What It Is

It is madness
says reason
It is what it is
says love …

It is unhappiness
says calculation
It is nothing but pain
says fear
It has no future
says insight
It is what it is
says love …

It is ridiculous
says pride
It is foolish
says caution
It is impossible
says experience
It is what it is
says love …

What it is by Erich Fried

Love this poem and read it many times. Do you love such poems?

I love many of them …

First and foremost, allow me to share Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43, ‘How Do I Love Thee?’

It begins with the iconic lines:

‘How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways…’

These two lines alone contain volumes of meaning, and I find myself revisiting them often …

There’s another poem, I love, and that is ‘Hope’ by Emily Dickinson

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all’ …

I may not be good at recitation, but I have a deep passion for reading and appreciating the intricate artistry of language. The way words are arranged to evoke emotions, convey wisdom, and capture the essence of life, love, and nature resonates deeply with me. It’s in these moments, amidst the twists and turns of expression, that I find myself enamored with the beauty of language and the emotions it encapsulates …

See, when you read ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ by Robert Frost, won’t you just love this famous poem?

‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep’ …

Here’s another eloquent excerpt from the renowned poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost:

‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.’

This poem resonates deeply with me and holds a special place in my heart, as I often find myself reflecting on its message of making pivotal choices that shape one’s journey.

I have a profound admiration for another poem, namely ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.’ Its expression conjures the sense of companionship, as if the lover is spiritually present, ensuring one is not alone:

‘Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky’ …

Isn’t it beautiful?

I’m certain many of you appreciate these poems. There are numerous others, but I’d like to share just a few of my absolute favorites with you all, such as ‘Leisure’ by William Henry Davies:

‘What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare …
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.’

To selectively share excerpts from the poem is my means of conveying:

Please delve into the poems I’m presenting here—
read them when solitude surrounds you,
read them in the company of your beloved,
read them among friends,
read them with strangers,
read them in tranquility,
read them amidst chaos …
but above all, I hope you
read them in their entirety …

Read

Sharing one of my recent painting video from ‘Chaos’ series. Hope you may like it. Also I tried to read the poem ‘What It Is’. Hope you would like listening to it as well ….

And also please do share here about your favourite poems …..

Hijr

Your thoughts are coming in waves …
Ceaselessly, constantly …
Crashing upon my mind’s shorelines;
Uncontrollably …

Hijr/ urdu
(n.) the feeling of having lost or been separated from a loved one ….

Towards You

It wanders towards you – my heart

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Dwelling in the Eternal Love

Wanted to meet you wearing my white Kanchipuram saree in front of Taj Mahal …

Now you’re coming to the hospital
To see me …

It would be quite an unexpected sight …
But my heart is pounding at the very thought of it …

– Hello, are you okay?
– Yes, I’m okay.
– I’m sorry.
– Why are you sorry? There’s nothing you could’ve done. It was supposed to happen the way I was so clumsy on the road
– Why were you …
– Umm. I’m sorry …

I couldn’t tell him, my heart was restless at the very thought of meeting him for the first time ever …
So I was a bit unmindful and acted clumsily, and silly on the road and there the accident happened in the middle of the midnight …

– Hey, don’t worry. You’ll be fine. I’m coming to you.

Instantly there’s this faster beating of my heart at the very sound of him saying, ‘I’m coming to you.’

I wanted to meet you wearing my very traditional Kanchipuram white saree.
It’s as elegant as Taj.
I feel gorgeous in it.
I have been keeping it aside the day we planned to meet in front of Taj.

Now you are coming to the hospital
and I m wearing this dull hospital gown!
How ironic is that ….. !

Oh, no! I think I could see him.
That’s got to be him …
How am I sure!
Why not …
I have seen him so
Many times in my dreams …
I know how he walks, how he looks, how he would talk to me …

Oh no! I dreamt of conversation over coffee with him …
Now?
What will I have with him?
Or is he bringing soup and fruits for a patient (that’s me)?
Unfortunately ….

