All grown up

The end of childhood begins with the letting go of our true nature. The spontaneity, the quickness of laughter and tears, the complete immersion in our joys and sorrows, the uncurtailed flow of energy that expresses itself in untiring skip-hop-jumps…all of it ends with the much overrated rite of passage called growing up.

Expected to behave in ‘grown-up’ ways, we begin to suppress our instincts and the flood of energy that is our own in childhood. We begin putting on masks, playing roles, contorting our faces (and our psyches) to resemble the person we think we are, or ought to become. We smother what’s natural to us and follow rules and guidelines that are supposed to help us ‘grow up and be someone’.

But sadly, that ‘someone’ is more often than not a far cry from the person we really are. And in our ostensible growing up, we lose all that is natural to us, forfeiting all that brings us real happiness.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to let go of this fake, silly grown-up-ness and immerse ourselves fully in life again? To really grow up… and be a child again?


All grown up

Laughter and tears, love and hate

used to be a time when all was pure

when anger came in a flash

and forgiveness even faster

There was a time

when every step was danced

and every word, sung,

and the face I wore was my own

And I remember (quite clearly... I think)

talking to God, dancing with angels

and being in dread

of monsters under my bed

There was a time when I believed

in magic, the power of a spell

and darn…

even heaven and hell!

But that was before acting and pretense

spilled beyond playtime

That was before the mask came on,

before I learned… to be all grown up…

Destiny?

It was in a recent gift of a scrapbook given to me that this piece found life and meaning. The empty pages were a lure I couldn’t resist, and as i wrote and the pages turned, this came to me again... an epiphany, unplanned, unexpected... like the best things in life…

This one’s for the girl whose spontaneous gift evolved into something that I would never have imagined. Thanks shi(gre)rly, for a gift that turned out to be the best ever! Owe you...


Destiny?

What’s your destiny but your autobiography? The story of your life that you write from day to day, from hour to hour, from moment to moment, from birth to your last breath?

Every new day is a fresh start, a new blank page.. to be written on as you will. The choice is yours, whether to fill it with life, music, laughter, joy and love or to disfigure the page with the baggage of the past and aprehensions of the future.

So plot it with all the creativity and ingenuity that is yours to comand if you will but wish for it with a sincere heart. Pack it with all the action, adventure, emotions and life-experiences you can possibly pack into a lifetime. And block nothing. Block nothing that comes to you naturally. Let it twist and turn and brim over with your passion for life, exploring every posssible avenue, following no rules and guidelines except those dictated by your own true nature. Page by page, put together an autobiography that sings of the immense beauty, poetry and endless possibilities that exist for each and every one of us.

Write your own, unique story. Let none accuse you of plagiarism. Let every page be an expression of your individuality, your own unique approach to life, and you would have written a story worth telling.

And most importantly, write it for your own sake. There’s nothing that you need to prove… to anyone.

And look for no rave reviews, or rewards…

For the reward, the ultimate reward… is in the writing…

praying for a miracle

Note: In its writing, this poem(if i may call it that), somehow took on the flavor of a rock song. It's mostly a first draft, with minor corrections made. There maybe a few corny sounding bits... I But since i believe that the message is what matters most, i have mostly stuck to what came spontaneously during the first draft...

There’s a cold tombstone
in the graveyard of my soul
and it says here lies love
God’s favorite son

No wilting flowers, no fading footprints
mark this grey tombstone
Just a permanent cold dampness
as if God’ been shedding tears

But I’m praying for a miracle
to bring love back to life
I am praying for a miracle
to bring love back from the dead

Innocence lies breathing its last
In ambition’s life-less crypt
haunted by the screams
of murdered childhood dreams

Love is just a superficial thing
no more than just skin deep
And the flame of hope eternal
is a fading flicker in some dark demon’s keep

But I’m praying for a miracle
to bring love back to life
I am praying for a miracle
to bring love back from the dead

When passions have atrophied
and true instincts lie buried
under the debris of all consuming greed,
can love be revived?

RAG n MUFFIN

Have you ever..

Have you ever walked barefoot on a dewy morning,
on a carpet of green grass, wet and glistening with the morning dew?
The warmth of the rising sun on your face, the coolness of the dew
soaking your soles, and the feel of the sticky-grass-blades between your toes…
clinging to your wet heels…

Have you ever really seen the moon on a full-moon night,
listened to the dogs howling at the moon for the sheer joy of being,
and wanted to howl along? And have you ever felt the rush
as the blood in your veins answered the call of the moon,
rising with the ocean tides and the green sap in the trees…?

Have you ever flown with an eagle, let your soul soar to the skies?
Have you ever imagined what it must be to fly free, surfing the air waves,
rising and falling and swirling with the currents and eddies,
floatiing on wings that are as one with the winds,
wingtips slicing through crisp air and the rush of it on your breast,
and in every feather? The wind, whispering, singing… and then howling
in your ears as you drift, dance and dive deep into the roaring ocean of air…

Have you ever been in a forest on a dark night? Heard the creak and whisper
of trees and the the night sounds, of life moving in the dark, the rustle
of dry leaves, the whoosh and beat of unseen wings and the sudden alarm calls
slicing through the whisper-quiet night…?
Have your ever breathed the fresh air laden with the sweet smell
of decaying leaves, laced with the scent of wild flowers and raw bark
and fresh green leaves?

Have you ever really felt the rain? Felt the cool touch of its fingers drumming
its wild non-rhythm on your skin, soaking your hair, pooling in your eyes, running down
in rivulets like cool rivers across a warm desert? Have you ever let it soak you
right down to your soul?

Have you ever stood on a high mountain top… marvelling at the power
that lifted it from the low plains to the high heavens? Have you ever stood in awe,
humbled by the monumental majesty of the ever-rising peaks
reaching out to touch the silver clouds?

Have you ever realy touched a tree? Let your hand feel the rough bark,
skin against skin, and felt the pulse of life throbbing through it,
alive to the elements, the sun, the moon, the wind and the rain…

Have you ever laid yourself down on the beach, close to the waves, in the wet sand,
and listened to the music of the ocean? The crash, the slap of water on the shore
and the soft whispered farewell of receding waves…
Have you ever been carried away, caught in the hypnotic, primordial rhythm?

Have you ever stood knee-deep in a flowing stream, and felt the tickle
of darting fish nibbling at your feet? Have you ever drank from a forest stream,
the water rich and sweet, flavoured with the myriad essences of pure,
unsullied nature…?

Have you ever been hopelessly in love? Loved for love’s sake?
The love a yearning, a deep hunger, an elixir, an intoxication that consumes
you with its intensity, a permanent high that stays with you
through sleep, through wakefulness…through your every breath…


Have you ever really…lived…?

The Alchemy of Desire

A whisper of intention passes
between the two, an unspoken need,
a frisson of energy leaps
an unseen, electric bridge

On hair trigger, neurons fire
leaping synapses, desire races
outrunning the call to restraint...
a stampede of wild steeds

a stirring comes, a deep rumble
spreading tremors, senses unleashed
double helix serpents dance;
a primal writhing, in every cell

Touch, caress, steaming breaths
desire's expressions manifest
molten copper gathers in loins
twin whirlpools, sensations churned

Rhythm builds, tides swell
murmuring an urgent invocation,
Sweeping currents, elements gathered
flow together, an undeniable surge

Earth shudders, oceans heave
the molten core erupts;
flowing lava, white gold...
a shudder, a shower of ecstasy...