Life = Death - volume 7 - Poems on Life , Death

by Nikhil Parekh

  You can't be incarcerated behind bars of the prison and still play hide-n-seek with your children in the park,

  You can't wear a flimsy night suit and still stand without shivering on the frozen lake,

  You can't have infinite blemishes of chicken pox and still compare yourself with the shimmering pearl,

  You can't be a mundane businessman and still have a passionate penchant for

  poetic rhyme,

  You can't be an imbecile beggar and still think of sleeping all night on the

  golden couch,

  You can't sit in front of the man eater leopard and still recite tranquil rhymes from the holy scriptures,

  You can't stick your tongue out and still say that you're well mannered and extremely cultured,

  You can't be a ghastly skeleton suspended from the ceiling and still conquer the entire battle field in war,

  You can't wink flirtatiously at a girl and still adroitly tell her that she was your sister,

  You can't be rustic fisherman and still know the most intricate of computer virus,

  You can't spell death wrongly and still have an ambition to die,

  You can't simply hold the knife in your hands and still profusely bleed,

  You can't open your mouth a trifle lazily and still expect thunderous tunes to blast through the frigid atmosphere,

  You can't wear a necklace of glistening diamonds and still feel venomous snakes brutally strangulating your neck,

  You can't be a slime coated frog and still conceive yourself to as the

  astonishingly beautiful crown princess,

  You can't eat foul sewage floating in the gutter and still expect pearls to pop out each time you opened your mouth,

  You can't tear plain paper into infinite parts and still flood its surface with

  unending lines of literature,

  You can't have lecherous fires blazing in your eyes and still have empathy for the deprived,

  You can't worry baselessly and still make people around you wholeheartedly laugh,

  You can't maliciously envy your counterparts and still reach the top,

  You can't drive a truck blindfolded and still be able to reach the other end of the

  road safely,

  You can't be sitting in one corner of the dark room and still imagine yourself to be a complete man,

  You can't develop nerve-wrecking stress and still have blissful peace, 

  You can't apply effeminate lipstick on your lips and still claim to be Tarzan inhabiting the wild,

  You can't drench yourself wholesomely in the rain and still catch blazing fires the very next instant,

  You can't draw incongruous lines with your feet and still visualize yourself as the greatest artist,

  You can't brag like a donkey and still whisper to the society that you were

  unselfishly polite,

  You can't keep surging down into deep waters and still view the pinnacle of the tower spiraling high towards the Sun,

  You can't roll amidst heaps of glittering gold and still cry hysterically that you were poor,

  You can't walk in stark darkness and still sight your shadow following you at close quarters,

  You can't have black lizards slithering all over your body and still remain as stoical as frozen ice,

  You can't lick hard dirt and still find your tongue as clear as the transparent mirror,

  You can't run like a whirlwind volcano and still feel your heart completely dormant in your chest,

  You can't sway flirtatiously sighting every girl and still convince your wife that she was the only entity you revered,

  You can't be oblivious to the first alphabet of English language and still imbibe every word of the colossal dictionary,

  You can't live imprisoned behind the dingy brick wall and still inhale gallons of blissful air,

  You can't keep looking at your watch every minute and still announce confidently that you weren't a trifle anxious,

  You can't emulate every action happening beside you and still cognize yourself to be entirely independent,

  You can't sit languidly in the air-craft to smoothly glide up the hill and still bellow at the top of your lungs that you clambered up all the treacherous slope standing on your toes,

  You can't deluge your mouth completely with water and still want jewels to tumble out each time you spoke,

  You can't have thorns adhered to all parts of your body and still feel yourself heavily soaked in spongy jelly,

  You can't be a satanic barbarian chopping raw flesh and still imagine yourself to have created new life,

  You can't bathe in a river of sweet honey and still want the bees to shirk away the instant they sighted you,

  You can't lie breathless in the stone clad coffin and still come out bouncing

  radiantly alive,

  You can't have a reserved heart wandering materialistically and still fall madly in love,

  And You cant strangulate your emotions; grope uncertainly in a land of cowardice and still lead life

 

  3. PRIORITY 

  My top most priority was my God; who had bestowed upon me the power to exist and holistically fight for my survival on the surface of this earth,

