
Not always are good times, as we think it would
As problems come, do not sigh, do not mourn, but face it brave
And enjoy, enjoy, enjoy..............we should

When I counted my blessings- Sruthi Sajeev

God has given me eyes
but not the vision to see your goodness
God has given me ears
but not the power to hear your thoughts
God has blessed me with the sense of touch
but not the gift of caressing you
God has blessed me with a loving nature
But not the blessing to love you
God has blessed me with the virtue of oblivion
But not the ability to forget you
                                            Sruthi Sajeev

The Relationship Status- Sruthi Sajeev

The Relationship Status
I’m in a relationship with life, with nature, with my family, my friends and what not? Our life is so transient. Be with everyone, feel everything around, enjoy, find the bliss, find the purpose of your life. “Seek and you shall find” said Dante. Go ahead. Don’t waste time devoting to a single person or a few.
Be in love with life. Get addicted to life. Live it in every possible way, preferably the best way. Enjoy each and every moment. Be enthusiastic. Try to learn new things. Get adventurous. Dream high. Chase your dreams. Live your life to the fullest!

Rise in Love- by Sruthi Sajeev

Rise in Love
We say we fall in love because it happens so naturally, unknowingly. We fall because we are unaware of it. Sometimes the fall can be really bad as well.
If it is true love, we rise. We rise in because we know each and every step vividly. We are totally awake and feel everything. We get finer in true love. So never fall but rise in love.
May all lovers gain something from their love. Let petty love make way for great loving experience. Love, thus should be cherished as an elevating phase of one’s life rather than a mere fall.

As If- by Gowthamy Satheesh

As If
"I really love that she talks in her sleep
yesterday, she told me that she would always love me when she was asleep
And when she is awake,
she is always on her wrath and anger.
she looks right through me like she doesn't see me!
You know how much that hurts...."
A weird realization struck him...
"It is almost as if I am dead to her...
It feels almost as if I am dead....
I wish I were not dead..."
"Oh God.."
He shuddered and stammered on his words...
                                                    Gowthamy Satheesh

Her Entangled Soul- by Sreelakshmi Vasudevan

Her Entangled Soul     
There was once a little girl,        
Who hid her tears,
Under her lovely grin,
Her life was complicated,
Which made it miserable
None knew what she was,
Neither had they tried to.
They thought she was happy,
But never knew her wounded soul!
She spent her nights
Sitting in a dark room
Crying with fear and pain
Wishing she hadn’t been alone,
Cursing God
For her life which was a hell
She sooth her scarlet skin
With her tiny little fingers,
Suppressing all the pain
And consoles herself that it was her fate
Her soted father returns home
When the dusk draws
Abuses her for no reason
Never fondled her with loving words
Not tried to understand her weeping heart
Her soul was dead a long ago
She would stand there numb
Without uttering a word,
Forgiving her father with a despondent   heart
Then would wish “if my mother were alive”
It was that fateful night
The night her heart stopped crying
She yelled, shouted and cried out loud,
But none to hear her wounded soul,
Dismal of concealing her sorrows,
She thought its time to abolish it,
Wiping the tears from her sunken eyes,
She took out a silver blade with a hazardous smile,
And slew herself closing her eyes.
She lay numb in a pool of blood,
When she saw her mother standing near
Watching her take in her last breath.
                                                                                Sreelakshmi Vasudevan

Sunday, 28 August 2016

Thank you- by Arathi Menon

Thank You, O Lord                                                                                                 eXpressions
For the shelter you have given us,
Like how you held up the mountains,
To protect your people from the wrath of the rain,
You gave us homes.

O Lord, we pray
that for life on earth,
may have roof above their head,
A safe place to stay.

Thank you O Lord
for the prosperity you have given us.
Like how you blessed impoverished friend and his family,
embraced them with love.
You gave us, all what is needed.

O Lord we Pray
that for every life on earth,
May they never go hungry to bed.
May they stay happy all day

Thank You, O Lord
for the guidance you have given us.
Like how you guided Partha,
through the clashing of weapons of kith and kin,
during the dreadful war

O Lord, we pray                                                               
for every life on earth,
may they brave hurdles, approaching ahead.
Have faith in you always

Thank you, O Lord
for the love you have given us,
from your abode, so high and divine
You came down to us,
to this evil stained world
several time, lived and grew as one of us,
washed those stains away.

O Lord, we pray

may have your goodness and spread it.
that, for every life of earth,

Do what the evil dread
to live for you, we pray.

