In Search of Life . . .

I
When affliction does come a-visiting
When sorrow pours down
Through battered shredded remnants
Of yesterday poorly constructed shelter
When pain of sagging burden becomes unbearable
Raining, eroding, depriving
Then one seeks for a way, out of known terrains-

“I am the way, the truth and life…”

When you have sought from beginning to end
If you searched hard enough
At appropriate places
Seeking direction from benevolent true source of knowledge
You will find disclosed path leading to life
That, which is the “Way”-

On revealed way to coveted path of life

Strenuous journey is long and tedious
Each step, a painful one
Each breath, heavily drawn
Each heart beat heavy
And blistering tears never cease falling,
Hot tears splattering on fired bricks-

Through deep valley of hopelessness

To profound hopelessness of lofty mountain top
Down these treacherous slippery paths of dour treachery prevailing
That passes for life in most desolations of emptiness
In these vast plains of souls in limbo
In this vast plenitude of listless unceasing activity-

In rough path between craggy jagged unforgiving cliffs

On one side
And benighted yawning gap descending into yon misty depths
On other side
Traveller in search of a sure destiny
Keep your eyes on narrow path that leads to life
The way to life is littered with unfortunate debris of life's accidents-

For whether you ascend or descend

Timeless path has remained unchanging
Through changing ages
Laid down in simple terms
That instructive spirit can teach you
Its deeper intricacies-
Wondering wanderer searching for meaning-

Of loving your God above all things

And next person as yourself-

There is love out there in frigid empty void

A timeless love of assured serenity
Coming in, comforting, casting out, filling
With warm breath of life
Purity that gives embrocating first breath of life
Only, many have not breathed that first air of redemption,
All these time you thought it couldn't get better-

Then
There is empyrean surreal love filling emptiness
An engaging preoccupation of listless unceasing activity
Its deception
Swift flitting shadow
Of subtle shifting day
A scurrying in moving shadow-

Running before flitting light

Delighting in foreplay of revealing light then sated in afterglow of light
Yet its very existence is defined within that light
That dancing febrility,
Never ceasing, cannot cease
Its flitting flirt with eternal light a constant irritation
You ask "what peace?" -

Everything caught in its deceptive shade

Is twirled and tossed
Jumbled, made messy
An eyesore unseen,
Rough rapacious slicks
Of abrasive tongue most offensive
Rubbing all it passes by-

II
On my journey I took a detour
To look at some unlikely places
Where pertinacious fervent cold
Dampens not unwavering flames burning with avidity
In well stocked stoves of gatekeepers
Who lounge with aggressive abandon
In seemingly listless placidity of unceasing fervour-
These gate-keepers keep watch over ancient portal
Taking stiff toll
With grim grin plastered faces
They keep tally on score
Of inexpedient many who have fallen off marginal path
Picking with relish knackered fallen
To stoke their stove-

They have been sitting here

Since ancient days, timeless beyond numbers
Pretending this set path is theirs
Though they lift not a finger
To help drained, straggling, wayfarers;
They only keep tab of tally
Making pretend they are guardians of way-

Within their spick and span quarters,

Barren quarters of fictile guards
Is gelid desolation of lambasted souls in tidy array
Narrow path leads onto them and then beyond
To know what lies beyond, yonder, is to go beyond known ways
beyond perfidious gatekeepers,
who make pretend they are very end-

Their neat quarters

With its despoliation
Of shredded flesh
And lamentations of bereft ignored,
ignorant, ignoring, ignored and hapless,
Proverbial hard eared, hard of hearing
caught in deject foolishness of their wisdom-

Plastered on white walls

A disconcerting grating that spikes jarred weary to hurry
White sounds plastered on white walls
Unseen, unheard, never ceasing.
Harsh taskmasters,
Unrelenting, unforgiving, incapable of pity
Innocent tormentors doing what they know best -

When end is only beginning

Of yonder-

Journey of lonesome traveller

Travelling through uncertain terrain
On a certain destination
Troubling are thoughts assailing wayfarers
Counterbalancing pervasive accusations,
Experiences of lost years, waste of ignorance
Leaving a staleness that subdues easily excitable mind-

III
In these trees is a lingering sense of portentous presence
Subdued sense of content restlessness
So ancient and set in its ways
Changing it is an exercise in seeming futility
Travellers on treacherous path, far too exhausted to desire to rebuild worn paths,
They are all stragglers making their way through-

Dense are shades of these forlorn trees

Copse of isolated patch of disquieting refugee
A sagging mental aberration
Reflecting disconsolate whole in mirrored partial;
On these paths
Walking narrow path of life
Single-minded defiance of lone traveller nisus-

Sagging leaves of sorrow

On spritely branches
On straight beams of limited awareness,
Denuded strength, borne by resolute will
To give these lives a shelter
through these woods

. . . on the Path of life-