Father’s ode to his daughter-in-law

 

Father’s ode to his daughter-in-law

 

This verse is for her, my daughter-in-law
It pains me to call her so
For me it is not the law but love
That brought her closer to me.
 
She is etched in my mind as a daughter
As years fly by, my feelings deepen
She, an inseparable part of my son
Is now a part of my little world or maybe the world itself.
 
She brought in happiness and a reason to live a little longer
She does make ripples, but why not
One can never leave footprints in the sands of life
When one is always on tiptoe
 
She ismy son’s choice and no better girl he could have picked
Standing like the rock of Gibraltar
She lends shoulders in times of need
A high five in times of happiness
 
Tending her beautiful children
Zipping through the daily chores,
Attending office work, dancing, singing and tours galore
Her life is nothing but a song.

To be lonely

To be lonely

Solitary desperate cry
Was it for companionship or affection?
Or is it bewilderment,
Constraint or coercion
Or is it to oblige a dream to be lonely?

Future mingling with the present
Present an iota in the future
Overshadowed by the past
Brain perambulating, combing corners
It does give a throbbing pleasure to be lonely.

Vaguely peering
Into oblivion, sans reason,
Past never to be remembered
Present is all that matters,
Future, festooned with glorious uncertainties.

Grading the poor

Grading the poor

 

Grading the poor
At the bottom or on the floor
Satisfies one’s might
Reaches the right.
 
It is distressing to grade a human
Living in ruins
Covered with no roof but walls
And another, neither roof nor walls.
 
Where do you end one never knows
One receives no alms and
Nothing to the world he owes.
Lives the day with a loaf of bread with no qualms
 
The other sold his poverty never ever aware
He was cared with flair
And now has a roof over his head
With no dearth of bread.
 
It is not my trade to grade the poor
At the bottom or on the floor.
We are not messiahs,
Returning to judge all creations. 

The Disease

The Disease

Somewhere in the East
Heard a strange disease,
Indisposed men, women and children
In numbers never heard.
 
All began in a megacity
People cautious and many feared.
But plagues have come and gone.
This too would end, the optimist prophesied. 
 
The disease soon spread
There was fear everywhere
Nothing will prevent and nothing will cure,
Affirmed doomsayers.
 
The rich, the poor, the urban, the rural
The developed, the underdeveloped
The privileged and not so privileged
All wait with bated breath.
 
From East to West, North to South
Europe and the Americas and Asia
The pandemic spread like an octopus,
Tentacles greedy to grasp.
 
Or is it to purge the world
Of all its sins,
Selfishness and complexes
And make it a better place to live.
 

 

Why can’t a person be like a tree?

Why can’t a person be like a tree?

 

Trees, the creator’s gift
Nurtured in nature's lap,
Growing to survive to near eternity,
Till the greed of mankind, overcomes.
 
Humanity with its entire prowess
Never could embellish the earth.
The large trees reigning in majestic isolation
The small safely cuddled together.
 
To care and tend all life beneath
The motherly tree with all its might,
Shielding nature to preserve life,
Can a person be ever like a tree?
 
The tree in its branches, take pride
Like divine arms comforting the distressed?
I often wonder; will there ever be a person
As selfless as a tree
 
The tree like a sentinel
Stood oblivious of years
It survived the axe of a mercenary,
Caring for and shielding lives dependant.
 
With branches spread far and wide
To protect its space, as a refuge
For birds and bees, reptiles and mammals,
And shelter all from sun, rain and snow.
 
Why can’t a person be like a tree?
Live and let live
Help and protect till the journey lasts
And vow that others and we together live.