  The next to follow in my life was my Mother; who actually gave me birth; evolving me in the first place to be what I was; at this very second today,

  The next to follow in my life was my beloved; who harnessed the true potential lying dormant in my mind for years; triggering me of to achieve unsurpassable realms

  of success,

  The next to follow in my life was my sister; with her innocuously mischievous grin; causing intense rejuvenation of my mind,

  The next to follow in my life was my Godfather who played a pivotal role in providing his armory of experienced tips; whether I liked it or didn’t like it,

  The next to follow in my life were my grandparents; whom I overwhelmingly adored; but at the same time the ones who tried to drown me into the ocean of their age

  old and stringently mundane theories,

  The next to follow in my life was my pet dog; who incessantly wagged its tail in ecstatic jubilation; the instant I entered my dwelling,

  The next to follow in my life were my selective bunch of friends; who always supported me in my times of bizarre affliction and inexplicable distress,

  The next to follow in my life was my tiny little hutment; appearing as an inconspicuous speck of dirt amidst the dense camouflage of trees; yet providing me

  shelter to bear the ominous night,

  The next to follow in my life were all the impeccably smiling children; whom I got a chance to encounter on the streets; and with whom I felt as if I had gone right back into my innocent childhood,

  The next to follow in my life were all the birds perched on the grass laden meadows; enchanting me unrelentingly with their gorgeous singing,

  The next to follow in my life were baby carrots sprouting in clusters in the perennial fields; which I merrily munched with gusto to placate my gluttony,

  The next to follow in my life was the mesmerizing and boisterous river; in which I splashed indiscriminately and bathed my body for long hours in the morning,

  The next to follow in my life were my sagacious teachers; who taught me to be prudent; judiciously execute every activity of living,

  The next to follow in my life were all those who might have unknowingly crossed me on the path towards indefatigable struggle; illuminating my life with transient moments of laughter and joy,

  The next to follow in my life was the infinite number of Poems I had embossed with my blood; which had imparted me insurmountable happiness as I metamorphosed each of my exotic dreams into reality,

  The next to follow in my life was the century old deep well; from which I extracted pails of sparkling mineral water; to quench the insatiable thirst that tickled the burnt chords in my throat,

  The next to follow in my life was my contemporary and ultra modern
contraptions; the unfathomable perceptions I felt prey to every unveiling minute; to lead life like a king,

  And the last of all priorities that followed in my life; was the modest bundles of currency stashed in my Bank account; and an inexorable urge to earn many more

  of these; to thereby give concrete form to all my fantasies; as well as the fantasies of all those which needed to be desperately satisfied.

  4. PAST, PRESENT AND NEAR FUTURE 

  As innocuous as the wail of a newly born infant; sleeping blissfully in his

  airtight cradle,

  As evanescent as the sun setting behind the mountains; giving way to the descending of night,

  As nimble as the fleet footed squirrel; traversing night and day through hollow spaces of the tree,

  As tender as a woman draped in pure silk; her embellished eyelids lowered a trifle in meek submission,

  As redolent as the tendrils of the blossoming rose; shimmering in magnificent

  color under orange rays of the Sun,

  As impeccable as the spires of the Temple; towering harmoniously towards the

  sky, Was my early childhood and past. 

  As speedy as the flying aircraft; cutting placid currents of breeze at electric velocity,

  As boisterous as the kangaroo; taking two leaps at a time,

  As rambunctious as the humming bee; buzzing discordant and loud at all times,

  As tenacious as the milky white moon; profoundly illuminating the ghastly darkness,

  As passionate as thunder clouds colliding in the cosmos; and the subsequent pelting down of torrential rain,

  As pragmatic as commercial business; equating the intricate nuances of life,

  Is my robustly rubicund youth and present. 

   

  As mystical as the unfathomable gorge; the echo reverberating loud and stringent across the valley,

  As mysterious as the enigmas of the universe; infinite riddles of creation left unexplored,

  As inexplicable as the sporadic shedding of leaves in autumn; the rendering of lush green landscapes into barren land,

  As poignant as the hood of the serpent; its fangs snaring viciously in spell bound enchantment,

  As uncanny as the underground volcano; with its dormant lava unpredictably circulating all around,

  And I now leave it entirely on my omniscient creator to chisel my dreams; mold my destiny; unveil my near future.

