SBenegaL

Category: Poetry

  • “Move on …None the less…”


    An ant began its journey in search of food…
    It wasn’t clear it would get a cube of sugar or a sour pie…
    It decided to move on …none the less…

    Training its little legs to climb, Letting its nose drive the way…
    Looking at the sky, leaving a train behind…
    Climbing mountains, getting down the valleys…
    Some times Seen by predators, hidden from foes in the rest…
    It let go of its old guard, to find a new way…
    It moved on …none the less…

    Sensing from the gut, letting go of that daily rut…
    Bombarded by Long journeys and Strong winds…
    Straining its tiny eyes – Some times it asked Why…
    Unsure of its next turn, looking at what was here and now,
    Not knowing if this would ever hurt, it decided to move on …none the less…

    As it looked back at the journey it had traveled,
    A few friends followed the trail it carved, the journey it began…
    Uncertain if it would ever find a crumb of food,
    I was almost as if it was lost in the wood…
    Not sure if it would every make a difference, it decided to move on …none the less…

    Rains drenched it, the sun fried it, the winds gave it a flight…
    It thought of asking others why this plight!
    With no food yet in sight,
    It decided to persist and move on …none the less…

    After days of unimaginable ups and downs,
    And nights with feeling of defeat and self-doubt…
    The ant finally realized… its the journey itself that mattered…
    Not the few friends that followed, nor the foe who hated…
    Shedding the past, It was to live its life a fresh every morning…
    It had to simply move on… None the less…

    –  ಚಿ (Chi)

  • The Butterfly in me… finding my purpose

    Chomp! Chomp! I moved few inches ahead,
    Chomp! Chomp! I ask my self where am I going…
    Chomp! Chomp! I seem to be getting nowhere by wondering for a purpose…
    Wandering almost every day – searching for a no purpose!
    Chomp! Chomp! I continue to feed on as I still wander in my search…

    Waking up every day; even before the first rays of the sun knock on my eyelids…
    I ask – “Is this the purpose of my life?”, or sometimes… “Is there a purpose for my life?”
    While it seems as if I make a daily progress… a few inches ahead!
    I still wonder -Is this is the right direction?”
    Move I may in any direction – I still hog – Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

    Ages of this purposeless wandering has gotten me to believe-
    It  is this that is the purpose – Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
    There is something in there that tells me – “IT CAN’T BE”… or may be “IT IS”!

    But still, I continue my search…. may be there are answers at the end of the day…
    A doubt lingering in my ears – “What if you have accepted this to be the answer very quickly?”

    The Chomping seems to have got the better of me…
    The feeding has bloats me, and more so my ego – “I am the biggest guy around, don’t you see?:
    My moves slow down almost saying – “there is no more of you I can carry”
    But having identified with my ego can I still go Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!

    From the edge of my eyes I see others like me – chomping a longer than me
    The doubt lingers in again – “May be there is where it all ends?”
    May be – they know where they want to go…
    May be – they would get bigger than me…
    May be…

    I slowly see myself change – I no longer move ahead…
    I intend to move now – not to Chomp! but to find a purpose that is beyond Chomp!
    But here I am – not moving…It is almost like life has come to a stand still
    In my own world I feel this is my destiny –
    “There is no more a direction, no hunger, no purpose”
    Looking back, I ask – “Was there something that I could have done different?”
    Answers there are many, but I move no more… to act and change…
    I am now folded into a cocoon…

    Lying in here… 
    Nothing of the world interests me, I am bound to this tree… I have all the time in the world to think…
    This is possibly where He wanted me to be…
    but I still ask myself – is this the purpose of me…
    No rationale can help me find peace, when I haven’t understood the purpose to be,
    Living off my fat from the chomps I had the Only energy I now have is to ask myself –
    I wonder – Is there any greater purpose in life? What if I don’t find a purpose in life? I have to make peace with my past – find a rationale that helps me pace peace…
    I just hope I had a second chance….

