The more I look around
The more I see
Distanced                                                    ­                                                                 ­                           hopes
and
                           dreams
(buried)
it breaks my heart to know and feel
the futility of recovering these
if only this and if only that
stopped them from acting on a vision
if only they had!
When i look in the mirror I’m glad
i can still look myself in the eye
proud that I took the leap
                                        not knowing if it would save me or **** me
daring to swim that stormy sea, believing I would survive
and if it were not for my belief
my desire would have remained a desire                                                           ­                                 far
from my reality
i would have joined the ranks of “itoohadadream”
i’m glad i listened to my heart and gave my mind the courage to part
with comfortable security
and jump, blinded, with only my faith to support me

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  22.09.2012

Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

What is
the
anthropomorphic
personification of
your
artistic soul?
Immerse
me
in the
gently
flowing ocean
of your secret
epithet.

Men have died
And angels cried,
All for love.
I have wept,
And secrets kept,
All for love.
Kings on thrones
And men of bones
Have shuddered,
All for love.
Nations have clashed
And creatures thrashed,
All for love.
Will you ever cry,
And inside die,
All for love?
Poets and troubadours
Have sung its praises.
Playwrights and authors
Have written its woes.
But who in the time
Of the cavemen would have
Thought love could ever
Be shown by a rose?

It’s August
School has begun
Lots of new faces
To the girl who sits alone

When September arrives
The trees change color
And the leaves begin to fall
As a boy and girl
Start to talk

In October
The trees are naked
The leaves no were to be found
As the boy and girl
Kiss behind the school’s playground

On November
Autumn ends and winter begins
The snow arrives
And he turns 15
She can not go to his house to celebrate  

Winter brake
So, it’s December.
It’s a snowless Christmas full of joy
And she spends it with him

Come January
She turns 15
And they go to the park
They find a tree
Where they carve love forever

In the month of love, February
They sneak out
It’s a warm night
So they spend it under the moon

March
Spring has begun
But the blood flows
From the wrist of the girl
By a night gone wrong

On April
There are two months of school left
The boy and girl closer then ever
Just madly in love

School ends on May
But summer begins.
There is sadness in there eyes
How will they see each other every day now?

Jun and July
The two hottest months of the year
And the hardest of their relationship
They can not talk that much
Or see each other

It’s August again
A new school year
They go back to spending an hour before school together
Make up for the time lost
Nothing could be better

September brings bad news
She might have to leave the boy
She cries as he says
“It will be okay.”

October arrives
She has to leave sooner than what they thought
He holds her as she cries
They never say goodbye
They just keep their promise in their heart
That they will be there in two years

Ten months have gone by since that October
They still love each other
But they had to put aside the relationship
Because for this period of time
They are better of like friends

You tore my heart out and left me in pieces

Under lovely arched brows,
          those            eyes,
                pyrophori­c,
                                  opalescent,
                ­                                  lascivious;
                   ­                                          invite--
                         forbidden thoughts
                                            to my mind.

I am a bird on the margin of the abyss
This bird lost its voice to sing and its will to fly
Looking up at how other birds vanish into the clouds
All I can do is be on the edge.

The beautiful wings that once felt the breeze
Are now ashamed to pick up and take flight
The fear of falling in to the pit misfortunes.
The darkness start to come up

The fear paralyzes me
I will not fly
Let it swallow me.

I am bird on the margin of the abyss
The bird who was the one they looked up to and could never capture
I was the one whom you could barely get a glimpse of
Leaving others behind

The beautiful wings do not move
My beak going straight in to the unknown
All I can do is close my eyes

Memories flash on the days when I sang
The warmth of the June sun is just an idea left behind
I no longer try to dash the autumn leaves

I open my eyes
The darkness is clearing
I hear a melody
Smooth and gentle like the spring breeze
But whose is it
My beak is open

I am a bird on the margin of the abyss
My past is something I don't like to recall
But that is all the song brings

The notes keep pouring out of my open beak
I close my eyes
The tune more beautiful and soothing
Why am I giving up?
Flap
I open my eyes
My beak now going for the clouds

The darkness behind
I don't want the fear to control me
I will fly higher the ever
Spit me out

I am a bird who never touches the ground
Whose melody is mellow like the falling snow
Yet so warm like the summer
Talking about new beginnings

I am a bird

By Claudia Ramirez

I saw a hunter by a country road,
In tandem with me he sailed as I drove.

His hoody-head set monkish to the soil
Conjured up music so soundful, sacred,
And I unmoving over a tired flesh—
Coloured vehicle felt naked and dead

For he so saintly robed and dressed to ****
In the colours of the sky prayed with wings,
My harrier, his eyes cleansed purity and gold
While mine unsightly piebald pale and blue.

But want of food dovetailed two craving
Creatures, yet— over fed I felt rusty
Below his steely hunger and what saving
Grace God might offer either mice or men.