Mahatma Gandhi  
Young visitors in a gallery,
Stood before a portrait of Gandhiji,
Charmed by his toothless smile,
Eyes sparkling through glasses round
And an old watch dangling from his waist,
With his chest bare and a **** cloth
Covering his lean , frail frame.
While they wondered how the good old man
Could shake the mighty British empire
And fight without weapons of destruction,
They were thrilled to behold a vision rare -
The smiling  Gandhi emerged from the frame,
Saying that his weapons were invisible,
Yet, they could vanquish the most powerful
Without hatred and shedding no blood!
His loving voice and childlike smile
Combined with an unbending will,
Wielding the power of truth and nonviolence
Could conquer his mighty ruthless foes
And turn them into everloving friends!.
Feeling amazed, the visitors stared
At the Mahatma moving back into the frame;
Begged him to remain and lead them again.
"My countrymen," he said "seem to have forgotten,
" The bloodshed and horror of partition.
"Terrorists and fanatics **** and burn
" And innocent victims feel miserable and forlorn.
"Twice a year, on my 'samaadhi', flowers are strewn,
" While helpless millions struggle and groan.
"In these days of endless greed and senseless crime, "
"Guided missiles and misguided men,
" My words seem to have no relevance,
"Yet, if they listen to their own conscience,
" Give up greed and serve with compassion,
"The India of my dreams will arrive soon."
Sad and surprised, the visitors stared:
Though the figure vanished, his words inspired
And they resolved to follow his noble ways
And strive for the welfare of all mankind.
                  ***  M.G.Narasimha Murthy
Hyderabad, India.        mgnmurthy4@gmail.com

Hey! What a cool man you are!
I sit here and realize for the first time.
Looking at the red horizon of the sunset
Tunes of red flights in my ears
make me flow along its fumes
Peace in my heart and  yes I realize
only now where I finally am
Fully one with my red *******
sitting cross-legged on a red carpet
noticing the red sleeves of my shirt covering my wrists
expressing the redness of the nail-polished finger ends
stretched playfully
above the blue green octagons
holding a physics of the invisible
as if a ball made of color
pushes blissfully towards the interiors of my palms
contrasting the red squares of my long colorful winter dress
I see the red almond heart on top of the last heart shaped dark-chocolate
left on the table just and wonder if I should eat but I leave it
as a memorial piece of my flowing composition
while I polish the red of my favorite *** with my thoughts
accommodating a gloomy **** before the fractured rays
As if I see the reds that she once saw
before her eyes got blurry somehow
As if these reds haven't been red for ages but now
where I fully am - as I now - can see again
So I take a mirror and put on a blood red lipstick
wiping hopelessly the gush off the irregular contours of my lips
till it fits perfect
somethings never change I say relieved
I still don't know how to put on a lipstick
and hurriedly grin back to check
if all sits okay so that I can start looking at me now
with your eyes and lip
Hey ! What a cool woman you are!
I sit here and realize for the first time after sunset now.

In my happiest moments I think of you,
To share my world with you,
On my sad days I want to protect you from the world,
On your victories I want to make you feel how special you are,
Every day when I wake up I want to tell you how much I love you,
Cherish how I am yours,
Even when you are never mine.

im a shell of a lighter baby
not used for the flame but for the pretty picture on the side
im a scaled down turnaround mama
watch me do it again
im a defiant defect sister
you dont know the metaphor youre messing with

be my sidekick confidante
match my song and dance
pray for bread and butter
they never had a chance

entranced by all the little lines
anything for some piece of mind

im a knowitall grassfire honey
turned around by the wind
im an everloving choo choo train
believing the things you say
im a lost and broken soul sweetheart
give me tape or give me death

We're not going to get over this
No common sense anywhere in sight
Strangers merely passing in the night
To what end are we arriving at?
Love is breaking and hearts are aching.

You ask and take and never give back
Know that you are testing my limits
The final straw snaps within my fist
Rules don't matter to you anymore,
And I'm about to blow the whistle
So do I keep trying to love you?
Do I labor on and work things out?
I stand upon undecisive ground.

A needle's fall is heard around you
Full blown looks of ice upon your face...
Commitment's not a part of your world.
What is it you really want from me?
I'm having a hard time loving you
Thinking of the tension on the line
Of fear and doubt, whenever it snaps.