    I try to move – but there is not much of a space –
    my cocoon is all the space I have,
    I fear tearing it for the fear of not knowing my purpose
    and being lost again only to think of chomping as my life’s purpose.
    my thoughts are now tiered of thinking about accepting the fate…
    I see I need some thing more to do…

    The turbulence in my mind, doesn’t let me rest in peace,
    The curiosity wants me to catch up with life… I know…
    There is a world outside this cocoon that covers me…
    I have waited long, in here, with no motion and almost no action…
    I wish had wings to fly… Fly I will and explore the world

    The wings of hope strengthen with each day I stay here…
    It is as if I am only eager to fly… not walk any more!
    But wasn’t it the slow walk that allowed me to chomp as much as I wanted?
    May be I should just wait for the cocoon to disappear and begin walking again…

    But no! wait I feel there is something I haven’t got yet!…
    Walk I will only on this terrain, fly I will over different terrains….
    I would rather try flying and failing than just waiting here in this cocoon…
    After all, life is meant to be experiencing different things!

    Isn’t the Cocoon is really my creation?
    Does it really exist? or, Is it me who thinks it exists?
    It possibly is my imagination and not the cocoon that is holding me in here…
    I have to challenge my limits….a struggle is ensured…
    But I will fight, It is better than having just accepted the action less life here…

    After days of struggle, I see the cocoon slowly giving in,
    I see a faint light from the out trying to enter my eyes…
    Its such a pleasure to see what I had been so long waiting for…
    may be its time to push my wings and break it open…
    hold on I no longer can… I want to fly not walk any more… I am so excited…

    As my wings tear open the cocoon…
    I feel the mild wind fluttering through my wings…
    I just open them up and… lo! I am off from my cocoon…

    The cocoon that so long bound me…
    The cocoon that gave me time to look beyond my immediate…
    The cocoon that strengthened by wings…
    The cocoon is now gone… no more  it exists…
    The legs that helped me walk – are only my resting pads…

    I am no more of what I was… But, I am now a free butterfly
    not chomping any more, but extracting the nectar from any beautiful flower I see…
    I feel free – almost unbound!

    I still haven’t found a purpose, but I feel free…
    I still find nothing in the goal, but the process of freedom that gives me the strength to go…
    Its in enabling others realize their aspirations that I realize my purpose…
    Being a part of converting the potential to performance… is where my beauty comes from,
    My beautiful wings now have a beautiful purpose…
    May be I simply allow them realize their purpose..That is what makes me free…

    – Chi
    [Pc: the internet I have given the link to the actual source for those who are interested in finding it out :)]

  • From a Bound Glass to the Free Air


    Deep within the monotony around me;
    All I see is many like me!
    Compromising with the routine and the emptiness of daily life;
    The water looked calm from the outside, but there lived a void inside.

    Every new person walking in to the routine,
    Like a colored drop, was lost,
    Either being one of us,
    Or occasionally, when many colored drops falling in
    Painted us in a new gloss!

    Everything around me was changing, yet there was no fulfillment.
    Trapped! I felt in all this coloring and slow change.
    Bound I felt like the millions around me;
    It was the glass that held the water – that bound me.

    The tranquility broke, as tough the hidden hand; had shaken the glass.
    All the people felt the shake; it was only for a few who were now awake.

    I was one of the few, whom the agitation drew,
    Unhappy with the state around me,
    I moved from wall to wall, bottom to top; In search of that inner peace.

    In my confused search, I found –
    A bubble – A bubble that grew out of the agitation around me.
    On which I decided now to ride.
    From the random motions – I was now moving to the top.

    It had now opened up a new horizon to me,
    As I raise to the surface;
    The inner dissatisfaction, calms down,
    With a larger view around

    I sensed a new beginning,
    With the mental agitation calming down
    I was bound no more by the walls of the glass,
    Or the image that stuck with many of the coloring around.

    Freed from my bound; I moved on…
    Liberated by the bubble, from the mental agitation,
    This was now a new beginning – unbound, undisturbed.
    I moved on…
    Awaiting a new role – a new place.
    I had but found in myself an inner peace,

