It was always that smile...that **** smile.  
A curve of the lips so teasingly invitng.
There was always something different about each one.
A soft, tender and amused smile at a lame joke that I'd told a dozen times over.
A brief smile of ecstasy when you discovered a song you liked.
A smile of contentment when you sunk into my arms.
A smile of mischief to match my own whenever our eyes met and our thoughts ran in the same direction.
A smile of encouragement to turn my frown upside down.
That **** smile...your smile

The road you're on might take you there;to that place you want to be, that place you need to be.
Too many thoughts of the self and not the other
Maybe you're asking too much of the Road.
It's doing it's best, .riddled with trenches and potholes
Everyone cringes when asked to pay the toll
Despite its pitted surface,
it still manages to provide enough traction for the countless people plying its body;
Some on foot; some in beaten down cars; some in luxury machines.
Truth is, all of you are the same.
You take, use and abuse and you still feel no shame.
The road is always there for you.
Think about that for a second.
You may have a choice in what you do and where you want to go
But the Road doesn't and it is always there for you

She who walks in beauty, swaddled in a cloak of velvet elegance.

She who walks in beauty; from whom the mirror hides its face, fearful of being snared by her captionless grace.

She who walks in beauty, your smile of many colors speaks of  wondrous treasures.

She who walks in beauty, i wish i could forever bask in the sunshine of your smile

He stood under a tree and gazed blankly at the full moon and the clouds that drifted across the sky. A cold wind blew through the tree and rustled the leaves. He shivered as the chill in the wind seeped into his bones. A terrible silence was all around him. It was deafening.

He sighed. His heart thumped awkwardly and weakly in his chest. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling an ache in his heart. His bones felt brittle like that of an elderly man. The creeping tendrils of loneliness moved in his chest, stabbing, gripping and squeezing his heart mercilessly.

He felt cold inside. He wanted to shout, to dance, to sing, to do something to show that he was still there......anything to ease the ache in his chest. But like the sleeping world, She too had abandoned him for worlds unknown  

He studied the formation of the clouds, the thorn of a new thought pricking at his mind. An image filled his mind like the blooming of a flower. He could see their conversations earlier, hear her words, sense the gentle smile in her voice. His mouth curved upwards into the familiar shape of a smile. Slowly, he felt heat radiating from his chest, thawing th1e ice that shrouded his heart. Despite the chill in the air, he felt warm all the way to tip of his toes.

He chuckled softly to himself at his own foolishness and walked back inside, where she waited patiently for him with a smirk on her ethereal face, as if she had never left.

In the big city, our eyes are always cast to the ground

Everyday, we bustle and hustle

Striving for a slice of the paper,

the bricks

and the chicks

For once, if only for a a few seconds,

go outside and look into the night sky

Take a break and give it a try

See the most wonderous of creations

See without all that artificial light

Be enraptured by the mystic starry sky

Notice the enchanting twilight painting

Appreciate that cosmic tapestry of diamonds

Disconnect from social media, be rooted in the moment to that spot

Put on the brakes, stop pondering your lot

Live in that moment

Its beautiful, isn't it

For the longest time, I have felt this constant need to ensure that I had control of every situation.  As much as possible, i try to account for every detail...my mind flits over the tiniest possibilities to ensure that whenever I take a particular step, I am aware of every possible outcome.
As you can imagine....any preconceived plan or idea usually falls apart when other uncontrollable elements come into play...the biggest of which are Human beings. I sought to make of myself an immovable rock in the dizzying tides of time, change by dint of human effort alone.
......It did not pan out well.
And as a rock in the bed of a river is slowly weathered by the rushing flow of water, my will, strength and focus withered with the passing of time.
Every unexpected happening threw me for a loop and I was left reeling from one moment to the next in a dizzying whirlwind of uncontrollable events.
Soon enough i stopped trying to account for everything and just allowed myself to drift listlessly from one day to the next.

But I realized that there was a better way. I could just let go. As I've heard so many times there's freedom in surrender. I realised that I was not a Rock of Gibraltar unto myself. I could not stand tall against the forces of time and change and expect to be immovable.
Maybe I could ease my tight grip on everything. Like a grass stalk sways in the wind, rather than stand tall and fight against the winds of time and change, why not lean into the wind and allow it to flow over me; why not bend and sway with the breeze like stalks of grass in the field; why not drift and dance in the wind like a leaf. With strong roots, I could bend and not break. There was anxiety, fear, discomfort.. yes. But there was also palpable relief in just letting go and surrendering your fate to forces greater than your own. You may be the Captain of your ship, but you have no control over the winds and the tides and sometimes you just have to let go and be free. And like Odysseus, though the winds will take you to places unknown and you may experience both joy and woe in unequal proportions...you will still be carried home.
Hopefully, I can find my way home faster than Odysseus did...just maybe.

"That's a good boy" the old lady rasped weakly in a doting voice as she sent her coal black puppy running into the garden. She smiled faintly as she watched her dog romp happily in the garden, rooting in the bushes for hidden treasures.  Sunlight piercing through the patches in the foliage of the surrounding trees gleamed off the unusually scarlet skins of healthy ripe tomatoes. Whincing slightly at the twinging pain in her back, she leaned heavily on her walking stick as she sunk gingerly to her knees in the soil. Gnarled and age mottled fingers reached forth from grey robes and tenderly caressed one fleshy fruit. Plucking it from the stem, she bit into the skin. Swallowing slowly with ruby coloured juices dribbling down the corners of her lips, she shuddered as she felt a wave ran through her body for a few seconds. With a sigh of satisfaction, she brushed off the soil from her robe and pulled herself to her feet without the aid of her stick. She turned sharply to her right as a rustle in the undergrowth caught her ears. Amused, she watched as her dog trotted proudly up to her with his tail wagging rapidly. His rear sticking up in the air, the puppy lowered his chest onto the ground and proudly presented his prize.  "What's that in your mouth boy".She reached down and pried the decaying finger, too small to belong to a human adult, from the mouth of the dog. The dog whined as she tossed the finger under the maggot ridden roots of one of the plants. She smiled and patted his head. "That's a good boy"