He’s looking here and there …
Not sure of the direction, I guess …
Should I call him?
Tell him to come straight over here …
I’m just behind this long glass door and
Precisely just follow the directions from where faster loud heartbeats are coming…
That’s mine
How can I manage my heart palpitations?
I can hear it…
It’s unmanageable …

Now, yes he’s near and has found me …
Waving his hand in a friendly smiling manner …
I’m just feeling shy even to wave back a little bit …
As if I have become all still!
My heart is beating so fast
And I do not want him to see me like this …
Nervous and blushing
Hey, but I’m sick …
My heart rate can be high
And I can blush a bit
Fortunately ….

There’s this beating in my heart, and
It sounds like you …
You told me when you would meet me,
You’ll recite my favourite poem, and that’s
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
“Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky”
Now you won’t be reciting the poem …
Now you’ll just sit in front of my hospital bed
And talk this or that …
As if I would be in pain listening to your recitation, you would think …
But trust me, I won’t be in pain
To listen to you …
Now
I don’t know if you can hear me properly
Cause at the back of my mind, I’m hearing you reciting, ‘Let us go then, you and I’ …
I also feel to just leave this place
You and I …

How boring this place is
For two strangers to meet for the first time …

– Hey, finally, I’m able to see you. How are you now?
(Your thoughtful words for me)
– I’m just fine. The doctor said I can leave by 3 pm …
– Really? That’s awesome then. It’s already 1 pm. Should we finalize the papers and payments etc?
– Oh! Don’t worry! That’s already done. I just can wrap up all the papers and medicines.
– Where’s your lugguge?
– There’s a locker for the patients without attendance. So they kept those there. My hotel pickup car will soon arrive …
– What? No ways! I’ve my car and you’re coming with me. I may drop you there. You’ll finish the checked in at your hotel and then take some time to freshen up. Then we’ll go for an early dinner, I mean if you would feel fine. Or we can meet tomorrow again. Don’t worry.

While he was saying all these words there, I was thinking all in my mind,
‘Then I’ll wear my white Kanchipuram saree for the dinner with him which I wanted to wear to meet him for the first time in front of Taj Mahal.’

He saw my blank look and suddenly I heard him asking,
– Don’t you trust me?

There my heartbeat paused for a bit and I told him,
– I trust you.
– Did you listen what I said?
– Yes, I did …
– Good. So all’s settled then…

Finally we’re getting into cozy conversation…
A quiet conversation
Dwelling
In the eternal love …

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To be continued ….

Tell me, if it were you written this dialogue style poem, what title would you use for it?

I’m just curious ….

A Symphony of Love …

Pahalgam, Kashmir

The paths and the valleys are glowing
There is magic in mountains and waterfalls
The air is reciting the story of our love ….

There
I felt shy when you came near to me
The breeze could hear the breaths of my silent shyness … but I couldn’t …

Here
My unheard songs are echoing across the mountains
Even though I’m feeling a bit lonely
Without you ….
Yet this loneliness has a fragrance of you
Our love has hopes for tomorrow
This distance looks good to me …

The paths and the valleys are glowing
There is magic in mountains and waterfalls
The air is reciting the story of our love ….

Grey isn’t What I’m Meant to be …

Life is somewhat grey
Everywhere
Just monotony
Lost and lonely …

Don’t you know?

Only when you stay
Life is colorful ….
A hopeful glow
Echoes of brighter joy
Birds sing cheerful songs
Rays of sunshines warm my cheeks
My yellow dyed dreams return …

Now it’s grey
Everywhere …

When will you come?
Without you, I feel grey ….

Don’t you know?
Grey isn’t what I’m meant to be …

A Home

I haven’t met you
I haven’t seen you
But often I feel a home in you …

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Where the glacier meets the sky, the land ceases to be earthly, and the earth becomes one with the heavens; no sorrows live there anymore, and therefore joy is not necessary; beauty alone reigns there, beyond all demands”-

Halldór Laxness

A Postcard from Kashmir

Detached Attachment

Shalimar

I was waiting
For you
And you didn’t show up
while my odes started to burn …
A heartache …

After a while,
There a humble person came along ..
Seemed so at the moment …
I asked him to take a picture of me and
There I sat at the corner of a bench
In the garden …
Took some time to
Get my mood toned
Up my unsettled face …
There the man waited patiently …
A gentleman ….