  5. WHAT REASON HAD YOU 

  If the small and inconspicuously tiny ant; could foment the mammoth elephant to collapse on the ground,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the dainty and fragile wave had the power all by itself to gradually culminate into the entire and colossal ocean,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the minuscule spider could spin its web again at thunderbolt speeds; even after it was viciously destroyed infinite number of times,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the man who was completely blind; bereft of indispensable centers of sight; could browse through boundless lines of Braille in a single day,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the frigid looking and slimy worm could build a mountain of mud; within just a matter of few hours; dexterously carrying small pints of sand on its back,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the newly born infant could win over a million hearts; without even uttering a word; just by the virtue of its innocuous smile,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the single and infinitesimal flame of candle could illuminate the entire cover of ghastly darkness; as it burnt waveringly inside the solitary hut,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the child horrendously orphaned since birth; could become the Prime Minister of his country one fine day,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the profoundly lazy and potbellied tortoise; could win the race even when competing with the whirlwind speed rabbit,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  If the miserably stone deaf beggar; could sing melodious songs of enchanting music; being oblivious to the most faintest trace of sound since his very birth,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind? 

  And If the person even after being dead for infinite years; be immortally present everywhere through the spirit of his benevolent deeds,

  Then tell me what reason had you to be afraid of life and lag behind?

 

 

  6. ONCE UPON A TIME 

  Every tree standing lanky and towering on the hills; was once upon a time a minuscule seedling,

  Every dog barking discordantly on the streets; was once upon a time an innocuous pup; yelping incoherently in the darkness all around,

  Every bird soaring handsomely in the sky; was once upon a time a glistening

  egg; incarcerated beneath soft twigs of the nest,

  Every alligator slithering menacingly through the marshy swamps; was once upon

  a time an inconspicuous tadpole floating nimbly in still water,

  Every desert sprawled over infinite territory; was once upon a time a small hillock of disdainfully colored mud,

  Every star shimmering brilliantly in the cosmos; was once upon a time a tiny flame of glowing candle,

  Every mountain towering domineeringly on the landscapes; was once upon a time

  an infinitesimal lump of clay,

  Every tiger with a deafening growl philandering through the jungles; was once

  upon a time an infantile cub; having bohemian paws without the slightest of nail,

  Every leaf gargantuan in proportion and cascading from the tree; was once upon

  a time; a raw bud extruding in clusters; proliferating by the hour,

  Every volcano fulminating into sizzling fountains; was once upon a time a placid stream of molten liquid,

  Every patch of ominous cloud in the sky; was once upon a time thin wisps of atmosphere,

  Every slab of fortified wall; was once upon a time a finely pulverized blend of burnt stone,

  Every large bone of the body; was once upon a time a profoundly squelched mass

  of intermingles flesh,

  Every squall that swept thunderously across the city; was once upon a time a

  droplet of saline tear that trickled down the cheek,

  Every mass of lethal dynamite that exploded; was once upon a time an incongruous piece of lead,

  Every wind that mightily blew in the monsoons; was once upon a time moist breath that flowed intermittently through the nostrils,

  Every dinosaur trampling indiscriminately through the meadows; was once upon a

  time an obnoxiously scented insect,

  Every mother surrounded blissfully by children; was once upon a time a freckled and embarrassed girl,

  Every reptile profusely impregnated with poison; was once upon a time a stinging beetle,

  And every man trespassing on the surface of land; trying to reign supreme over the entire earth; was once upon a time a particle of saw dust; simply a short stub of compressed thread; one out of the millions lying scattered in directions unprecedented.

 

  7. THE GREATEST TRUTH; THE GREATEST LIE. 

  The greatest comfort existing; is in the moist arms of the impeccable mother,

  The greatest light existing; is the dazzling glow of the flamboyantly fiery Sun,

  The greatest depth existing; is in the poignant eyes of your beloved,

  The greatest salt existing; is in the undulating waters of the saline ocean,

  The greatest blessing
existing; is the one imparted by the impoverished heart,