You don't understand how I see you
Wouldn't you be different if you could?
Get a clue, you aren't acting yourself.
This wonderful heart that I once met
From the dove to the hungry raven
Any hope I had is almost lost
Other times I know we can make it
Guy and girl, we can come together

I want you to see my heart tearing
Just glance inside my eyes and witness
Wanna know how my heart still lives?
Tell me, would you glance in the mirror?
You who became something so obtuse?
How can you toss away my feelings?
I'm breaking down, do you not see me?
Feeling is lost and the mind is numb

Gotta show you where we are in time
Make you see the darkness between us
You are blind, but let me help you see
Understand my despairing last cry

Never more will you play with my time,
Gonna set you straight, put you in line.
Give me your true, everloving heart
You will really truly be surprised
Up above, read the first word on every line.

I have made sounds that were foreign to my ears
And have laid in strange places.
But as long as the fire remained lit at home,
No matter how dim,
All was well.

I have found myself in places a Christian ought not be
And have friended with those even the devil would shun.
But everloving did the fire burn
Deep in the heart of my home.

The night came when the fire was put out
And there was no one to go home to.
At midnight I was in a drunken stupor.
At dawn I was as pathetic as a newborn babe.

Sinking down and now I'm gone,
I cannot seem to breathe,
I've lost it all,
my everything,
All these heartfelt promises and I couldn't keep one

As I stumble through the dark,
I somehow caught sight of your loving heart
You made me whole again,
holy again
do you have those memories too?

Breaking down this empty mess
I want you in my heart,
your unending love,
all I'm "supposed" to feel
make this heart beat like its brand new
please heal me.

I know for real this time
who I am, what I need to be
and I am not alone
because these chains were meant to break
●
And I will watch the water rise without fear
I know God will lift me high again,
I'm trying.

Through the suffering and the pain I will rise up once again,
as my soul says goodbye to sea floors below
with the glory placed upon your name
these Chains will always break
●
I wont be afraid to break,
if only it's in Your name
I wont fall,
I wont let You fade

I will learn to fight again, God
I know this isn't the end
even when I'm screaming that I'm alone
You still call me Your friend

your atmosphere calms and heals
you bring the sleeping souls back
you force our eyes awake

everything in your power you'll do to help those who live
those whose chains were meant to break
●
Rescue me and my heart will change,
I'll finally see light and be ok
you ripped me from this swirling head
when I couldn't seem to find my way

I cannot see these fading scars
except the days when you fade in my heart
the hurt I thought drove me this far
when ive forgotten
and I can't gather myself to pray.

Everything lost because I
can't see the way you gave me
dragging my unfilled soul through this empty place
but if I toughen up
if I decide to remember you
I know these chains will break
●
But you always seem to be right there
even when I forget my prayers
you've got me

with you I'll never fall too deep
my soul is caught in your embrace,
one day after death I'll get to see your face

fear escapes me,
your love it changes me
and inner demons stand no chance
when I'm seeing red
you start to put more holy words in my head
Ill wake up and walk away
from the ideas of old
without an enraged trance.

my thoughts go to you
all the choices here I can make
if only and ONLY if I live in your word
My dark chains will be forever off me
Finally, these chains may break
●
I came into this empty place
with my heart in hell
and my soul held in your gaze
Some way in my head I hear your voice
and now I have to make that choice
again
which path to follow
to smile or wallow
but I know these chains were meant to break
●
My heart cant see anymore of my pain
I no longer hide my faith
I no longer hide my face
throughout my lifetime I'm saved by your everloving grace
and no longer have to fear or feign
no longer lose hope or disdain
I knew with effort
i could break these chains
●
I walked through the darkness
I've got life back on track again
I ripped apart my old life like snake skin
and decided to write only for you,
though it took me many years to pick up from where I should have always been
but God has forgiven all my mistakes
And these chains were made to break.

A dreamer he is
Dreams his bliss
Awaiting the lucks kiss
Dreams come true his wish

Dreamt he not for fortune and fame
Not for a beautiful dame
Neither his enemies to blame
Nor in misery forged same

Dreamt he of world at peace
People sharing joy with ease
Wars and borders to cease
Humanity everloving breeze

Dreamt he of a world as one
His be a dream not alone
Many doth wish and dream as one
Dream his wish be done

Dreamers and dreams
Echoed in heart deep

You're one to believe in god,
so tell me Grandfather;
You believe everything has a meaning
and war can be righteous
and war can be hell.
What does the rain mean?