Once it’s all set yet unsteady
As I was,
I heard the man said, ‘Ready?’
Twinkled at him and said, ‘Yes’
Smiling …
With the chilly breeze that was
Passing through
I preferred my warm
Jacket kept aside
And my heavy heart smile
For the warmth I needed ….
A harmony ….

Later on I welcomed a friendly
Conversation with the stranger
He seemed to like all of it …
My chitter-chattering
And laughter flowed freely, naturally …
Then we started walking
In the garden, blooming all around
An attachment ….

The balance was the two umbrellas
For each of us,
His violet, mine yellow one
We were walking and talking
Keeping the in-between distance mindfully yet our heart-felt notions were quietly replaying …
The undefined mysteries of the world, meanwhile …
Letting love in our heart, unknowingly …
After a while, we faded into our different paths
Just two strangers with memories
A detachment ….

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Tell me, what is that one odd yet beautiful encounter you experienced in your lifetime?

I wish …

I wish
I were a bird!
So that I could
Fly to you
Just right now …

I Sense You ….

watching sunset ✿ܓsimple and shiny

In the stillness of the lake
As I keep still,
I sense you
I sense a feeling of warmth
Flowing inside me …
I sense a reflection of you
Residing inside me …
So beautiful and mesmerising …
Then
I sense the strength to move along
In various ups and downs of life
With you and you only …

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dilkash rahe zindagi hai bas yahi dua sun lo naa

Pondering

Is a reflection of you
A mirror of a beautiful reflection of me?

Or

A reflection of you
Is nothing but a beautiful reflection of me.

Melancholia

Soft yellow breeze …
Sweetness surrounds …
Such tenderness …
Yet a melancholy mood …

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In Silence …

If you’re silent,
I know in silence you say more …

If I’m silent, then it’s not that
I don’t want to know about you …

If I’m silent, then it’s not that
I don’t feel what happens to you …

If I’m silent, then it’s not that
I don’t remember you …

If I’m silent, then it’s not that
I don’t care about you …

If I’m silent, then it’s not that
I don’t miss you …

If I’m silent, then it’s not that
I don’t love you …

I miss you
I know you
I care for you
I remember you
I feel for you
I love you

Always …

It Doesn’t Matter

I know it’s strange
But I do adore you as you are …
And it doesn’t matter
If we live far away from
Each other …

I know it’s strange
That I don’t know about you,
And I didn’t see this coming
But it doesn’t matter
If I constantly long for you
hopelessly …

I know it’s strange
But I love you way too much
And it doesn’t matter
If you can’t prevent me
From loving you forever …

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Collide!

The dawn was breaking
You looked at me
I looked at you
The place was a haunting one
The light was shining
And
You and I collide
Yet we never kissed …
You never touched my face …
What could I say?
What could I do?
There I stood, unknowing
What’s happening
In a world full of billions
There were you
Mixed with all of the chaos
Inside and Out
At that very moment
I somehow felt
You and I collide
For a reason …
When
The dawn was breaking
You looked at me
I looked at you

Chained: Can You Escape Fate? – A Poem

If only you would realize some day, how much have you hurt me,
If only your heart ever, craves for me or my presence…
If only you feel that love again someday for me,
If only you are affected someday by my absence…
Only you can end all my suffering and this unbearable pain,
If only you would know what you could never procure…
If only you go through the memories of past once again,
Since the day you left my heart has bled, no one has its cure…
If only you would bring that love, those showers and that rain…
If only you would come back and see what damage you create,
I’ve been waiting for your return since forever more…
If only you would see the woman that you have made,
You said we cannot sail through, how were you so sure?
If only you can feel the old things that can never fade,
You may have moved on, but a piece of my heart is still with you…
I know how I’ve come so far alone; I know how I’m able to wade,
People say that I’m insane and you won’t ever come back again…
Maybe you would have never made your separate way,
Maybe you would have stayed with me and proved everyone wrong…
If only you would know the pain of dying every day,
If only you would feel the burden of smiling and being strong…

– Mehek Bassi, Chained: Can you escape fate?

Love is a Verb

Let’s sit
And talk

Talk about the dots those bring us here.

