Sunday, September 2, 2007

The Garden of Wonderland


CATEGORY : Fantasy/Surreal

Perhaps it was the garden of wonderland where I stepped in
No... there were no lawns, no precious statues on the terrace
But the glory of the garden lied in more than what met the eye...

A mammoth guitar was lying there with some broken strings,
And some unwanted weeds grew over it to hide it from me
Me stooping to unveil it, touched those weeds and heard,
“Touch me not unless you earn the treasure hidden here”
Staring at those I asked, “What treasure are you talking about ?”
Again silence, no reply I got…

Apples, both red and green all filled that garden’s space
Fiddling with those I thought, there must be some secret vault
Among them a red one asked, “Want to taste our sweetest flesh ?”
After several hesitating moves, I bit off more than its half
The rest half I couldn’t chew, since it fell down…phew !!
Strangely after weeping for long that half-apple told,
”Place me over the guitar, then you’ll get the gold”

Pausing for a while I hummed,
“How can I climb up over the mammoth’s top ?”
The weeds turned themselves into ladders to provide me the prop
Moving upstairs, I placed that half-apple over its roof
And a canvas appeared there with a beaming glow
And the chords amazingly started to play a sonata in harmonious flow

That heavenly ambience lasted for long and long
Suddenly a prophecy came along…
“What about the hidden treasure ? Got the gold here ?”
I replied, “If this melody would bring me gold, I’d follow it till I grow old
Like life’s free pleasures…more than gold’s treasures…
And of all the possessions that I would hold…
The least important would be the gold !!”


ENIGMA - the Conversation with an Angel



CATEGORY : Fantasy/Surreal

[Inspired by “The Alchemist” written by Paulo Coelho]


It was my birthday, after parties are all done
Friends went off leaving me alone
Me making a gloomy face was thinking...
How all our joys turn to be so short-lived
And after a flash, all get blown-off
Suddenly a magical epiphany took me to an angel
With sparkling magic-wand, he blessed me saying,
"Candles may melt down, flowers may die out torn,
These hours of trance may all go forlorn...
But my blessings will always light up your life"
Me being quite a spellbound, replied slowly,
"I've lost my ability to express,
Words are nothing but a jumbled mess"
Smiling the angel continued with gleaming eyes,
"Welcome to the world of illusion...
Now forget all about your past-sorrows,
And be patient...time is the only solution"
Me revealed the weird truth to him,
"Time heals the sour wounds but leaving a deep scar
To remind me of those failures I've accumulated so far,
I've to suppress my voice when I want to cry
Shadows don't leave me no matter how hard I try"
Laughing out aloud, the angel said,
"The history of your stupidity would fill up many volumes,
Silly kid, a failure moves you a step ahead to success,
I'd tell you only a few words, inner-meaning is upto you...
The closer one gets realizing his dream,
The more that dream becomes his true reason for being"
That angel never appeared anymore,
But his words are still like an enigma to me...

Defining Success


CATEGORY : Inspirational/Motivational

[Inspired by the poem "IF" written by Rudyard Kipling]


If you can fight when everything goes against you
If you can keep your head up when everyone blames you
If you don't hurt them by whom you were being hated
If you can trust yourself when everyone doubts you
If you can admit that yes, you've committed the blunder
If you can still wait and not be tired by waiting for too long
If you don't involve yourself in lies even if people lie about you
If you try to realize your dreams, instead of only dreaming
If you learn from your previous mistakes, instead of only regretting
If you can face the consequences for the cruel-truth you’ve spoken
If you can collect the things you’ve broken and reconstruct them anew
If you can walk along with the kings, yet not lose the common touch
If you can open your mind-windows, yet not allow to pollute the mind
If you can value your failures as much you value your victories
If you can meet both triumph and disaster one-after-another
And treat these as just the two sides of the same coin
If you don’t allow your brain to rule over your heart for sake of hypocrisy
If you grow old with new discoveries,
And not merely by living a number of years
Then you would be able to be among those few people…
Who would know and can define the word “success”