It's not a metaphor for pushing life
into the festering corpse of a beat horse
in the late fall, early winter, is it?
Is it a drowning of that mistake?
A bed to sink your imperfections into?
What is this grey sky speaking to?

Was it WW2's tail gunners dead in the back
and pilots swarming like flies in vicious harmony?
bloodthirsty dogfights, and the folk guitarists
standing in awe,
jaws unhinged,
mouths open,
wondering,
"What the everloving **** just happened?"

You believe in God, so tell me;
They stuck your body in the dirt
over 2, or maybe it was 3 years ago.
You never told me anything about this.
You never told me anything
but empty threats.
God is a mass hysteria;
a mental disability,
a harmful fantasy.

But what does the rain mean?

it’s the kind of day
that makes your
jaw ache and the
soreness settle in
even the youngest
of bones

(“rainy days and mondays
always bring me down”
but rainy mondays are
guaranteed to be worse)

i worry too much
care too much
cry too much
think too much

it’s about time
to start thinking about
what happens when
seasonal depression hits

about time to start
making plans for
the rest of my
everloving life

it’s hard for me
to make plans
hard for me to
admit that maybe
my life won’t always
make me miserable

i struggle with
feeling powerless

watching those around
me suffer
trying every day to make
someone smile

and then one monday
picking up a paper
and seeing that one of those
smiles is no longer with us

nobody tells the barista
and they tell me it’s hard to find
out someone you know has died
by looking at a work ticket

but i’m just the girl who
makes your coffee and
wraps your bouquets and
no matter how much i
truly genuinely care about
each face in this town i know

at the end of the day
i have to face that
nothing can change
the inevitabilities

that nothing i say
can really help
the world will still
turn without me
like it turns without
others who are gone

i know i sound
pessimistic
i’m sorry
it’s just a rainy
day or monday
getting me down

my brain started to rot,
with the thoughts that i dare not word,
the etchings and carvings of my trauma that i wish to never return,
and as life grips my throat,
the shaky breaths fail to escape my chapped lips,
drowning under the oceans anchored and below my sunken eyes,
with this weariness, i try to strive to see a world that loves me just the same,

and as my heart beats, falters, and persists,
despite all odds, determination fills my veins,
with aged scars, blackened burns, scarred scratches,
representing times i wish to forget,
the reminders are scorched into memories i like to pretend that never existed,
alongside the fact that my family did not foster a holy bond,

and, if any angels are near me,
them, as my witnesses,
can confide in that they only noticed spilled blood my own father admitted he never cared to see, the permanent cuts bound to my thick skin,
as i gazed into each slice,
wholeheartedly believing my blade would cut me from the ropes they ensnared upon my everloving entity

with the fury of the sun,
at the top of his tar-stained lungs,
he accused me of his premature death,
due to the stress of my illnesses he neglected to heal,
both still living with no regrets of the abuses he inflicted into my kin,
and the apple did not fall far from the tree,
similar sinisterness struck into my being
by the sinners i am expected to call my gracious home,

i am no angel,
and if god is cruel,
then you are the devil,

i am no savior,
no fallen child,
no messiah,
no hero from the stories that are my sanctuary,
just a wanderer, a journeyer, an existence that will cease,

and no matter who i am seen as,
and no matter how long i live,
and no matter my death date,
i will tell myself what you never will:
i am made of love,
i am made of light,
i am made of hope,
and i am a star that will never stop shining, even after my supernova
and as i become stardust, or rather dark matter,
the blurring of a century, if i am lucky enough, will fade into space,
and hopefully, if i am fortunate, another sweet, sincere, sorrowful soul will turn their eyes to the midnight sky,
and smile in the comfort that there is genuine happiness and beauty in this godforsaken world, even if it is lightyears away,
a keepsake of my soul, yearning my deepest desire, to be what i only hoped for anyone who so wishes,
though, especially endeared by those i love,
for i cannot gift it to myself, knowing the circumstances of life does not discriminate,
i want to love you forever,
but i cannot; our gravesites are as eventual as our smiles,
and, even, if for a moment,
couldn't it last forever...?

your gods are weak,
your gods are silent,
your gods don't speak to you
when all you need
is someone to confide in.
your gods are wrong,
your gods are violent,
your gods ignite the fire of war
and never tell you what to do
with all this rage inside your bones;
the fire seems so very holy
unless it's you they choose to burn.
your gods pretend,
your gods play games,
your gods don't walk around
among this land
of misery and death.
your gods know best,
your gods keep quiet,
your gods don't speak to you
when all you need
is someone to confide in.
and when you're on your own,
when all the hope is lost,
do they look down at you,
your everloving gods?

