Mend Away, My Sweet Marionette...

 

Mend away, my sweet Marionette…

You consider yourself an utterly broken doll,

Like a reflective glass pane, after a mighty fall,

Broken into many tiny shards that can’t mend,

But it’s all in your mind, that sure can bend!

Even an unblemished record needs to be broken,

To produce music, as divine as the angels woken…

You feel lonely, for you have no one to understand;

For people are eager and raring to misunderstand.

So, you drift by like a nomad without a home,

Unheard, unseen, unfelt, and eternally doomed to roam…

But there are ears yearning just for your heart’s song;

If only you dare to break your silence of so long;

For there is a mind as muddled and unheard just as you,

All they need is your trust, and of theirs, as do you!

-SriVishnudasan

A Memorable Loss!

 

A Memorable Loss…

My dear fellow passengers of life,

How do you cope with grief and loss?

Of people & pets that you have lost to time.

Moments of joy and innocent contentment,

Emotions aplenty, both expressed and repressed,

That presently threaten to never again return.

The warmth and coziness of love and kindness;

The kiss of care and the cuddle of concern;

The smile of assurance and the tears of compassion;

Things that were once so readily available,

Those that we consumed, taking them all for granted,

With not a thought nor concern for their rarity;

Now a mere wisp of memory from a very distant past.

A dissipating wave in the puddle of the mind!

Often making us doubt, if at all they had been real;

Or just a figment of our ever-faltering imagination.

-          By Sri Vishnudaasan

NNote: Written on 1.12.2022

Alone on a Yule Night!

 

Alone on a Yule night!

The shops have shut, and the workplaces have closed,

All the folks have left to exotic places totally undisclosed.

The weather turns cold, and the nights turn long,

As the holidays unfold, my loneliness grows strong…

 

Even the falling white snow, drifts in the company of many;

Here I am, a pauper, with regards to both company and money.

So, I chose to light a long candle stick, on a quaint little window sill,

Close my eyes and journey through magical lands, all while sitting still.

 

Scenes and sounds from old Christmas toons, now my only escape;

Forming a village in the north pole in my mind’s rich landscape.

Warm and cozy cottages in the midst of snow-covered hillock,

Being haunted by Noel villains, synonymous with my ill luck?

 

A magnificent Christmas tree was being frozen over by Jack Frost;

While a pile of gifts was being nabbed by Mr. Grinch, at no real cost!

Colorful lights were being ripped apart by a deranged Oogie Boogie;

Hearths too drenched, turning all Christmas feasts, very wet and soggy…

 

Startled by the nightmares, I opened by eyes, leaping back to my reality.

All this is my doing, my room, my mind and my heart with their dull tonality!

I’m no Krampus, Christmas doesn’t have to be so lonesome and sad;

I can be Mr. Scrooge, who can turn my life around to good from bad.

 

So, I put on my winter coat, and ran with urgency out on to the street;

Took a long, deep breath and screamed high like a cat in heat!

“Merry Christmas to those who are by yourselves! You are not alone!”

“Let us be a family, united by the prangs of sadness and forlorn!”

 

Tired and tear-filled eyes appeared almost on every third window…

Lights turned on, and doors opened on houses, high and low!

A billion carols, as sung by angels, blared in my mind’s ears!

The music and beats, the likes of which I’ve not heard in years!

 

Then a lone object hit me straight in my head, making me doozy!

I picked it up to find it an old shoe with disgusting filth, all oozy!

An angry cry soon followed, “What do you think, you’re doing, you bell ender!”

“It’s the freaking middle of the night! Forget Christmas! We’re just in November!”

 

-SriVishnudaasan

Timeless Bond in a Boundless Time!

Timeless bond in a boundless Time!

So near you had been, yet so far you had appeared.

So far we’ve come, yet not enough time we’ve had together.

So late in my life, you have pranced your way in.

So little a time, I have left to jive away with you.

With each passing day we change into a different person,

Learning and changing a little with every single experience.

Yesterday’s you wouldn’t have fancied the day before me;

And the day before you wouldn’t have caught my then person’s eyes.

Hadn’t we changed to the person who we were on that special day,

Maybe we would have slipped as an extra in each other’s view of the worldly play.

