.
Feeling low is not all wrong.
Feeling down is absolutely fine.
Crying out pain is OK friend
and being sad is not a crime.

I grew between two shrines,
one draped in tulsi leaves,
the other crowned with candles.

Krishna’s flute and church bells
played in the same morning air.

Holy water and Ganga jal
touched my forehead alike,
cool drops of faith,
different names, same calm.

Bible and Bhagwat Geeta sat on my shelf
like two storytellers
telling me truths in different tongues.

Even fear had two faces —
Satan in shadows, Kali Purush in storms —
both made me tremble,
yet pushed me closer to light.

Perhaps I was never confused,
just cradled by two rivers
that met in me,
flowing toward the same sea.

Like our planet on a 24-hour cycle, my location is filling with the light of one rotation, transporting me from darkness into light.

The next rotation of my location is the dark side of my spiritual sphere; and the next spin will once again transport me into
the light of day, the light of the world.

We all know that the sun is still in the sky even in the darkest night. Our perspective is from our location. We may be on the other side of the globe--the dark side--but our location will, in one revolution, be filled with light.
We are all caught in this literal and figurative human cycle of day and night.

We need to have faith in this
as we must have faith in
gravity, because the alternative is unimaginable darkness!!!

This knowing is not only
cerebral, but tabulated by a spiritual equation. We must believe because there is no
way around it. We simply
must believe or lose it all.
Our orbit will decay otherwise.
We will cease to rotate on
our own axis. So in a sense,
do or die, because I will
surely die spiritually if I
don't get lifted to that
spiritual space.

There is too much at stake; there is so much to lose if I
don't transcend the earthly
plane of spiritual death and simply believe beyond hope to be freed from the perceived hopelessness and helplessness of our universal existence.

The sun is still in the sky even in the darkest night. We simply must have faith and patience to wait our turn.

Oh wondrous days of youth's sweet grace,  
When laughter danced across my face.  
Each simple joy, a treasure rare,  
In whispered winds, mystery was there.  

The world was bright, a canvas wide,  
With beauty found on every side.  
In every leaf and starry night,  
That wonder still lives, to my delight.  

So let me grasp those moments dear,  
For in my soul, they still appear.  
With open arms, I will create,
The wonder things had when I was just eight.