    – Chi

  • The Lost Starry Sky

    The Lost Starry Sky
    A black blanket above me, with small spots – the stars,
    Some twinkling, some shooting, looking as though at wars;
    Far off, I hear the sea roar,
    And occasionally tearing blanket a shooting star soar;
    As it where it where to teach me!
    Giving me the freedom – The white dots on a black paper;
    With my creative ink – draw I could, linking the dots;
    Not bound only by my thoughts,
    I created structures in the sky;
    With just dots and my creative eye.
    My childlike innocence today looks like nonsense!
    A busy day, and a tiered night
    Within the four wall I see no light!
    My bound mind’s eye, – Now sees no more;
    The structures I created are just a thought turned sore;
    Evaluating today, I create;
    I say some good, some bad; some possible some difficult;
    The sieve of prudence, and convention has just let go of the fluid mind;
    All I have today is bound by the routine, the definite; limiting me!
    No dots to connect, all I look at today is only walls that bind
    – Chi
    _____________________________________________________________
    In this poem, I have tried to get to the table 2 aspects which I closely feel about
    1. The lost child hood creativity and it being replaced by the routine life of a grown up
    2. The Evaluative Mindset of a grown up which kills our joy of creatively looking at the situation we are in

  • I stood the autumn

    I stood the autumn

    I flew with the wind, not knowing where I would go…

    Left I went and sometimes to the right,

    As the winds settled, I landed down,

    Not knowing where I was, what I was to do…


    As the soil fell on me, I felt I was done for good.

    Water moved on me, wetting me, dirtying me.

    I felt this was the end of me…

    Seasoned passed, I grew –

    From dust and dirt to see the sun;

    Sky’s the limit I felt, all but to know there were taller people than I.

    Seasons changed – summer to winter, heat to cold;

    When the sun was hot, there was no shade – I wanted to run but couldn’t

    When the rain drenched, there was no cover – I wanted to run but couldn’t

    When the winter froze, there was no blanket – I wanted to run but couldn’t

    I lost my precious breath – I was hopeless what was next

    My hands folded – nowhere to move, fighting for each breadth I stood

    I just stood just believing I needed to stand, I had nothing but to stand

    Stood I, as the birds flew, stood I as the heat increased, Stood I

    I believed I would stand the autumn,

    As my Breadth returned!

    I knew, I stood, I knew, I stood the autumn.

    – Chi

    —————————————————————-

    I have used a metaphor of a tree to indicate the state of mind of an individual, right from the birth to growth. It signifies the importance of strength of mind in surviving hard times. This is my interpretation but is open to various other interpretations too.


  • Every Step is here to stay

    Every Step is here to stay

    None was built in a single day

    It a journey not a stay,

    Like the marks on clay

    Every Step is here to stay.

    Every single step has something to say

    It’s not the goal but the way,

    Showing us light farther away

    Every Step is here to stay.

    Life with its twist and turn

    Makes us earn,

    A moment left not to return,

    Filling life with fun;

    Leaving no heart burn,

    Every Step is here to stay

    It’s not in one single spot

    Connecting every single dot

    Looking back, making a plot

    More beautiful than you thought!

    Every Step is here to stay

    – Chi

  • The butterfly….

    Behind the butterfly I ran,
    Thinking that catch it I can…
    Closer I went,
    As as I bent…
    And before I knew,
    The farther it flew….
    I ran and I ran behind,
    I can! thinking so in my mind…

    But then I sat,
    Giving the world a spat…
    I reclined below in fatigue,
    Lo! I see the butterfly in intrigue…
    Through the leaves and through the gap,
    It came and sat on my lap!!!

    – Chi

    This poem is not a depiction of an event, for me it is more than just that. It reflects the state of mind and our achievements. Typically there are thousands of things that I want to get in life, I run behind them restlessly, and not focusing on any one of them completely…
    But the paradox of life is even the most complex of things can be achieved with a calm state of mind, a clear and un-perturbed mind. Its by sitting on a particular thing that we are able to achieve success in it… There are numerous interpretations that we can take from this poem… this one appealed me the most so here I jot it down.

  • Ramdom mumbling- the old man & the child

    there is child in me…
    there is an old man in me…
    all through my life these will be within me…

    some times I am a child
    some times an old man…
    but i enjoy being both the child and the old man…
    the enthusiasm of the child
    mapped with the maturity of an old man…
    its a blissful experience…

    the child loves to play pranks
    the old man wants to get the understanding of the worlds
    I gain form them both…

    the child wonders and experiences
    the old man takes the experiences and makes thoughts…
    I wonder, am I the wonder or the experience or the thought….

    – Chi

    This was an arbitrary set of lines which I felt like jotting down… all in a spark…don’t know how and why… just wrote them…