Brother, you are
A fort, a firewall, a fuel, a bolster;
Brother, you are
A shepherd, a teacher, a guide,
a soulmate;
Brother, you are
A reflection, a bloodline, a friend,
a father;
Brother, you are
A perfection, an epitome,
an inspiration,
a path;
Brother, you are
A hope, a story, a critic,
an emphatic;
Brother, you are
A motto, a quote, a journal,
a dream!

-

Most of the days are bad,
But there was one especially distressing.
And I begged to God to route an escape map
And he send me a friend as a blessing.

And he mocked my situation,
And he compared his equally swingeing one.
To let me know I'm not alone,
And battles fought protecting each others' back are won.

He made me cry and angry and sadder,
But mostly he made me laugh my hearts out.
And I forgot all my woes and shortcomings for a while
Focusing on all the emotions pouring out loud.

He became my punching bag,
And the treasure I swore to protect and prize
And he became the doll that hugs me as I call it a day
I had no emotion or mood he couldn't recognize.

When life beat us hard to the ground,
We'd roll on it and burst into laughter.
And when it'd throw us into an abyss,
We'd sing out loud and deal with it after.

And so the bad days didn't decrease,
But now I have a shoulder to lean on and a shoulder to lend
Because life is topsy turvy and an endless storm
But you can overcome everything holding the hand of a friend.

-

.......

-

Life is like a river,
Sometimes born in privilege, from a glacier,
It keeps flowing,
Harbouring life.
It keeps bowing,
Shaping the nature
It keeps endowing,
The soil, the land.
It keeps blowing,
Into the right direction to the oceans and seas.
It keeps harrowing,
To the hardships and pollutions entrusted upon it.

And sometimes in uncertainty, from a storm,
It deluges
Inundating the life and land that comes its way.
It refuges
Relieving drought and meagreness.
It centrifuges
From one need, one deed, one greed to another.

And sometimes in indigence, from a spring,
Like an oasis in pernicious desert
Like an elixir for wandering souls.
Like a reservoir for an indigenous tribe
Like a sacrifice for viridescence to grow when it evaporates
Like a memory which no one shall pay as much heed.

Life can be like all of them
It can be chaos yet directional.
It can be a blessing and a curse.
It can be selfless but selfish.
But who controls the river?
Maybe you can.
So you should.
And hopefully you will.
Because even though you cannot make it to the might ocean and seas,
Or embellish meadows and valleys,
Or furnish life,
You can be a subject of art and love and rage.

-

What is Saturn without its rings,
What are lands without their kings,
What are options when we don't get to choose?
What is winning when we have nothing to lose?

What is moon without the Sun?
And what is success without the fun?
What is wind without direction?
What is victory without affliction?

What is sound without listeners?
And what is friendship without manners?
What is loyalty without expectations?
What is magic without incantations?

Everything is something when it has anything
But can something be nothing with or without a thing?
Maybe then the perspectives change again
And the dependencies continue to tie up like a chain!

-

It was all darkness at first,
When I was sown underneath the crust.
I felt an eerie fear that I'll soon cease to be
But I didn't know I had an entire life packed within me.
Slowly I crawled out and cracked open the ground,
I saw colossal viridesce all around.
In comparison, I thought, I am so weak, tender
Like raindrops, yet their role is crucial to render.
It's been days and I am still fragile
Whereas the child who tends to me is taller and agile.
He waters me, feeds me food, protects me from rain
He often forgets, but he makes it up time and again.
Years passed by, now my owners moved out,
I see the horizon & hear the migrating birds loud,
The greenery around me has faded away,
Yet I have managed to stand where I lay.
The day has arrived & it's my time to die,
And now I'm almost as huge as the sky.
I shall leave no shadow nor memory
Meet the same fate as everyone of my category.
That eerie fear vanished as I survived
Looks like the child had me recognised
I wish every tree could have a child as saviour
Then adversities wouldn't be as severe.