Little ballerinas both
Tiny yet tenacious
Holding firm to their beliefs
With hearts especially spacious.

I see how they have lived their lives
As parent and as child.
One’s love seemed a smothering thing-
The other’s freedom wild.

Through the years how much it hurt
To hold each other close.
Tiny ballerinas trampling
On each other’s toes.

But the pain was worth the price
These ballerinas paid.
Through all the years and all the tears
A meeting place they made.

A meeting place to marvel at
That lies within their look.
The look that lies within their eyes
In this picture that I took.



Ballerinas Two

They came my home this Christmas time
far off the beaten path.
Two wise women, studying still
God and Grandfather’s math.

They came into my heart and hearth
with gifts of small expense,
marshmallows and chocolate
not gold and frankincense

But Beauty lies in little things
Like S’mores making stuff
and little ballerinas
who’ve learned how to be tough.
And so their gifts while little
were much more than enough.

They came and pieced a puzzle
bright birds on a log.
The young one’s neck I nuzzle.
The old one feared the dog.

We broke the fast together
partook of bread and wine.
Body and blood, bacon and eggs
mixed earthly and divine.

We watched the sound of music
all sitting on the couch-
three dogs and three people
in everloving touch.

I sighed he’d lost his first love
then turned his heart to stone.
Losing one was losing all-
his children left alone.

Then came this lovely lady
to help, to heal his lack.
With push and pluck
with love and luck
she brought the music back.


So just as art imitates life
according to Aristotle.
This movie resonates with ours.
Shall we unchoke the throttle?

Lean and like and lust to learn?
Let go, let hurt, let heal?
Dance the dance that they have danced?
Let loose?
Let love be real?

Happpppinezz unto you Jeru Jaan

"हम आप के है कौन "; perhaps applies to our relationship;

So very close to my heart, yet difficult for others to it accept.

Vispi's Masi, yet you soon became, my everloving Mom;

Darling in words express my love or feelings, I just cannot.

Indeed lucky I was, to get this unconditional love from you, darling Mom.

Remember you several times every day we, after 13 years of your departure;

That itself speaks volumes about you, my sweet heart.

Of our existence, you are an inseparable part.

All I request Ahura is, to hold you lovingly in His loving arms.

To keep you happy for ever n ever; n in my life to grant you again.

Wherever you are, stay blessed; n plenty of happiness gain.

Your children, who love and adore you; who pray for a reunion.

Vispi, Anar, Shez

Armin Dutia Motashaw

The Earth has shattered
Under your footsteps
My heart
A glass house
Both crumbling down
Piece by everloving piece
As you stare at me
Blankly
Saying nothing
But making me understand everything
About how you feel towards me now

A gesture filled with loads of love,  wrapped in colourful threads;

Wishing, my brothers always upon  a flying carpet tred.

Sending you my  RAKHEE,  with lots of love n wishes good

Tie it in person I would, with lots of  love, if I only could

Sad I feel and lonely too, on this day, to be without you;

But pray I for your good health,  wealth n prosperity too.

May Ahura grant you a long,  happy and healthy life.

May increase your prosperity n decrease all your strife.

With prayers these,  my love and wishes good,  I send.

May Ahura be with you,  at every stage,  at every bend.

Your everloving sis,
Armin

FAMILY

A closely knitted  bunch of kids we were;

No outsider could ever, us away from the other stir.

Now distances us  separate; we are far apart.

It's almost half a century you from us did dart;

Then left I our cocoon after marriage; I live far.

But  dearest  brothers, let distance not be a bar;

May it, a rift in our hearts never ever create

Though physically far,  close to each other, let us be, whatever be the state.

Let it never succeed in separating us from each other.

Love you most dearly; I need to  reiterate this, my dearest brothers.

Your everloving sis
Anar

Armin Dutia Motashaw