Complexity of love

A middle aged couple watch the sunset on a beach off Kochi, Kerala (PC: Myself!)

The angel and the devil were grappling to understand the complexity of love.

"Is not failure the essence of love? You fail to be yourself. The loved one fails to be the one who was loved as they evolve while they reciprocate love."

"Is it all not creation, evolution and discovery? Why brand it failure?"

"Because it is! So selfish is love that it consumes itself, constrains the ones in love from being the ones they truly are. It is a baggage of expectations."

"Really? Love is rather so selfless that it creates new worlds, allows the ones in love to flourish and grow beyond the ones they are. It is a source of nourishment."

"But it is such a transient thing. It changes with every moment. It gives rise to multiple expectations. It is so dynamic, fickle. Never stable. The adaptation, adjustment gradually robs you off from your soul. I am afraid if the price of love is the very reason it blossomed in the first place."

"Is not that transience worth it all? Like the essence of our lives which is transience. Love does not keep the seed a seed but nurtures, lets it bloom and flourish into a tree. Maybe allowing it to be a part of the forest."

"Honestly, does not love in the real rugged world constrain, expect and disappoint?"

"Honestly, does not love in the real rugged world also bear, care and nurture?"

The Nature of Knowledge!

Naively schooled in Science,

           Me thought only reason

                And logic led to knowledge!

Traversing the terrains of life,

             Me realize it isn't so simple.

                                      Knowledge may always be partial & plural!

It may not be the pursued holy grail

                                      But this very land that we have been living on

                               And beyond, where we may never live on!

Myths and fiction, Instincts and intuition,

Rhetoric and religion, Experience and expression,

Science and reason, Scripture and superstition,

Ambiguity and tradition, Poetry and reflection -

                  Are all but different paths, at times 

                  Seemingly contradictory multitudes,

                     Traversing on which we can only hope

                              To grapple the vast landscape of knowledge! 

 PS: Years ago, I held reason and logic as my Gods, instinct and intuition my angels and placed my ultimate faith in humanity (Full poem where I expressed that sentiment - https://anamkal.blogspot.com/2015/01/faith-in-humanity.html). I do not perceive reason and logic with that universal position of pride anymore. Maybe, I refuse to hold anything as God!

The sheep and the shepherd

PC: Myself!

Don't the sheep know for themselves

how to survive and thrive?

Or is the shepherd any better than those

who claim to herd humanity?

Life: An ocean of infinite absurdity?

Incurable sickness, interminable sadness.
Inconvenient truths, irresolvable entanglements.
Irreparable wounds, invincible fatalities.
Maybe, this is how life is, in the long shot -
A seemingly endless ocean of infinite absurdity!

Fleeting moments, transient happiness.
Bursts of passion, impulses of creativity.
Smiles that last seconds, laughter pains in jaws.
Love that drowns and rises, cries that drain.
Maybe, this is how life is, as one zooms in -
Drowning lively islands in an ocean of infinite absurdity!

Things we break, as we age!

Age that was, that is and that will be! (PC: Myself!)

There was an age

                       When I broke toys, bulbs,

                           And my own teeth and toes.

With time they

                           Either did not matter, got 

                        Repaired or grew back!

This is an age

                             When I break trust, promises

                              And hearts - mine and theirs.

With time they

                    May give up, go numb

                      Or some may heal back!

Will there be an age

                             When I cannot break anything

                        But for my own illusions?

And with time they

                       Too might grow indifferent

                       And not bother to get back!

Happiness experienced, unlike defined!

          

        There is an old Zen proverb which says "Better an inch of practice than a foot of preaching."  In fact, Zen claims that the original teaching of the Buddha emphasized practice of meditation over rituals and theoretical concepts.

       As I battle the relevance of practice over theory, I discovered Zen masters at home! Here is what they chose to teach me -

Corridors of spring

PC: Myself

 

In the corridors of spring

         Breeze kisses leaves

             Breaks the tender twigs

              And they all fall in love!

The world springs to life

           In the dance of the fall

                  In the melody of the breeze

                In the poetry of the rustle!

As nature puts us to shame

                       What chance do we mortals have

                      But to admire, emulate and love

                                  With shattered pride, gathered humility!

Her hands and mine!

PC: Mrignayanee

In her hands, I learnt to

Make my way through the world.

In my hands, she trusts to

Explore what lies beyond her world!

Withering leaves of time

Picture Credit: Myself!

On withering leaves of time

Our futile efforts to sculpt our name!

Do we plead that we are naive

Or count it among our crime?

(ಉದುರುತ್ತಿರುವ ಕಾಲದ ಎಲೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ 

ನಮ್ಮ ಹೆಸರು ಕೆತ್ತುವ ಹುಚ್ಚು ಆರ್ಭಟ! 

ನಾವು ಮುಗ್ಧರು, ತಿಳಿಯಲಿಲ್ಲ ಎನ್ನೋಣವೇ 

ಅಥವಾ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಪರಾಧಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಎಣಿಸೋಣವೇ?)

Chaos and calmness

Painting by Mrignaynee

I wonder if the only way 

Is to embrace the chaos 

And drown deep into it. 

Trust the ocean to finally 

Wash me off onto the 

Shore of infinite calmness. 

Only to realize later that the

Calmness is not of the shore, 

But of the scars chaos forged.

Colourblind in a black and white world!

Dhriti, around her second birthday

In a world of 

Black and white 

I was afraid if I was 

Colourblind, for 

All that I saw was 

Shades of grey. 

With you coming 

Into the world, I 

Cherish my blindness; 

As you flood me 

In an ocean of 

Infinite colours!

ಹಕ್ಕಿಯಂತೆ ಹಾರುತಿರುವೆ!

ಚಿತ್ರ ಕೃಪೆ: ಸ್ವತಃ

ಹಕ್ಕಿಯಂತೆ ಹಾರುತಿರುವೆ!

ಎಲ್ಲಿಗೆಂದು ಅರಿಯೆ ನಾ. 

ಒಮ್ಮೊಮ್ಮೆ ಆಲೋಚಿಸಿದೊಡೆ ಅನಿಸುವುದು 

ಹಾರಬಲ್ಲೆನೆಂಬ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೇ ಹಾರುತಿರುವೆನಾ ನಾ? 

ಅನ್ವೇಷಣೆ ಅರ್ಥ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದೇ, ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ ಕಳೆದುಕೊಂಡಾಗ!? 

(I keep flying, 

I know not to where. 

Sometimes I wonder 

If I am flying just because I can, 

And if the seeking ceases when the question does!)