It's all brightness in the end
On me he depends, and on him I depend.
Under my shadows his offsprings play
Around me my seeds they lay.

-

There was no bridge, just neck deep water.
Yet you held mum with one hand and me on your head
So the river wouldn't smother.
There were no transport, no wind, no cart
Yet you carried us on one feet
While the other held the ground from breaking apart.
You battled invisible ghosts at night
Just to keep me safe and content as I fight more in dreams.
You wiped mother's tears and sweats from her sight.
My mother said you could conquer the world to dust
But your world seemed confined to mum and me
So even when you could have anything, you chose to stay with us.
When the fire raged in the woods making life groan.
You made sure we inhaled nothing of the smoke
You took us far away from your fate, while sacrificing your own.
You left half of you in my mother's soul
She never made me feel the loss or need indeed
Except for the sanctity and importance of you and the values you hold.
So, now when I see my reflection in that same river,
Walk on the same road, carrying woods from the same forest,
And fight more than just ghosts at nights that make one shiver.
I want to be strong yet gentle,
And be the person I would be if mum and dad were one.

-

THEY set the ladder for us,
Now it's up to us to climb.
To traverse the huge wall
Endeavouring adventures
Delirious and sublime.

Sometimes we miss a step,
Or trip or fall or pause.
And we need THEIR words
To encourage us while we
Explore our cause and flaws.

Step by step we strengthen,
But occasionally the determination falls
Soon we realize that it's
The journey that matters
And not crossing these walls.

And the steep ladder seems comfy,
With fellow wanderers and vagrants.
When THEIR voices dim
The abetment of this newfound family
Create beautiful memorial fragments.

The ladder is your freedom,
Don't consider it to be a cage.
But if you're made to feel so again and again
Rebel, and climb further for
You have the right to rage.

You can't let go of the ladder.
You may think it's more of a bane.
That's when you recall the memories
And everything that revivifies
Your pain to a worthy gain.

Some may follow you throughout the ladder,
Learn to let go if they burden you.
Else learn to persevere,
Because up there will always be a family
Who will love you in every sense true.

-

I never felt the burden of books,
Over my skinny shoulders.
Probably because I'm used to heavier weights
As my childhood passes moving boulders.

I don't know about science and stuff,
Because I'm busy burning coal.
I have never used flashy gadgets,
Because if I don't serve the tea soon, my malik will pay the toll.

I cannot beg because my mother is sick,
And she can't bear the burden anymore.
The burden that I do drugs with the money,
So I sing near roadsides and in temples until my throats turn sore.

I cannot read the dancing words,
Just like I cannot read the faces of the educated.
Who trade me, who beat me, who use me,
If education means this, I don't want to get liberated.

I want to be like the good educated people,
The ones who teach, the ones who fly.
I can turns wastes to crafts like magic,
And I want to retain my innocence without becoming sly.

I'm hungry, to eat more, but more to learn
But for now, just for now I want to play.
Just like how normal kids do,
But responsibility, responsibility, responsibility is all I can say.

-

I wonder, so often wonder,
If the demons ever surrender.
If the scars harboured from our wars,
Rather fuel them, than making them tender.

I am curious, so profoundly curious,
If our arguments are in true sense spurious.
Because no matter how many times we win,
The demons keep coming back even more furious.

I seek, so desperately seek,
A secret weapon, a magic potion, but it's bleak.
For they feed on our strength and dwell in our tenuity
The demons seem impregnable, so deadly to the meek.

I concede, so dismally concede,
To their demands now shall we heed.
So we became their slaves,
Just to feed the demons that we now breed.

I considered, then again I reconsidered,
Realizing that both the forces could be unitedly tethered.
We befriend the demons as allies so none of us perishes
For the demons could neither be tamed nor murdered.

I realized, gradually realized
How this union was a blessing, just slightly disguised.
Chaos is a bane, and so is monotonicity,
Demons made us realize that the taken for granted goodness must be highly prized.

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