This evening, as I travel
Halfway across the city
With the gentle drops of rain
Kissing the window
Reflecting the numerous lights
Of the buzzing town

Lights that stand atop silver poles
Lights that guide speeding vehicles
Lights of skyscrapers and of humble huts
I gaze up at the embracing sky
With just a handful of stars
Smiling mockingly at the land below

Undiminishing and overpowering
I can't look away as they whisper
And I realise
They are the truth
And all that I  see before me;
The enticing shine
Are mere, blatant lies
Before the glow of the universe
Before the stardust that makes us, us.

The star-studded velvet sky
Where the transcendent lay
Each twinkle seems an illusion
A radiant endeavour to fulfil
A scene, so picturesque
Embracing a unique marvel

Beaming with eternal bliss
The sky; unceasing
With an intense gleam, a faint smile
An angel watches over
A promising energy
Surges through the desolate emptiness

The moon, with an extraordinary shine
Beams across the darkness
A divinity fills my heart
Is this the empowering shine
of the moonlit candle?

Oh, little creatures
That roam the vast lands
Defined by freedom
With wings that escape time

Every flower is your abode
Each leaf your shelter
Joy is all you know
In a world that is only yours

Leading the simplest lives
As you crawl along Earth's velvet blanket
And fly across endless skies
You are painters; this universe your canvas

No burden upon your shoulders
Or rules to choke you
Each day is a different colour
You choose to see

Not tangled with complexity
Nothing to rush you
Into the maddening race
Of this webbed world

Prancing with no strings to pull you back
No needle can pierce your bubble
The only land you have ever known
Is an undivided bliss; far from the enemy,
An enemy called mankind.

The little boy sat on the huge wooden box
Sat there watching the world go by
He was poor and scared; nothing to call his own
Except the wooden box, his flesh and his bone
Anxious amidst the plentiful crowd
In the busy town;
Forceful and loud

Time passes and people change,
The tiny lad to a young man
Still on the tanned range
The town has grown
People have moaned; but the boy
sees the same- a world too rich
And him too unhappy and poor

The scene shifts;nobody escapes time
The man with a long beard
and experienced sight watches;
on the old wooden box
He hasn't shifted
Nor has the box been lifted
As he watches the beauty of life

The box is now his deathbed
His tired, lonely eyes speak for themselves
His time has come, not too soon we can say
With all his might and deserving right
He opens his little antique home;
His only companion
And he sees a ray; his eyes ablaze
He was a fool, for all you know

His lifetime friend; the wooden box
Was filled to the brim
With what may he say
The glaze, the shine
The yellow culprit
His life flashed before his eyes
The sight sent him to heaven

The box; all through his pitiful life
Was sitting bold
Filled with good old gold!

The golden rays of the sun
The emerald sky
Adorned by perfect clouds
Studded with diamonds,
I see this all through
the coloured glass

I see prodigious birds
Flying high,
My heart sees a dream,
Hoping to reach the sky;
A dream that is unique
Yet a vision that is unsung

Ambitions extend beyond
the frame of this oval window
My faith is spirited
Hope knows no end;
But rationality mocks at this
Can my dreams really soar?

When the sky is overcast
And the clouds are grey,
My heart sinks
But now the heavens are bright,
I see the light...the silver lining
Yes! My dreams do have wings!

The sky changes colour
From a golden sunrise
to the shade of the sea
A purple sunset
Slips into darkness
To be coloured by the sun again

The life of a leaf
The very first one
Fresh but lonely
Growing from a tender green
to a coarse dry brown
Withering yet replaced by another of its kind

At the foot of a mountain
A river is born
It crawls its way around the rugged path
To flow and unite with the sea
It's journey has ended
Only to make waves with a new one

The seasons- they change
We witness the marriage
of the earth and the sun
as the earth's children rejoice with the flowers of spring
A tussle between the couple;
Will all hopes fall?
Their bond dissolves with the rain,
Freezing the love with their cold hearts
Until their romance blooms
to warm our world again

Life, not miles apart
Is yet another cycle of birth and death
The time in between; all that matters
Life's too short
to be spent in dismay
And life's too precious
to just breathe from the air
Deep within, from the roots of our hearts
Let's make every moment a memory
Yes, let's make it count!

