The Journey thus Far

In the silent empty hours


Life’s wagon wheel rolls back:

It shows hackneyed reels

Of undone actions;

The childish childhood

Simply passed without a fit pal;

Why he hated me, my brother?

Perhaps taking me as a threat;

Why that trembling fear

0f meeting girls and elders?

What an ugly shyness!

Even to face the next door aunties,

Somehow it passed, the childhood

With Mom’s stories, innocent plays

Quarrelling, weeping

Laughing and mocking.



Adolescence- red hot furnace-

Heavenly dreams gave way to

Burning thoughts of fleshy girls,

Red pimples on the cheek

And uneven beard on the face

Revealed the clashes inside,

Ambitions withered like petals

And loves shattered like fog.



Next, youth with oodles of confusions,

Fires and raw dealings;

Sometimes a light flashed

And the world was under his feet;

Sometimes a foggy darkness

Buried all his peace;

Reading, thinking and writing

Made truth a touch so near

But miles far away;

Conquering of every new peak

Opened new vistas of mounts,

Virgin valleys and untouched heights.



The young man arrived

With a fully grown up beard,

Honing body and soul and spirit

To start a brand new life;

Less in thoughts and more in dreams;

Careless and vibrant in moves

Like an insect at a flame- trial and error.



Every single step was a journey,

Every other stop was a learning spot,

When reality faded Maya revealed.

Vacant railway stations

Roaring shores, shop verandas,

Empty grounds after hectic actions

Jostling human seas, tender leaves,

Tired home coming birds,

Life trod on making lasting marks.

No sign was within the grasp

To know who he was

To know the purpose of life,

Simply a journey thus far

And a journey forward.



- J T Jayasingh