A Special Place, My Safe Space!

Sarvam Sree Krishnaarpanam Astu

A special place, my safe space!
In the depths of the cathedral grove,
In the midst of the redwood forest
Is a special place awaiting my presence
Eagerly luring me toward it
With the promise of peace and solitude
A safe space where I could be my own
Stripped of my affectations and pretensions
Not another human to make me worry
About their perception of me
Their, so hard to achieve, validation.
No judgements…of me…to be made
No approval and appeasement, I’ve to strive for
Like the autumn leaves that wither away
So are my worries, doubts and concerns that drift away
Like the quail’s coo, my own breath sounds
So amplified yet serene, in the sea of silence around
The sight of green and brown in the ever shrinking jungle
Unlike the bright and blaring neon of the ceramic jungle
Gives me the feeling of peace, all anxieties quieting down
The earthly stench, the smell of wet mud,
This is the place that feels like I’m meant to be
 A very special place, my safe space! - A. Prashanth Narasimhan (Sri Vishnu Dasan)

Melancholia

Sarvam Sree Krishnaarpanam Astu

Melancholia:

Life was going on normally.
Nothing to ponder as an anomaly.
No achievement to be celebrated as success.
No failure to be brooded over or obsess.
Yet the heaviness of the heart increments,
Without any apparent predicaments.
What is this paradise that I seek to reach?
What is this fortress that I seek to breach?
None seem to come to my petty mind;
No real defeat to put far behind.
Apathy and Sadness, art thou siblings?
Bound together by invisible strings?
For together, in my heart, you linger,
With no reason to be deemed your bringer.
Moods are known for their nature to swing.
What tune do they really want me to sing?
Have my heart and mind turned into a single burrow?
To store and hoard, cauldrons worth of sorrow?
Day and night, it remains, this melancholy;
Any takers to exchange them in monopoly?

- A. Prashanth Narasimhan (Sri Vishnu Dasan)