On a bright summer day,
A small boy and a man
Sat on a bench in a park

They knew not one another
Yet the tiny tot smiled into his eyes and asked, 'Do you believe in miracles'?

The man, amused,
Looked up at the heavens in the sky
Gazing at the endless, mesmerising blue
At the sun he squinted; the glowing ball of fire that warmed the soil
A bird chirped,
He turned and spotted her vibrant feathers
The hills behind him stood tall
While the trees danced to the tune of the wind

The man then looked at the boy
He shook his head; uttered the abrasive syllable
The child, filled with disbelief
Smirked at the man

Then the sky laughed
And the sun smiled
The bird giggled
The earth grinned
And the hills guffawed

As the man watched on gravely
Trapped in his clouded mind
That blinded him,
Unable to see the blatant miraculous world
that stared and mocked

Does a flower not bloom,
For the fear of losing her nectar?

Does a doe not give birth,
Knowing her child may be prey to the predator?

Does a spider not weave her web,
Though she sees it fall apart before her eyes?

Yes, the 'world' may rip you off all that you made...
Yes, the 'world' may kick aside all that you carefully put together...
Yes, the 'world' may thanklessly take away all that you held dear...

But is that reason enough to be like the world?
To bury your conscience; to be blind to the truth?

For is it the world that you shall have to answer?
Is it this world that will question you?

In the end, is it the world that shall haunt your dreams?
Is it this world that will give you refuge?

Is it not yourself you shall have to fall back on?
Is it not yourself that will ultimately be your guide?

You choose the self that will stay;
The self you came into the world with,
Or the self the world came into...

Yes, you choose the self.

I open my eyes
And look around
Wide and awake

I see a land;
A land we constructed
Where the warmth of a smile
Has been defeated by a small lit screen
Where the tenderness of fingertips
Has been lost to buttons
that control the world

Nobody smells the roses
Apart from the lonely thorns

The grass grows, then recedes into the mud
Without being tread upon by any happy feet

New moon and moonlit nights have merged
No one sees the difference; no one cares

The stars await deep secrets
But not one is whispered to them anymore

The flowers bloom with all their pride
Yet fail to be noticed or admired

Deep breaths are now saved
Only for the man-made

I close my eyes
And look within
Still wide and awake

Each grain of the soil in our souls
Each particle of stardust
Is slowly but surely
Turning to ugly, identical
Slabs of concrete
Trapped in this endless, spiralling Web...

A person who uses logic
needs plenty to make little
But
A person who uses creativity
needs little to make plenty...

Through this open window
I see hope
When pigeons soar high
As if to touch the sky
I see happiness
When the leaves of a tree
Dance under the sun

I see freedom
When feathers sway
In the lap
Of a gentle breeze
I see devotion
When the clouds
Kiss the feet of the sky

I look back inside
And I see myself
With a wish in my heart,
A prayer upon my lips
To transcend into nature
To let my soul find it's roots
Below the loose soils
of this fragile world

Everyone searches
for happiness
Around them and beyond
I too searched
Out there; but in vain
Until one day
I looked within
And there it was; all the joy
Never to be lost again...

The body. This world
Impermanence it is
All things material
Waiting to evaporate

The moon. The sky
Never again will we see
Through the same eyes
In another lifetime

The name. The money
We shall lose
When we move on
Beyond this small sphere

The emotions. The memories
Drained out and gone
As some hold on to life
As some gladly let go

The bones. The flesh
All wither away
Like the petals of a flower
Plucked out and buried

The soul. The spirit
Clinging to it,
We seek another body;
Another world to call our own

Birth. Rebirth
An unending cycle
Until one day
We finally rest in peace