Why did it take so many days for us to change into the kind of people,

Who would fancy each other in this strange and inexplicable way?

What experiences did we miss, by not finding each other sooner?

What more could we have had, had we found each other earlier?

So many “what-ifs” and “why-nots” ruin our present together!

What if we just cherish, what little time we have with each other.

And why not make it the only time we don’t miss one another…

-SriVishnudaasan

 

The Ghost of Kyiv!

 

The Ghost of Kyiv:

Clouds of war shroud the midday sky;

Darkness descends, as we prepare to die…

Hands that promised to shield us, swiftly disappear,

Doom and Gloom spread like wildfire;

Winged Demons from above threaten to breathe fire!

Days like these turn me, a pacifist into a liar,

As into my arms, rifles and bottles of Molotovs are thrust.

The defense of our home land, placed in our trust.

Our former homes are crumbling into rubbles,

Our sense of security, bursting like bubbles.

Break not, our resolve to keep the fight on;

Bringing today’s lion out of yesterday’s fawn.

Distant explosions are no longer so distant;

As bolts fly overhead, threatening our very existence.

The frail and shivering hands of our elders come forward to defend,

While young healthy lives are being brought to an abrupt end.

A young couple lies dead, their hands together eternally bound.

A new born cries in a subway, deep down, underground.

What little hope remains, threatens to turn into despair!

Ever so closer they come, those sharp claws of the dreaded bear!

Then a bolt of light, zips so suddenly above our heads.

Down they go, the very demons that wanted us dead.

Who is this mysterious hero, our messiah from above?

Before we can understand, into the horizon he dove,

Disappearing forever, like an illusion that never existed,

Leaving us to make up stories, of just the way he resisted.

His act of bravery might have lasted for just a swift minute.

But it brought out of us courage that was now without limit.

And so, we continue to stand our ground and believe,

All thanks to the brave and mysterious ghost of Kyiv!

-SriVishnudaasan

Unveiled!

 Sarvam Sree Krishnaarpanam Astu

Unveiled!

“I shall not accept it! I shall not wear it to please the world!”

“Do not make me comply, to satisfy the minds of those uncontrolled!”

That used to be the cry, in lands where the real “you” was a threat!

Hide it all…suppress it…bottle it…like a djinn in an old trinket for a casket.

To those lands, these many fingers pointed! Like the petals of a mutated lotus…  

“See their primitive nature! See how ancient their ways…see how primordial their laws!”

“Cast it aside! Wear it not! Be like those around you! Reveal thyself!”

“Show you have nothing to hide! Follow the rules of this more ancient land," they said!

Primitive their ways, yes! Primeval their methods, yes!

Alas, tis not the law to wear it that is primitive and backward! Nay! Not just that!

The mere act of making me do something that I don’t really want to!

That is backward! Barbaric! Primitive! Uncouth! Sadistic!

I shall wear it! I shall not wear it! The smile is mine to wear…Mine to hide.

A society that forces a smile and that suppresses it are the fingers behind the two jaws of the same puppet!

-SriVishnudaasan

Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

 Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

Once fabled, to be full of beauty, joy, and splendor.

In the canvas of the mind, the radiant past will glow…

Where have all the beauty and joy gone, you wonder!

Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

Murky, filthy, stinky, and beyond redemption.

The present drifts, everyday bearing every punch and blow…

Draining you clean off all your grit and gumption.

Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

Promises of a cleaner stream, still widely dreamt about.

Life will change, you keep believing, no matter how hard or slow.

A promise of a better tomorrow, no doubt… no doubt.

Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

Every single day, promising a better tomorrow.

The tomorrow always eluding, the present always about though.

Deeper and deeper stretches, the ever-darkening burrow. 

Like the River Cooum, your life will flow…

Darkness, so deep, filth, so thick, and the stench so pungent.

Yet you keep waiting, yearning for a time without woe.

Dreaming, yearning, worrying, as your cells go astringent.

Like the river Cooum, your life will flow.

Eventually ending in the salty waters of the sea.

You just keep waiting, without any intent to grow.

Your life turning into a salty puddle, is all you will see.

- SriVishnudasan