the coffee shop on 1st street
you told me my eyes were warm and belonged here
I shrugged and gulped my coffee even though it burned my tongue
the bookstore on 2nd street
you told me my hands were made of love from the pages I've turned
I glanced at you and nervously chewed my fingernails until it hurt
the music store on 3rd street
you told me my heart was an acoustic guitar that'd been misplayed
I tripped over my shoelace and madly tied them up along with my heart
the arcade on 4th street
you told me my smile was worth all the time and effort because I deserved it
I went to the bathroom and before I left I smiled in the mirrors a little too hard
the beach off 5th street
you asked me what I was so afraid of that kept holding me back
I let the sand crumble between my fingers and told you that I was the sand and you were the waves

I have to wonder
How fast the soul could travel
To get away from here
Far away from this life
That I have ruined
Oh,
The life I have misplayed
And the feelings never decayed

"So the mind won't lie
And the arm won't set
And the bright red eye
Isn't off you yet
So the words won't come
And the hand won't touch
And a midnight sun
Doesn't look like much
As an Iris contracts
Facing the day
I can tell you've cracked
Like a china plate"

Tossed into the muddy reservoir of bad choices.
You are the words coming back to haunt me.
You are those voices.
I am all the times you thought you knew better;
I am the constant reminders.
I am the torn up love-letter.

The unread magazines that hide your drawings.
The bitter, black coffee
that picks me up in the mornings.
The way the sun comes out earlier this time of year;
And how the rain comes and hides, and obscures
the tears.
The hello's and goodbye's,
forced
and insincere.
And the voice that whispers:
"It's alright,
have no fear."
And the other voice that whispers other things
I'd rather not hear.

I am all the decisions you wish you hadn't made.
You are every note,
out of tune
or misplayed.
You are the soundless symphony;
the forgotten serenade.

You are the one I haven't met yet.
The rising of the moon
and the falling of the sun set.

I am the poems never read,
and the songs never sang.
I am door never opened;
the telephone that never rang.

We were the story never told,
and the feelings never shared.
The ones that didn't live to ever grow old.
The empty box, written with the words
"Handle with care."

“Did I hesitate a moment? Did I stop and wonder why?
We were ordered to attack from some blunderer up high.
We were all, I think, afraid. Who wouldn’t be right then?
Those Russians were entrenched and had artillery with them.
We must have looked magnificent on our chargers riding high
As we rode for God and Country, we knew Death was standing by.
I saw my brother Henry die and more brave lads besides.
We dressed the line and galloped on, We who were about to die.
My horse was shot from under me and that threw me to the sod.
The battle sounded distant and my left arm felt quite odd.
Some Shrapnel cut my face and thigh, but I saw many worse.
Some men called for their mothers, others raged and cursed.
Our gallant charge was broken by effective cannon fire.
There were many horses riderless like the one that I acquired.
When I got back behind our lines, I thanked my equine friend.
Then I realized he’d been Henry’s mount when this travesty began.
I’m sure there will be an inquiry into how this was misplayed.
It is then I’ll tell my tale about our murdered light brigade.”

Am I really here, or even real?
Are the people around me just glittering spiels?

Bending and yawning as an aching willow
Opening and weeping on splayed soft pillows

Fluffy and delicate, once never to shed
By and by warm an unkept withered bed

Vowed never to have been slept in
But a lowly spirit swelled within

What once was lost, could never be found
The root sprouted from trodden ground

A dwindling, pebbled little path
Swept away in a minute flash

Gone goes the summer and the sparrow groans
Never again is that reverence to be known
Perhaps a love misplayed might cease to be shown

You made excuses and ruses
And egregious misuses
Of all we hold sacred;
You misplayed it to the hilt
Until you almost killed
Almost all of us with lies.
So many were unwise
And fell for each guise
Every smiling mask
And gave them what they asked
So they could bask in false glory.

We didn’t notice our story
Did not match the tale as told
And before the ink could grow old
Each criminal prophet grew more bold
And, changing the names of blessings
They continued messing around
Until our Constitution was on the ground
Trampled in the dirt by those
Who cannot ever be hurt.

Because they bribe those of us
Who have missed the bus
Somewhere back in elementary school
When they didn’t play by the rules
And we didn’t learn what cheating looked like;
Didn’t tell the cheats to take a hike
And let us get on with making better
The world they were destroying by the letter
Just as they tore up the words
Of those who started us all and heard
Our voices of blood and pain.
They are greedy enough to want us to fail again.

