Till death…

Inspired by Anu’s series of poems written recently, I came up with this one.
This is a contribution towards Cafe Writing – December Project.

The idea was to write a fiction, essay or poetry on the following picture (Credit: Carmi Levy of Written, Inc.)

no group of enemies
can keep me tight
i leap the barrier
and kill them in a strike;

i am the mighty knight

in the history of kings
i am the unsung brawn
always a hero
i never frown

strong and brave
put others in their grave
who never turns back?
i am the only one!

i am the selfless pawn

i am ranked
just below the queen
with the strength of a castle
i defend my king

i am the durable rook

i travel miles together
and find my enemies
hidden in black or white
with my twin brother

i am the lightning bishop

agility, courage,
strength, and speed
for the glory of our king we live
we fight till death
forever, we will…
forever, we will…

of the wise old man

oh dear wise old man!
you have seen the life
from its creation
to perception
watched it grow
the sun, moon and the stars
planets, and the endless universe

you have stories to tell
of earth, water, fire, and air,
trees, animals and sapiens
living together
killing each other

of religions followed
languages spoken
God’s names
praised and blamed

of the dreams
from father to son
man and wife
born and dead

oh wise old man!
you have seen the world!
can you solve my plight?
why we live? and why we die?

the old man says
i have stories to tell
though i am great
have no answers to death

why you live? why you die?
were you created, just to survive?
i have no answers
let me die!

oh! old man!
don’t say that!
you are the elixir
of our life!

you need to travel quite some far
beyond the planet
beyond the skies
maybe there is
a surprise!

oh dear poet! you are right!
not so old i guess am i
let us explore till we die
young and happy,
singing “life looks so bright!”

—-the poet dies and the old man sings….—–

i have seen the ravages of time
poets come and poets die
in between, build a maya to survive

questions answered, or questions unanswered,
on earth, life just goes by…

(i wish this was not a pessimistic ending; i just wanted to reach my first 50-line mark )

As I like it…

Shakespeare said every person has seven stages in a life. Similar to that, according to me there are (or I like to be) 7 women, one in every stage of a man’s life!

The world is a stage,
And there are 7 women in a man’s life -

First is the mother,
you puke and mewl in her arms, (sorry Shakespeare!)
shielding you in her womb,
she reads you like no other.

Second is the grand-mother,
she is the second mother,
whatever pranks you play on her,
she always saves you a treasure.

Third is the akka-next-door, (akka – elder sister)
shouting at the bullies and telling you stories,
pinching your cheeks and saying “you are so sweet”,
makes you like her forever…

Then there are the crushes from the crowd,
in the TV, School and on the ground, (ground = roads)
“were gals like these when we were kids?” you wonder,
“wats the reason for my pimples?” you ponder.

Fifth is the lucky-to-have-one girl friend,
who opens the pandora’s box of your talents,
a poet, fighther, dancer – a genius you try to be,
for your skills to be the talk of her town.

Sixth is your shadow-to-be,
in your worst, best,
and everything in between,
wife is the queen of your dynasty.

Last one of all,
is the Princess of your destiny,
a sweet little daughter,
the symbol of the entire feminity!