Let’s sit
And stare

Stare at each other to feel our deepest core.

Let’s sit
And see

See the skies with your blue and my yellow emotions.

Let’s sit
And listen

Listen to the heartbeats that pound at the very sight of each other.

Let’s sit
And look

Look for the memories of our smiles.

Let’s sit
And fly

Fly high to soar in the sky together.

Let’s sit
And plan

Plan our trips holding each other’s hands.

Let’s sit
And touch

Touch the little joy of our souls.

Let’s sit
And feel

Feel the inner beauty of our hearts.

Let’s sit
And pray

Pray that we never part from the other.

Let’s sit
And hold

Hold on to each other forevermore.

Let’s sit
And give

Give magical hugs, kisses and warm caresses saying, ‘I love you.’

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roksanatales

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Tell me, ‘Do you love me?’

Two Young Mind

In the long echoing life
Two young mind
Found an element so fine
Like red wine
And sharpened their last breath
Through the long echoing death ….

The pair loved many years
Endured life what God gave them
Asked for them no second best
And celebrated life with no other but the rest
In the long long echoing life
Through the long echoing death …

Both loved the strange thoughts
Not so sober for the sober though;
Yet knew how to laugh, weep and go
And all the living mock
Drank the sweet extremity of their passion rough
In the long echoing life
Through the long long echoing death …

The woman talked to make up solitudes
Sounded almost like a pretty autumn time
Blossoming and falling into a bursting rhyme
The man knew this beautiful woman-soul
And was pleased to see her gorgeous look
And dared enough to make her whole
In their long echoing life
Through their long echoing death …

Traveled many moons
The two mesmerising soul
Through the days of their young and old
Almost shared all the neighbouring mind
Emptied the cage and let the cage bird fly being so kind
‘Fifty years’, the woman counted
‘Fifty sweet years’, the man whispered
Their love broods
Still in the long echoing life
Still through the long echoing death.

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Fantasy

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Without spectacles I can not see you …
Without spectacles I wish to see you …

Happiness Tasted –

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A cup of coffee with a friend,
Is like happiness tasted and time well-spent.

And then a toast to us,
May we find many reasons to smile together.

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How do you experience ‘Happiness Tasted’?
That may very well be a good thing, but I am curious, you know.

Unresolved

She asked him a stupid question …
He kept himself quiet saying nothing …

In the nothingness of this silence she felt embarrassed …
But never ever embarrassment felt so good to her.

What was the question by the way? ☺️

Let’s Sit Here ..

Let’s sit here
With a cup of coffee …
And see the beautiful nature
With the blossoming cherry 😊

Tune in for Love

We all express in a different language
But eyes never lie …

If you love someone
Look deep into their eyes ….
Let their eyes sparkling, and smiling
At the very presence of your being …

Otherwise
Set them free
Their eyes may speak, sparkle and sing ……
At the very presence of another being!

We all express in a different language
But our hearts beat in the same tune
At the sight of our loved ones …

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Don’t you think so too? Our hearts join in our hearts Only when the same tune comes from our hearts. Boom boom. My heart is beating so fast💓 And yours?

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The above image was a capture by me. I love black and white photography

Yet Undefined

She knows that he doesn’t know
How it’s hurting in her heart
He knows that she doesn’t know
How it’s hurting in his heart

She knows that he doesn’t know
How she is waiting for him
He knows that she doesn’t know
How he is waiting for her

What she knows he doesn’t know
What he knows she doesn’t know

They only know what they think they know about the other …

Does she know about herself enough?
Does he know about himself enough?

She is not what he thinks he knows about her
He is not what she thinks she knows about him

Who is she to him then?
Who is he to her then?

Strangers!
For now …
In time to come,
They’ll find themselves
Somehow …

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The photograph is taken by me 😊
Isn’t it a beautiful photograph? I love black and white photography. And you?

Inquisitiveness

Though I know

A name is a name

Is a name is a name …

Just like, “Rose is a rose

Is a rose is a rose” … 😊

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In whatever name we call

At the end

A rose will always be a rose

And you will always be you …

Therefore what’s in a name!

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Yet I’m curious 🧐

“What’s your name?”

“What’s your name?”

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