Two Paths Asunder

Shield of convoluted emotions erected,
deflecting logic;
The arrow that left the bow
does not return to the quiver;
Wounded heart bleeds silent,
Pierced by words sharper
than a stiletto;
Stewing in a broth of vanity,
Imagined martyrdom fails to understand
what went wrong;
The road has forked,
Paths diverged,
Promise of walking together
left by the wayside;
Distant horizon reflects
two paths asunder.

Taj of Poems

I spread my net
far and wide,
to catch the
pearls of word,
and string
a necklace of
love songs for you.

You came in like a
hurricane,
strewing everything
on your path.
My heart leaped,
rupturous waves
of emotion ran
through it,
and left me
speechless.

I am drained,
words left me,
leaving me a pauper.
And now
you are asking
to build for you, a
Tajmahal of poem?

Peace and Prosperity for all

no epic was ever penned 

without being spiced by jealousy, 

 

no romance novels complete 

 

without juicy syrup of 

 

dripping emotions, betrayal and gossips, 

 

doomed are those that forgot to pay

 

their homage to Eros, 

 

no action thrillers without guns and

 

blood flowing like water, 

 

keep us awake at night.  

 

 

 

we thrive at our senses  being titillated, 

 

and then we go to the temples 

 

to pray for peace  and

 

prosperity for all.  

 

somehow the math does not make sense.  

 

if a book is a window to the world,

 

it’s the book or the world, 

 

which one has gone wrong? 

 

the eternal question  remains unanswered, 

 

chicken or the egg, 

 

which came first?  

 

 

 

and we,

 

the children of God, 

 

while secretly pamper our senses,

 

and stoke our libido, 

 

pay lip service to  peace

 

and prosperity  for all.

 

 

Thursday Tidbits: Two Countries, Similar Issues

Two countries, one is the oldest functioning democracy and the other the largest democracy. One , where I am a naturalized citizen now and the other, my country of birth.  At this time of my life I have lived nearly half of my life in each country.  Both of them are currently embroiled in the question of immigration.

When I left my country of birth, my home state was undergoing nearly six years of protests and agitations to expel the illegal immigrants from a neighboring country that was threatening to change the demography of the state.  Couple of weeks after I left, an accord was signed between the Prime Minister of the country and the agitating student leaders with an agreement to identify and expel immigrants after a certain date.  This date automatically legitimized people who were illegally coming into the country for more than twenty years after the first National Register of Citizens was prepared. When I arrived in the country that would ultimately be my home, I found that the same issue of illegal immigration was being debated here also.  After nearly a year of my being here, the President of the country signed a sweeping immigration reform bill granting amnesty to nearly three million immigrants who were in the country without proper immigration papers.

Both the accord and the amnesty were supposed to take care of “illegal” immigration for all time to come.  Little that we knew at that time that after nearly three decades the same issue would be disturbing the places that I called home.  We never factored in the politicians and their lack of will to solve burning issues or their willingness to push issues to the next generation for political benefits in the short term.

Now in my country of birth, current Prime Minister and the ruling party is pushing a citizenship amendment bill (CAB) to make all people of certain religious communities coming into the country from three specific countries citizens immediately.  This is being done with an eye to the elections to be held soon this year though the government is trying its best to hide its purpose behind the veil of religious persecution of minorities in those three countries. Unfortunately the government had not raised the issue of religious persecution of a certain community in one of the neighboring country at all in last five years in the UN.  My home state of birth is in turmoil now after three decades of the accord being signed for fear that the indigenous people will be reduced to minority if the CAB is passed and made the law of the land.  This is after more than eight hundred and fifty people had laid down their lives for the cause at the hands of their own country’s police and armed forces. On the other hand, President of the country I call home now has vowed to build a wall to keep immigrants out ( and as per his words to make the country safe) and shutdown the government partially to get his wall built.  Though there is no proof that a wall is a viable solution to keep people away who are desperate to make their lives better or a wall will keep people in the country safe (all the 9/11 perpetrators entered the country legally and were from a friendly country), playing to the emotion and fear of his political base the President has made a mess of the whole immigration issue.

Will the Citizenship Amendment Bill in my country of birth or the wall in the country I call home now solve the issue of immigration for all time to come.  Hardly.  If without addressing the root cause of immigration (which may be a topic of future discussion), political expediency is allowed to shape decisions, we will see a repetition of the issue soon.

Unfortunately in a democracy people get the government they deserve.

Joy of Finding Lost One

Oh the joy of finding the long lost
Seperated by distance and time, and
The complexities of a journey called life
We drifted apart from the common bond

One Liner Wednesday – #1linerWeds – Emotions

For Linda’s #1LinerWeds Challenge

Emotions separate us humans from animals but unchecked emotions make us very unhappy animals.
©Pranab Sarma, 2018

A Mask Named Face

Hiding the deep emotions lurking in the heart
A welcoming smile, a gesture most polite
Betrayal, anger, cruelty, intent all hidden
Those pure of heart unable to decipher
Fooled by the devilishly insidious smile
Seeking comfort in the compassionate hug
Innocently baring themselves to
A mask named Face
Expertly hiding the villain inside
Taken aback by surprise
The sudden pain of
A stab in the back
Nobody else to be blamed for
Letting their guards down
As wounded eyes look on
Mask falls off, revealing
Face with a villainous grin

Waiting for Nirvana

Open our hearts
To complete strangers,
Let our emotions flow
Like spirits,
Waiting for nirvana,
Ephemeral salvation,
Remedies to our woes.
Wails fall on deaf ears,
Blame the world.
Afraid to look
Into our hearts,
Lest see ourselves
Drowned in our filth.
Cleansing our hearts,
Difficult.
Venting easy.

Emotions so thin

Emotions so thin
Most delicate tip of
Fresh grass
Rips through it
Soothing words to 
Heal thy wound
Am afraid
Will irritate more
Words coming from
Raw wound, bleeding
Deep inside my heart
Contorting what I 
Meant to say
Silently walk away
Tried to reason
But
Failed to handle emotion

Featured image from www.sodahead.com