Life in one word-
attitude

I met Debussy

and this he said to me:


my music is twilight

shadows,  silhouettes

dewdrops,  hazes and mists

weeping-willows

drooping roses

dreams, silence

snowflakes

the dirge of time

memories

bereft feelings

loneliness

cries of the heart

colour-shifts

moonlight dying

stars in weeping

lovers' longing

contemplation

and reveries

murmurs

of the sea

and the voice

of the sublimest poetry

the poignancy

of the tenderest symphony.

J.S. Bach
I met
he was on the *****
when he finished
to me he said:
' Music is my religion'

I met Mahler

and this he said:

my symphonies

are divinely-inspired

like none other

This is my religion:
living reverently
in  simplicity
shorn of artificiality

Life is a clash
between reality
and fiction-
winning lies
with the latter-
quite often!

I met Peter Tchaikovsky
and this he said to me:
'  I write the best melodies
   but don't relate my story'*


   * he was gay,  not acceptable then

I met Franz Schubert

at the city bar

he didn't speak-

he just burst into lieder

in every sweet bar

I met Rachmaninoff
and this he said to me:
'  Just remember this:
  my music is all melancholy'

I met Beethoven

to me he said:

' Life stinks

but I'm more famous than kings!'

I met Mozart
and to me he said:
'I'm blessed
with the most noble musical art!'

I don't need
to be positive
my living
has never been negative!

Society's stings-beware
though a smile it does wear:
caught in its poisonous web-
there's no safe escape!

Don't forget:
' not yet'

People reject
and object
but I accept
the absurd

it takes
a sharp slap
on life's fake
scorns its various
mistakes
punctures
its seriousness

( how hilarious!)

because
I accept
the absurd
I truly deserve
to be heard!

perhaps
some form
of the Nobel
I should be awarded!

Don't say
  you wish to be a bird
  it's too easy
  to be shot at!

I didn't venture
to find love
it chose me instead
and I couldn't say no-
the miracle
of my life
the most noble worth
and I'm truly blessed-

just a four-letter word
yet every joy and wonder
within it is enraptured!

Don't study others
so much
that you forget
to study yourself
and have your life
ending miserably
in a grievous mess

Dear Dr Wittgenstein

   If the essence of words
   we can't  trust fully
   how else can we live
   meaningfully?

The writer's journey
is never finished :
one destination
to another does lead
the promised land
too often seems
to be beyond reach
whatever the speed-
so many miles
still to traverse
in heat, cold
in thirst-

but the courage
lies in not failing short-
to die for the beauty
of verse or prose
is every step
well worth the effort

The best society
if found within oneself
here there's no enmity
nor any angst

Literature is life
life is literature
every aspect of mankind
is found there

Because I was left behind
my right path I managed to find

Knowing
my weakest self
was the start
of my self-strengthening

When I felt
           I knew
           a voice whispered:
           'Is it true?'

Interesting
but not useful
you won't
need it as a utensil

If you could help it
the truth you shouldn't say
very badly it would hurt
those affected would run miles away!

If you can't see
  the crack in your wall
  it's your entire fault
  if on you it should fall!

We are sometimes clowns
but are not even aware
to others it's so obvious
and such uncomely stares they wear!

A bad plan
is much worse
than not having one-
life's lesson--the first!

We wonder
what others are
but don't know
our own character
and what
we should be-
a moral disaster!

In response to a post on success helped by others :

This is true with most cases,  not always---
many do achieve on their own---geniuses and the very talented.

I am not saying being helped in any way is unimportant.
History shows the best works of mankind are wrought
from personal suffering, not assisted by any outsider.

This is the testimony of individual merit--in all fields of human endeavour

Life is not all reality
much is lived in fiction:
we' aren't creatures of reason
much driven by our imagination

Life's 'yes' and 'no'
we are often confused
which direction to take
we hardly know-

reason I'll set aside
my heart I'll follow
faith will guide me
hope will lead to tomorrow's glow

Life speaks to everyone:
'Don't look my way
I can't hold your hand
that you should understand -

all freedom belongs to you
where you alone stand-
'I'm only a watcher
and by-stander
with mankind's affairs
I never interfere-

look, look away
be your own
you're your salvation
hold, hold
yourself dear!'

Not yet

Those who have tasted freedom
will die to defend it
to live under slavery
would be worse than the worst death

Time doesn't exist
if we don't heed it

In silence
we find
our real self
and authenticity--
life's very essentiality

Tears-- they speak
what words cannot
their message fails
in being uttered

they are of their own
an unfathomable language
incomprehensible to the sufferer
the depth of their pain nothing can assuage

Poetry
is about the quest
for truth and beauty
not vanity

Silence is my best teacher
     I depend on it for the right answer

Life-
the come and go
the yes and the no
which direction to follow
most of us don't really know

My suffering and loneliness
I  gently bear and don't complain
it's all assuaged by my music
no longer do I feel the pain-

along life's thorny terrains
I tread in whatever weather
a song travels with me--never failing
and brings me the sweetest wonder-

ah,  life so capricious
so harsh and cruel, yet tender
in moments so rare and unpredictable
such a strange fellow-traveller!

Winterreise-- winter-journey
my story is told in bittersweet tears
but I die not---to my every symphony
the world will heartily harken in all future years

I'll not overstretch :
what I am, gladly
I celebrate and accept
in full consciousness of my mortality-

everyones's days are numbered
but most ignore deliberately
and this they say: 'My best hasn't been scored
I'm yet to secure the greatest victory!'

Silent I'll be from my tiny cottage
I'm happy to be alone and empty
what the world regards as a rare advantage
aside I step--  all life is folly!

This I shall say
in honesty:
most things
that I know
are only in part

no expert am I
and my deficiency
I take truly to heart-

beyond myself
I look and observe
how the wisdom
of others does spark
while so obscure
I remain
in meaning's dark

time into the future
does surreptitiously embark
bit by bit
in patience
I learn
yet I realise
in a major part
with utmost humility
that I've acquired
so little of
life's living-art

Life is articulated best
through poetry-
a grand tapestry
of the finest words
the acme of poignancy
meaning conveyed most exquisitely
akin to the deepest notes of a symphony

Some regard life as pleasant
others think it's a burden
I merely live on-
I don't question

Empires fall
people die
kings and princes
last only in their time

buildings grow old
traditions and mores change
love and hate
all dreams and hopes
all memories and regrets
are mere passing phases

such is life
we meet-
you and I
a few words
we speak
and bid
each other goodbye


but literature is eternal
every human aspect
it does envelop
nature it does enwrap
an endless symphony
of words
it does patiently  create
our tears
and fears
  it does faithfully keep
  our happy or sad voice
  it doesn't deny


though we are all long gone
to an unknown land
as ten thousand years
have relentlessly  sped by.

Life is harsh
indeed very harsh:
I don't run away
in its some goodness
I believe and trust