Thursday, 25 August 2016

The Lighthouse- By Arathi Menon

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The Lighthouse
Image result for lighthouse
It was a fine, sunny morning, if you would call ’11 ‘o’ clock’ morning. Yeah, that’s the time when I usually wake up, during the holidays. But today, I had planned to sleep for some more time, but then, Amma woke me up.
“Amma, it’s a holiday”
“But Ravi, holidays are not meant to be spent sleeping. Get up now!”
“Let him sleep, Aunty“ I heard Maya say “My uncle had actually planned to take both of us to the lighthouse. But if Ravi insists on sleeping…….”
I sprang up. “Are we actually going to the lighthouse?”
“But you don’t want to. Now go to sleep!”
“Of course I do! Amma, are my clothes kept ready?”
Mone, get them yourself. I’ll prepare breakfast”
I leaped into my clothes and ate my sandwiches with haste.
“Will you be here for lunch?”
“Most probably, not. My uncle promised to take us out for lunch”
Then Maya and I bid Amma goodbye and hasted towards the car. Maya’s uncle was waiting for us.
The lighthouse had always fascinated me when I was young. Some nights, when Maya and I do ‘sky watching’ a ray of light would emerge from the lighthouse. We used to have a fancy that it was a signal from extraterrestrial beings, a way of greeting the earthlings. Then we grew up, got enough sense to understand its source. But in us, remained a longing to know more about this light and to know how it would feel being in its source.

We ate our lunch from a restaurant. It was a vegetarian dish with a weird name and all I know of it was that it must have got sweated off on the way to the top of the lighthouse.
“My uncle says that he could see paradise up there” said Maya.
“But we could see it only after we die, isn’t it?”
“No, we wouldn’t need to die for it”
Finally, we reached it. It was a magnificent tower of red brick. Maya’s uncle explained to us the history of the lighthouse and how it would guide ships to the harbor. Then we insisted on climbing to the top of the lighthouse.
               Soon, we found out that we had to climb a high flight of winding stairs. The very sight of it got us exhausted. Maya’s uncle noted our expressions.
“How else do you think we’d go up? By an elevator?”
Then we held up our spirits and started climbing. After about fifteen minutes, Maya and I found ourselves panting, while her uncle sped past us.
“How does he do that?” I asked her “Is this how he stays fit?”
“Perhaps” she said “Don’t you feel thirsty?”
“Of course I do. In fact, I have some water with me”
“Oh, thank you! Let’s sit down for a while”
We took some rest and got to climbing again. We took some intervals between the climbing, and then we were so tired that we thought all the energy in us was drained, we found that our food supplies were over. But still, the strain seemed endless.
“Well, Ravi” said Maya, sitting down “Now that we have no supplies left, should we consider………….”
“Never!” I exclaimed “Well…. Perhaps. But your uncle would be waiting for us, right?”
“I guess he expected. He even told me that he wasn’t sure about us, getting to the top of the lighthouse. But if we climb again…. It’s okay for you, having a store of lipid, but me, I may faint, or even, dissolve!”
We reclined for a while. I thought as I looked up and down the winding stairs. The way upward seemed endless, and would have definitely given us too much of strain, enough to keep us in our beds for at least two days, but to climb down, would make us more than tired.
“I say, let’s have a race”
“Oh Ravi….”
“A race, up the stairs. Just for this once, please?”
“Okay fine!”
We used up all our remaining energy and pushed ourselves for a few more steps. Maya, as usual was ahead of me and then, at a point;
“Ravi! Look!”
I caught up with her, dragging my legs. And then, I saw her pointing at a faint ray of light.
           Then we climbed, or literally, crawled up the stairs. Our path grew brighter and brighter and we felt the breeze wiping our sweat. After the last relieving step, was one of the most memorable moments of my life. There was wind, blowing on our faces and through our hair, and the evening sky in the most loveliest shade of blue.
“It is for this, that I come here” said Maya’s uncle, patting my back “This is paradise!”
“I thought I’d see the other end of the sea” said Maya, smiling.
“You may, perhaps” said her uncle “When you go higher”
My happiness had camouflaged my hunger, but still, I helped myself with a dozen sandwiches, which were kept in store for us. Then the lamp of the lighthouse was lit. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and looked at my palm. The salty liquid now looked like diamonds to me.
                              Later, we climbed down the lighthouse, but with memories of a fulfilled wish.