Quirk of Destiny

Having slogged diligently
all through his earning years,
this father of two
expected to end his career
with a flourish.
But by a quirk of fate,
life threw him stumbling down.

Unable to accept the injustice,
he nearly broke
until he decided
to clutch onto the fair hand of hope.
Though a chapter ends,
he will rewrite his life story
with good humour.

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Vibrant Soul

Ensnared by the roses and thorns,
she stood frozen
while all around her,
time passed by.
Thoughts of a former love interest
clutched her
in a deadly grip
while he had moved on
in quick succession.

Awakening to her folly,
she sweeps her mind off the past
to sow seeds of joy.
Life awaits to greet this vibrant soul
with open arms.

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Taken for granted

Dare to veer away
when taken for granted.
If guilt comes knocking
at your heart,
remind it
of the value of respecting yourself.

Brushing aside ingratitude
means we are undervalued.
Letting others walk over us
is akin to swirling in muddied pathways.
Soon, we will begin to dislike ourselves.

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Being Nice

Taught to be nice,
I lived by a set of rules.
Funnily though,
it protected others
while I got crushed underfoot.
With nary a space
to stand for myself,
I teetered on self-respect.
Every manoeuvre amounted to little
until I stood up for myself.
Then the barking dogs
backed off. 

Egoists maraud our gentility,
mistaking it for meekness.
Verbal assertiveness
is a necessity for survival. 

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Arise

Having lived a sheltered life,
she jolted when fate played
a cruel hand.
Suddenly, at the mercy
of the day,
she felt the protection of faith.
Though she plodded along,
life remained listless—or was it she?

When she decided to arise
and set out on the path to hope,
destiny dealt a fatal trick.

When most would have fallen,
we witnessed
a startlingly emphatic rebound.
Unwilling to give up,
she towers in faith, a beacon.

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Breath

Just the movement of air
lets the rise and fall of our chest.
An activity as primitive as humanity
that we never bother with
until it vanishes.

Then, in the very moment,
we cease to exist,
as do our entity, name, attributes, and desires,
which we firmly attach ourselves to.
All turns to nothingness
long before we are dust.

I carry a hope for the unknown moment,
to exit with a smile on my lips.
Au revoir! Until we meet again!

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Where the Mind is with Fear

Decades of enjoying
the fruits of independence
have led us to retrograde
with our discordant tones.
Crumbling Tagore’s dreams,
we are bent on building narrow walls
dividing a nation
with dangerously divisive voices.
While fear is fed and prejudices thrive,
we as a secular nation
are losing our identity.

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O! This Country of Mine

O! This country of mine
enveloped in spiritual fragrance,
has become a harbour of religious hues.
No more are the Gods’
matters of the heart,
elevating our minds to higher planes. 
Used and forgotten at will,
political expediency
requires the Gods to be mere pawns. 

With man wearing God’s mantle,
we have set ourselves on a path
of loud rituals and jingoistic fervour.
A boundless religion now stands confined
within our small minds.

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Trolling

When we claw and pierce
every aspect of a woman’s life
with savage cruelty,
picking her heart hollow
from the hidden safety
of our homes,
what does life say of us?

For a nation that celebrates
such barbaric acts,
the future looks bleak.
These bloodhounds will hunger for more.
Are we to wait while they turn on us?

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Killing Fields

Setting aside her grief,
the young widow stood up
in memory
of her braveheart soldier.
After the terrorists
killed her husband,
she spoke out to unite
our disparate masses.

Fearing that her words
could revive our sanity,
our self-proclaimed patriots
are baying for blood.
With vicious words,
they are out to deal her
with a death blow
while we watch mutely.
Social media are the new killing fields
where cowards roam free
with impunity.

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