THE UNIQUE OXYMORON
(Bijoylakshmi Das, 30th May 2020)
With endless stretches of the blue above,
All around the limitless vast of the sea;
Oh Dear! You have made solitude your absolute kingdom
In Soul’s sublime freedom free.

Alone, all alone in Moon-moist rapture clad,
And ravishing Rhapsody of the starry mirth;
The sweet kisses cypher blush in the Blue
The Creation seems to be joyful, living worth.

The ceaseless symphony that stirs the World
The museless melody brings elixir to life,
The whole universe is just one single string of Love
Tied in beads of compassion infinite.

There lies no more the difference between YOU and ME
All compact in One single beautiful harmony;
Love’s immensitude flows from Heaven to Earth
The Brown’s Beauty bares her ***** to the Sea.

The illusory illusion that you see around
The notes discordant hinders your freedom’s liberty,
And you have misplayed enough in the Divine Playground
Now let nature clear dirt from your Destiny.

Creation belongs to all, but your illegitimate will –
To make the rest serve to your ****** whim,
Why are you crying now, my dear Man-monster!
”As you sow, so you reap”: the unique Oxymoron’s unceasing Rhyme?

Be aloof, sit sovereign in Soul’s lone empire
Ever uninvadable, where Love guards as sentinel,
There the Spring-Blossoms wither not
The Empyrean Damsel welcomes you her door to dwell.

Take care! Nature is to ****** her legitimate rights
Sooner or later, your devilish hands could no more hold;
Your grip is brittle, bones are shattered
You have made it yourself in the vilest endeavour.

The nightmare is your own making,
The colossal waste of life and energy,
You have always been the blood-thirst Vampire,
Now be ready to visit your worthwhile destiny.

Back to Nature: the earnest Appeal,
Back to Creation’s legitimate Whole;
You are a mere speck of dust in the Vast
Hence, in the Vast Nature do not interfere.
……………………………………

You captured my attention with ease. I’m not sure what compelled me to you. Maybe it was you’re attraction to me when I overlooked you. Maybe it was the blue of your eyes that matched the sky on those cloudless days you knew I loved. Maybe it was the confidence you had to joke around in the cleverest of ways. Maybe your out-of-the-box intelligence  intrigued my constantly curious mind. Maybe it was your passion that always looked past the present and into the future. Maybe it was your smile that made me lose my breath and put a stop to my words...

...Whatever it was...

...The things that made my mind unclear
From the start
Those that drew me near
They are the same ones my heart
Warned me to fear

And just as things went astray
I knew my emotions imposed
As you began to fade
No concern was disclosed

However as I began to reach
Your voice went adrift
Although I may have impeached
You were the one to swiftly shift

I never understood the charade
That left you so composed
Was it a fun game you played
You believed that I had froze

Sheltered from the change
Thought it was handled with the best approach
Did you seek for us to estrange
Unable for the topic to be broached

What caused you to stall?
The point of acceptance?
Realization leaves you appalled
In the near distance

As I sat there and replayed
Your commitment to implement civility
Acting like you’re ahead of the game
Trust that you misplayed pathetically

A force you chose to be reckoned with
As you set me aside
You have become a frivolous myth
Which leaves you petrified as I stand purified

You’ll be wishing everything stayed the same
Your searches will be incomplete
As you sit and sulk, you’re one to blame
I’ve left you behind while you so desperately plead

The words that once made me sway
Are barren and trivial quite frankly
Those were the ones you use to get me to stay
Thank you for letting me leave abruptly

Breathless there you stand
Gawking at your unfortunate circumstance
This isn’t possibly what you had planned
As I advance and leave with no final glance...

...Whatever this was...

My heart warned me to fear
Those that drew me near,
They are the same ones
From the start,
The things that make my mind unclear

Maybe, in the beginning, that day
Those were all the things that made my mind clear
But when things went astray
They were the same ones my heart warned me were insincere
The things that drew me near
Will be the ones you use to keep me away
You began to fade
And when it was time for you to convey
I realized my affections were mislaid
And you left me to replay
The slightest change in your charade
Was it that I...
My mind realized to stay away