English Poetry
A collection of poems penned by Sudhām on a range of topics.
Walk With Me
Long walks on moonlit nights Hand in hand on sandy shores On the hills on an upward climb Tearing down the slope Ambling on lazy winter days A careful trudge through a muddy puddle Even on a blazing afternoon No matter where we are How hard or long the journey My all weather friend, my other half It's you I'd want to walk with me
Man in the Mirror
I look in the mirror and try to place the face I see Is this the man that ten year old wanted to be Years have passed, time enough to have all the boxes ticked I remember the ten year old had a list The face in mirror has a dismissive look I gave it a shot and all that it took I did some of that and even more This ship has sailed now to many a shore I sense your pride said the boy You have the riches but where's the joy Happiness now is a mere pretence Blissful seems a life of ignorance You will learn in time about the rat race Have to give up a lot to find your place Gave up a dream or may be two What could've been no time to rue One last thing the boy said What I see now I don't look forward to When I am older I won't be you With those words the mirror cracked Suddenly I had a hundred me s Not one of them who I wanted to be I don't remember when or where the boy got lost I have to find him at any cost
An Imperfect World
Someone once pointed out There are no straight lines in nature No perfect circles without doubt Why in life then do we seek A straight path leading to the peak A shower made of perfect spherical drops Guarantees not a bountiful crop When rivers flow they bend and wind Don't they know The shortest route between two points is a straight line We only think of stemming the flow Tis us who builds dams and dykes Seeking logic and reason we pretend That we were here by design not accident This human urge to achieve perfection Is what causes grief and gives us strife Pray someone tell me is it really worth the sacrifice As utopian as it may sound If this race to be the best didn’t exist If good were really good enough If greys were accepted not just black and white Would it not be a simpler world An imperfect one but rather nice
Alive
I remember my first outing as a child Vivid memories of riding pony on my father's back I remember getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar Or how I howled on my first day at school And getting a whack for my constant chatter My bloodied lips and black eye My victory marks from a back alley fight Pining to sit next to the prettiest girl Shared lunches and shattered crushes The first kiss and the heart break Being lost when asked to make a career choice The pain of failing to make the cut Not giving up despite the hurt Dusting myself to fight again Finding love and a friend for life Losing buddies along the way The twinkle in my first-born's eye The littlest tightest grip of my second one Barely a score in a four decade life Picture frames on my memory wall Good and bad bitter and sweet Fleeting moments frozen till eternity Each one telling me life is alive Now I can worry about what's in store Or just step out today and create one more
Count on You
You know you cannot do it all In a journey of a million steps There's ample scope for one To stumble and fall What good is pride When you're running scared Looking for a place to hide Why wait till you're on your knees Unable to grovel or crawl A helping hand takes nothing away When you're in your element walking tall Between friends there's no place for shame So whenever you're in trouble Just call out my name Because when dark clouds gather And the sun isn't shining through To tide me through my worst times I know that I can always count on you
The Tempest
I wake up to a beautiful dawn The birds are chirping signaling morn The wispy clouds floating in the sky Give no clues of the night that went by Innocuously they had gathered Getting darker by the day The quiet before passed unnoticed Before long it started to pour The winds roared and howled all night As the clouds spat venom with all their might Trees uprooted the rivers broke bank Entire settlements without trace they sank Oh! What a tumult it caused The destruction that it left in its wake The tempest has now blown over It's time to pick up the pieces And salvage what you can Rebuild things make them better This time stronger than when we began Got to keep moving forward Ups and downs are all part of the big plan The choice is ours and so is the lesson to learn We can keep looking at the strewn leaves Or decide on which leaf to turn
Moonlit Heart
The Moon hung low last night The gentle blowing breeze The melodic sound of bristling leaves Pushed a poets heart was under a spotlight Melancholic as the setting was My moonlit heart strummed a forgotten yet familiar tune Vivid memories filled the spaces in between Of a love long lost never to be seen The moon with its blemishes and all Stood testament That nothing in this world is perfect at all For in love you are destined The higher you soar the harder you fall Love sent a message through the receeding moon though It won't be long before I go around and am back again I'll fade out of your sight Sure enough I'll be back full and bright Strange is the power love yields Can cast as a spell of magic Or drive you to the depths of misery Inexplicable, inescapble as it is The low hanging moon had thrown a curve ball Reminding me of a time gone by And telling me Its better to have loved and lost Than to have never loved at all
Since You’ve Been Gone
Since you’ve been gone Been trying each day To find the strength Pick up the pieces And somehow move on Days run into days Years into years Time has tried to be a friend But the heartache won’t mend There’s no easy way I look around I see the world I’ve built The life I live There’s an emptiness Despite the happiness I found Maybe it’s not going to change The way I feel Guess it’s meant to be The emptiness is you driving me It’s destiny even if it’s strange Since you’ve been gone Keep trying each day To make you my strength Make meaning of these pieces Put on a smile and brave on
The Value of One
Someone very dear became a statistic For the world a number got added to a count What the number had added to our lives Could never possibly be expressed and quantified The value of one is just so misrepresented Never fully understood till a life has ended What has perhaps been unleashed upon humanity Is an irrefutable, irreparable, surely irreverent curse One where a loved one who’s sick cannot be tended to Left with a gut wrenching feeling of sheer helplessness No conversations, no get well soon s, no visiting hours No pallbearers, no reassuring hugs, no shoulder to cry on The wise shall always say that this too shall pass Nothing good nor for that matter anything bad ever lasts Wisdom of the world sadly doesn’t help fill the void There’s a vacuum sans emotions, no release, no closure A father, a husband, a brother, a friend to some is gone forever Those who are left behind living, live on knowing the infinite value of one
We (I) Owe You
Could have said these words any other day Not for tokenism but now is better than never they say So here’s to the women in our life To our mothers, teachers, friends, daughters and wife For all the times you were taken for granted For not always knowing what you wanted For the love you’ve unconditionally showered For all those tough times you were brave and someone was the coward A simple thank you cannot repay For holding up our world yesterday tomorrow and today