Bindu is pen name of Vandana Sharma. She is a retired General Manager of Air India.

Reflections

A story ends. A story starts,

What stories these? And who the stars?

Some stories are documentaries,

Some short essays in history.

Some novels with subplots galore.

I prefer comic romance more.

No book we need, for eyes to read,

Thousands of stories each unique.

Tales told untold, they fold unfold,

The roles are live, the script who wrote?

We live the role, we are the role,

Unwritten scripts, life’s not retold.

Each story has an end we know.

The actor feels immortal though.

The best by date, expiry date,

Is packaged with each one’s own fate.

So let us all live life our own size.

All energy consumed in style.

When our expiry date is passed,

A life well spent, be epitaph.

       ********

Baby Mangoes: The Fallen Ones

Oh Ye! beloved fallen ones!

You left my branches early!

What greener lawn awaits you?

What is your destiny!

Left home in haste, didn’t fall from grace!

We have no grouse or anger!

Adventure called, it’s pull is strong,

We could not wait! No longer!

Life may pickle us, stew us slow,

Savory or sweet, for young and old.

We may even lie still on the road,

A feast for birds and ants and more!

Destiny new, future, who knew?

Now home, we left, has more for you.

Enticing breeze which changed life’s course.

Unseen God’s hand, our fate rewrote.

                 *********

Joy unbound

Who stole her smile? Where did it go?

It decked her face, it made it glow!

Smiling her lips yet pensive eyes,

A disconnect, which is the lie!

Her soul reached out to all around,

Known and unknown, brought joy unbound.

Invariably, her magic smile,

Enchanted all, each passerby.

Her smile is gone. And no one knows.

Where did it go? We miss it so.

Our cares forgot, momentarily,

Our sun shone bright, temporarily.

Her smile caressed, soulful connect,

Strangers they were, seemed family.

Who stole her smile? Aah! no one knows.

It decked her face. We miss it so.

How does she smile so joyously?

She knows not sorrows we all feel!

Her laugh is childlike ringing clear,

Is there some pain, we cannot hear?

Her smile is now perfunctory.

The eyes reflect a mystery.

 

Each one will ask, remarks, they smart,

Yet none will pause, to hear her heart.

Her silent voice, yet whispering eyes,

Unfold soul’s story, eyes don’t lie.

Life’s blow was harsh, my wounds are raw,

A crustiness mars my facade.

My soul feels old, a child no more,

My feelings caged, locked up, in store.

Eternal time, eddies, slows, flows,

Some rest, life’s zest, they heal my soul.

Though cares depress, none can suppress,

Phoenix like smile will rise once more.

My soul still feels, my smile will heal.

Connect with all, put them at ease.

A childlike joy uplifts the gloom,

Let’s reconnect, a smile the tool.

             ****************

Cacophony Silence Love

Faces, faces all around,

Crushed together, yet no sound,

Eyes which see, yet are still blank,

Dearest please, don’t leave my hand!

Encased, alone, this tomb’s my own.

You see it not, my mind’s the stone.

Brick, brick, brick, brick,

Stones, rocks, pebbles, sticks

Inch, inch, inch, inch,

Wall was laboriously built.

Some walls have doors, some windows too.

My wall just doesn’t let anyone through.

Scar, scar, scar, scar

Each one left indelible mark.

Day, day, one more day,

I cease in space, just scars remain.

The voice of strangers echoes around!

Noise, noise, deafeningly loud.

Fingers entwined, I cling in faith,

Your voice, it pierces through the haze.

Love, love, love, love,

Gently enfolds, a healing hug.

A crack, a break, love chips away,

My wall it breaks, disintegrates.

**********

What? Where? How?

Questions, questions crowd the mind,

My path shrouded in mental grime.

The cake I bake, is hard, no taste,

The song I sing, is flat, off scale.

Life’s hill seems climbed, now downward slide,

Is this what is midlife crisis?

Think, .. think, .. think, .. think, …

Frozen are thoughts, paralyzing.

No work is fun. I’ve missed the bus.

Now fifty plus, new doors are shut.

The past is mine, future is thine.

Body past prime, a duller mind.

Think, .. think, .. think, ..think, …

Log-jammed can’t think.

Mind creaks and groans, my bones too moan

Who is to rate, my whole life’s score.

Questions, questions, mental crowd,

Unlocked they jam, physical lockdown.

Is life’s game fastest finger first?

100 yard dash, fastest comes first.

No answers to these questions mine,

Dam overflows, tears seep from eyes.

Dear God please show the path that’s right,

Let great debate be put aside.

It could be yours; it could be mine.

This great debate twixt soul and mind.

Eternal as the breath that flows,

Halts when body’s bereft of soul.

*******************

Ducks & Geese

The lonely garden beckons me.

Grass beneath, caressing my feet.

Ducks and geese, they waddle around,

Longing for peace. Where is it found?

Sun o’erhead, orange and mellow.

Warm moist air, steams, forming a halo.

Swing, swing! Don’t let me down.

Is this peace? Where none abound?

Grass and flowers, birds and trees,

Gently swaying in the breeze.

Peace swirls ‘round, my soul cools down.

No word was said, moment profound.

What language do you think and speak?

I know no word, yet you bring peace.

Your silence is more comforting

Than spoken words of any man’s speech.

**************

Glass Cocoon

The world goes by, I watch, no sound,

Glass walls, invisible, all around,

Is it rain? down the pane?

Or my tears, flowing down.

You sit beside me, skin to skin

I feel you not, I live within.

The party dances on, all night,

My music is of years gone by.

The drama of the world unfolds,

I see it not; the past holds forth.

Joys of today, beckon stridently.

Yet I am bound and cannot feel!

A glass cocoon envelops me,

Who formed it? How to break free?

My past is my glass edifice,

Unbreakable and shatter-free.

Encased I am, I wait, wait, wait.

Who will come forth and change my fate?

The caterpillar strives and molts,

It metamorphs, its strength its own.

I too must strive to molt and grow.

No outward force can change me so.

The past is me, today is me,

My soul is strong, I will break free.

This glass cocoon, which kept me safe,

Its task all done, begins to break.

Life comes, life goes, but I live on,

I cry, I feel, I love, move on.

Am living now, not just alive.

Cocoon has shattered, I can fly.