I asked my inner writer,
Is your prose poetic?
Or your poetry prosaic?
And my inner writer asked me,
Are you traditional with modern values?
Or are you modern with traditional values?
Are you an introvert who loves to express?
Or an extravert who loves silences?
Are you an optimist who sees the clouds?
Or a pessimist who sees rainbows?
Are you thoughtful with some light-hearted ways?
Or humourous with some sober ways?
And on and on and on and on
And on and on it went.
I'll never ask my inner writer
About writing
Again.
-Vijayalakshmi Harish
24.09.2012

Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

Well then
Let's hear it
But Please

Please
Don't say my eyes
Or anything else
Are like the stars

Are they ***** of hot gas -
Hydrogen and helium - exploding
in nuclear fusion reactions?
Is this to what you compare?

You blindly mold prose
To things you do not
Understand

Surely there is beauty in a star
But not the kind you mean
You are letting Nature and God
Do all the work for you

And Please
Don't compare my hair
To a river flowing-
Or my voice to a Summer's
Day

Yes I'm aware that the moon
Is glowing but
My skin being a cold rock
Face
Is without flattery

Real me in like Shakespeare's
Mistress
Not the same ten words
In a different dress

Not

Large vague concepts
Attached to my exterior

For it is only the exterior from
Which your words are forming


But your poems have a lot of Instagram likes so what do I know, really

she could never
look
into anyone's eyes
as deeply
as passionately
as she could
look
into
her own.

Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! she did depart!

Soon after she was gone from me,
A traveller came by,
Silently, invisibly:
He took her with a sigh.

O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm.
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

Tyger Tyger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

If you were the moon
I'd lie awake with you each night
And help you battle the sun
For your place in the sky.

If you were a soft breeze
I would chase the wind
Just to feel your breath
As the air caressed my skin.

If you were a dream
I would never want to awaken again.

Life is a test
A series of choices

Your time here is measured
By the venom in your voices

Give unto others without reservation

Help your neighbor
With no hesitation

Feed the hungry

Remove discrimination

Offer a hand

Become an inspiration

Open your mind
Start a revolution
Inspire a change
To create the solution

With our eyes cast downward
We pretend not to see
The misery and demise  
In the wake of our greed

If someone is hungry...
Cold or unloved
Offer your heart
Give them a hug

What you share
Will return tenfold
So offer a hand
Help carry the load

Offer a smile
Share your bliss
Inspire others
Change what is

Share your joy
Inspire others to love
Together
We can change the world.

Namaste

Encased castles wouldn’t hear
what might have been
or a promise of immediate loss.  
When thank you becomes like raindrops
falling from the cost.

So I will say
the sun forever rises
because it was torn away
from the bones of an amber moon.
Until the day my face is woven
into what is mine, just not too soon.

Just think about what you do
when you want to be alone,
of course not because
you are broken.  
Let it go and become framed
with the tears of a family unspoken.

Reflect what is understood
and let it go
like a language of chills
contained in every second of surprise.
Then thunder from those encased castles
can be seen in my eyes.