Little things matter 🌼
Once full of life,
It gave lives to many,
Sunshine was its friend,
Who used to put happiness on its face,
And breeze its companion,
With whom it loved to dance.
Then the time changed,
Starting to change its colour,
Was the first sign of ageing,
Now the sunshine was nomore tender,
And the breeze transformed into storm.
Disgraced and battered,
It fell on the ground,
Lying there,
It was stepped by many,
But it took that chance to leave an imprint,
On their path forever.
-JMJ
My 7 year old daughter told me a story recently. She is really good in making up stories and comes up with something new very often. Now this one was about a turtle which couldn’t swim. The story goes like this…..
Once, there lived a turtle on a rock near to the pond. He used to cry everyday looking at the water. One day, a crow saw him crying and asked the reason. He said that he is a turtle but cannot swim. This makes him sad and that is why he is crying. Then the crow said, “I can only teach you fly, sorry.” After saying that the crow flew away.
After a few days, one of the fishes in the pond saw him crying. Fish asked him about the reason for being so sad. He said, “I’m a turtle but I cannot swim.” Fish said, “You cannot swim because you are not trying enough. You just sit on the rock and cry all day. That is not going to make you swim. You need to try harder.” Listening to that, he became sadder and started to cry louder.
Then, one day, he saw a happy tortoise walking slowly near the pond nibbling flowers and leaves. At that moment, he realised that he couldn’t swim because he was not a turtle, he was a tortoise!
The story is short and simple. But, it has a huge lesson to give us. It’s about self awareness. We will be crying all our lives thinking about all the things that we cannot do or we don’t have if we don’t know exactly who we are just like that tortoise who thought it was a turtle. With self awareness, we learn our own strengths and weaknesses which in turn helps in our own development.
This story, also teaches us that unless we help ourselves no-one can help us in understanding the real us. Our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues can only give their own views and perceptions about us which may not be true. The act of gaining self awareness may take time and energy as you will have to go through a lot of reflection and introspection but it is worth it for all good reasons.
I don’t know how a 7 year old can come up with something like this, but, she surprises me everyday. And I’m, just a proud mom.
-JMJ
Wanderer, what do you seek?
Walking alone all your life,
Is it the purpose behind your existence?
Is it the truth which is buried in the dark?
Or,that intense love that lives forever?
Wanderer, what do you seek?
While you roam from one place to another,
With blind eyes and closed heart,
Your purpose was right in front of you,
All the way along.
Wanderer, what do you seek?
Are you running from all the lies that trouble you?
The truth can never be tampered or hidden forever,
And when the time arrives, it will be in plain sight,
Staring right on your face.
Wanderer, what do you seek?
Is that the love that you have always longed for?
The love that makes you to cross the oceans and boundaries,
It's in your heart and it always has been,
That love is unconditional and no one can take it from you.
So wanderer tell me, what do you seek now?
-JMJ
Light was her companion,
Shadows her playmates,
Born with a heart of gold,
The kid was always full of hope.
Taking her little fingers out,
She made shapes of butterfly and goat,
Laughing at all her creations,
She never thought that she would face a retaliation.
Growing up she made jokes on all the shadow creatures that she made,
Making stories for her play,
She directed them how to move,
And was proud to write their screenplays.
Situations changed,
The kid grew up to become a fine young woman,
She never remembered her little friends,
And forgot about all the plays that she made for them.
Now,the light she loved became dimmer day by day,
Atlast,to find herself all alone in a dark way,
Scared to death,
She tried to find back her shadow friends.
All in a vain,
Not knowing about the darkness that she was in,
"Where are you all? I'm afraid, please come back", she screamed,
But, things were going to unfold in a way that she never would have thought or could have dreamed.
In darkness, her friends started to show their true colours,
Even her own shadow disappeared leaving her distressed,
All other ones played a different game with her,
This time, they wrote a screenplay for her.
-JMJ
Shimmering humbly,
Golden Tree stood in silence,
Beauty met with pain.
-JMJ
Sitting in my comfortable couch,
Trying to get a solution for my boredom,
I changed channels from one to another,
That's when,I heard shrieking from men and women,
From a land far away.
