Horror

As I see yet another news report about a rape in the country, I wonder what horrifies me more:

The news itself

Or the ease with which my eyes move on to the next headline

Safe Space

Sometimes
To get out of your comfort zone
You need
Not a push
Not a nudge
But just a space
Free of judgement

Crossroads

Maybe
Who we are
Is just a series of crossroads
Between
Who we were
And who we want to be

Your Love

You say you love flowers
Yet you pluck them without a thought

You say you love animals
Yet you serve them proudly for dinner

You say you love trees
Yet you cut them for your own greed

You say you love rivers
Yet you fill them with your filth

You say you love all humans
Yet you unabashedly watch them suffer

You say you love me
Yet you wonder why I look at you in fear.

Best Intentions

Sometimes, the deepest scars

Are caused

By the best of intentions

Art on the Sand

I walked along the beach
Slowly
Leisurely
The waves washing softly over my feet
And up ahead
I saw a man
Drawing on the sand
A gorgeous piece of art
Almost complete
How long he had been at it
I had no idea
But as I came nearer
I saw
From the corner of my eye
A wave
Bigger than the others
A lone rebel
Racing forward towards him
Trying to go
Where none of the other waves would
And I wanted to shout
Call out to the man
Warn him of the incoming stream
The impending fate
That would destroy his art
But the words remained unspoken
Maybe there wasn't enough time to react
Because even if I had
What would it have done
He could no more move his art
Than he could stop the incoming wave
And so
In that split second
I watched
As the wave hit its target
Washing over the creases in the sand
Taking away pieces
That it claimed for itself
And all that remained
Was incomplete parts
Of a missing whole
The art destroyed
The labour made futile
I looked at the man
Grimacing
Wanting to share his pain
But instead
He looked at me
Smiled
And shrugged
And went back to his work
Recreating what was gone
Perhaps not for the first time
Accepting
What I couldn't
That this was life
His job
Was to persevere
Regardless of the outcome
Regardless of how long it lasted
That the fear of the future
Couldn't overshadow
The joy of the present
That all he had
Was his passion
And this moment
Everything else
The future
The outcome
Were like the waves
Weaving their own path
Unstoppable
Like a destiny
Beyond his control.

The Face Behind the Picture

You see me
Smiling
Posing
Happy
A face full of life
Captured in a frame
And to an extent
That's all true
But don't mistake that picture
For who I really am
Because that smiling face
Those twinkling eyes
Are just the surface
Underneath them
Deep below
The core is different
Tumultuous
Shivering
Trying to keep up
With a world it cannot grasp
With rules it cannot understand
Attempting to smile
To seem sure of myself
While feeling like an imposter
Because that confident smile
Is just an act
A show for the world
To hide the wounds
To mask the fears
And those twinkling eyes
Are a trick of the light
Hiding
The wonder
The sadness
The questions
The loneliness
That stay with me
No matter where I go
No matter who I'm with
But I learnt
Long ago
That the world prefers the act
It doesn't like truth
Unless it comes with
Smiles and twinkling eyes
It can't deal with the fire
That burns through me
Raging
Unapologetic
Beyond caring
It doesn't care what I think
Or what I feel
But rather
More importantly
Only how I look
And so here I stand
Smiling
Posing
Happy
A face full of life
Captured forever in a frame