Number Trap

From school days I struggled
Numbers making me feel strangled
Exponents, permutations, combinations
Triggering severe perspiration

Twilight - The Hour of Magic

The blazing sun
Showering light around
The dark night
The lights bright

Joy, I Choose

I sharpened my nails
I bared my fangs
I readied words
More hurtful than bombs

The Path that Forked

The path branched in two.
Leaving her thoroughly confused.

Could she straddle both at once?
Run back and forth one by one?

An Ode to A Reunion

The road seemed straight and clear
Her own path seemed to lead away
Turning sharply to a side
Leaving others behind to go their way

Silence, the Strength

Waves upon waves
Constant, unceasing
Up they rise
Pulled down briefly
Only to garner strength
And rise up again

Tides of Time

Does everything that begins

have to finally finish?

Every step forward

take you closer to the end?

Be it made of stone
Or mere skin and bone

Obituary to a Tree

With a resounding sound
More overpowering than the drill
That finally cut you down
Shaking the earth you fell

Written in Stone

It was a piece of rock
Standing atop a hillock
Surveying the lands below
Silent, with a majestic brow

A Drop in the Ocean

I walked by the beach
When a drop fell on me
Meeting an untimely death
Vanishing from the face of earth
**
It set me thinking
How like us it is
One among million
A drop in the vast ocean

Mighty when in a mob
Striving to be more than a drop
To follow a lifecycle
To dry up and then be reborn

To meet its destination
Right at birth
Or to travel far
Crossing several hurdles

Sometimes to reach the goal
At times being waylaid
Coming to an abrupt end
Only to come back again

Does it want to escape?
Blow like the wind?
Roar like the fire?
Be at peace like the ether?

Like us does it too seek
To be something other than it is?
The drops makes me wonder
Are we all the same?

The End of the Endless

My grandfather sowed the seed
Look how strong is the tree,
Even though he is gone, and so will we
This will stay forever sharing its bounty.

Social Extreme

Anger, anger, anger
At perceived offenses
At opinions that differ
At those we see as the other

Awaiting Inspiration

Not inspired by Mother's Day
Not inspired by any other tale
Staring blankly at the white page
I wonder what I can write today

Discarded and Refused

You throw me after use
Sometimes on the road
Sometimes in the woods

Give Her the Sword, Give Her the Gun

A face and limbs,
Just like any other
A curve here, a curve there
Too young even for that

Thoughts on Women's Day

Frankly, I have none
For I don't feel like one
I am a free spirit
Taking one body now
And changing it next minute

Limericks by Ashwath Srikant

When rushing to school, he paused to rattle off a couple of limericks that he had made up. That night, I asked him to pen some and here is the fruit of his effort:

I saw a boy
Whose name was Roy
He was drinking water
Sitting near a potter
And then he bought a clay toy

I saw a cat
Running on a mat
It slipped there
And lost some hair
And now it looked less fat

Musings on Death

What is the formula
To measure our lifespan?
What is too young?
When is the right time to be gone?

Ephemeral Life

Even exhilerating joy
Does not forever last
So also sorrows deepest
Soon from us they part

The Drop

It was vain and proud
As from Heaven it dropped
Unique and blessed
It swaggered and showed off