Carrying there children in their hands,
They are rushing to get all the help they can have,
Those children have deep hollow eyes,
And with just skin and bones,
We can count the ribs that they have got.
While the governments are busy to show off their political strength and power,
Parents are selling children to satiate their hunger,
They go door to door to ask if anyone needs a child,
So that they can find some money to feed another child.
Mothers are helpless
Fathers are hopeless,
Public is clueless,
Governments show no remorse as if they are guiltless,
And me, writing a poem on it is pointless!
Unless,
We satisfy those hungry eyes and stomach with love and food regardless,
Of age,caste,creed,color, nationality, religion or sex.
-JMJ
In your eyes, I saw my life,
Blossoming like a fragrant flower,
With all its beauty and elegance,
Like a queen with all her grace.
In your eyes, I saw that flame,
Which burnt my eyes to find a way to the heart,
The light which brightened my soul,
The fire which engulfed me whole.
In your eyes, I saw lyrics of a beautiful song,
Bringing rain to a deserted heart,
A melody, so divine soothing my body and mind,
The music which unknotted emotions of all kind.
In your eyes, I saw myself,
With well guarded walls, protecting myself from another hurt,
Scarred and bruised from old deep wounds,
Standing tall with my perfect imperfections.
-JMJ
She saw herself in a castle surrounded by all the courtiers. In the mirror, which was placed right in the centre of her bedroom, she found out that she was the princess. They asked her to leave the place as it was too risky to stay there. It was a fight or flight situation and she was a fighter. She would never leave anyone behind.
Knowing her very well, one of her advisor handed her an egg. She gave him a perplexed look. What was this all about? He told her that the enemies had already reached the gate and she should protect that egg from any harm. That was her duty towards the kingdom.
So,she ran as fast as she could keeping that egg safely in one hand and holding the sword in another. While running, she developed an attachment towards that egg as if it was something which belonged to her. It gave her a purpose to live and fight with the enemies with all her courage and strength.
In that dark night, where the moon also forgot to show herself, princess ran towards the battlement to reach the tower. She tripped on something and the egg fell from her hand. She screamed out of fear and pain. While falling from the height, the egg cracked and she saw a beautiful baby. A human baby from an egg!!!
It was quarter to four in the morning. When I had woken up from the sleep all panicked and worried, I found myself all wet in my sweat after a terrible fight in the dream. Correction… Nightmare!
I still don’t understand why on the earth I was protecting an egg and why would a human baby hatch from it!! Any explanation or suggestions are welcomed.
Please leave your comments on the post as I would really love to read them.
Fallen leaves lying down in disgrace,
While waiting to be crumbled and crushed by others,
They feel the ground, so cold and dead,
And see the grey sky with no ray of hope.
They remember the spring when they were new and fresh,
So beautiful, green and tender,
They were the best companions of the tree whom they adored,
And shared everything with each other so that they could grow.
Then came the summer where they loved to give shelter,
To everyone who came to them from the scorching sun,
Or from the downpour in June,
Their compassion and care helped others to live, love and breed.
In autumn, they brought colors into life,
The trees adorned them like precious ornaments,
Enjoying everyone's attention and praise,
They were at their peak.
Then, they started to fall,
Some even didn't try,
But others gave a fight with the wind,
Not willing to let go off that tiny little connection with their mate.
Lying on the ground they can see the bare tree, their old companion,
The squirrels, birds and the insects to whom they gave shelters to,
And the people who found shade under them too.
So now, they are waiting for winter eagerly,
To cover themselves with snow,
To erase all the memories,
To forget and to be forgotten.
-JMJ
When the night falls,
Sun leaves you and the darkness starts to fill your eyeballs,
When you stumble on every rock on your way,
All alone on a road in a land far far away,
When all you can hear are the screams of stillness,
And you find signs of increasing frailness,
Open your eyes and look in the sky,
As the moon and stars are not saying you goodbye,
Feel the ground,
And walk as if you own the land,
Listen to the sound of wind in the trees,
The music of the rustling leaves,
Settle your nerves,
Because you are a part of this powerful universe.
-JMJ
A Life's Journey 