Topmost

Vishnupriya 

I saw  the crazy ant lift and pack

the humongous peanut on its back.

It could carry twenty times its slim weight

without a complaint for the loaded freight.

But this was way heavier than it thought

had a long battle to win having  fought.

It wasn’t the climbing so much

But holding on for a firm clutch.

Slipping, dropping, picking wasn’t fun

But once in the race you gotta run.

Till you climb the hilltop and plant your flag

While others at the bottom watch and lag.

The air’s thin at the top

Alone you see the drop.

Proud, happy whatever

None to share your fever.

That’s the reward or price

you’ve cast the fateful dice.

All you do is breathe thin

Far from the madding din.

Your are too high n’ further gone

Only there as destiny’s pawn

That we’ll  drool and  look up to

Also greet with rave rant boo.

You’ve got to stand firm

And complete your term.

Keep away from the brainfog

You’re no more the underdog.

It’s always lonely at the top, no space

For the lesser to befriend, win your race.

The Shell

Vishnupriya 

I listened to the shell 

the surf left a whisper in,

I’d heard it when the spring fronds

by the lake kissed each other

And baby turtle reclaimed the rustling green

under the Dogwood tree for its bassinet.

Then the beach sands made me 

a bed to soak in the love

the ocean was sending me

with its open arms.

I longed to get lost and taste

the briny wind on my face like a surfer

Not hear my echoes but new ones around 

Moving further and further away.

As everyone grieves for George Floyd in Houston, Texas, I pray for healing everywhere so his soul and that of the others may rest in peace and the world is redeemed. This is my prayer:

Not an Option

Vishnupriya

Fear is not an option because I still breathe.

Silence is not an option because I’m still human.

Losing it is not an option because I’m still fighting.

Love is an option because I’m part of Him.

Forgiveness after justice’s is done is the other

 because it will heal the wound.

Born free, we need to live free of bondage

of hate and injustice, in mercy merge.

Hallelujah!!

Like your breath

Vishnupriya 

Pain is like your breath

as long as you have it

gossamer thin, or a heavy knot.

It is the stench of rot

you push away

when you want to breathe free.

But it is also the love

knowing all that you lost 

without meaning to, a gasp.

And going on walking

when you can’t see the fine line

between reaching and trudging.

You can’t wish it away

It lifts when it wants to.

Colorless

Vishnupriya 

No matter whose-

Dreams have no hue, tears are color free,

Breath’s a-color, pain’s colorless,

Yet some only come colored for others

Seen through a prism of color

Running an unequal race through life.

Why does color lurk around us

Choking our breath and voices

so we can’t be heard or seen,

when we were born to breathe?

And all the killings looked upon

As a collage of numbers, not names

because the dead were once human?

Why are most protests labeled 

riots toppling passive status quo,

And marchers body slammed, teargassed,

pepper sprayed when they’re to be revered?

Why passive bystanders unlistening in
'battlespaces' don’t get prophylactic from a disease

festering for centuries ready to erupt

now that it can’t hold anymore?

Why is justice denied because

life’s strangled, peace put on choke hold,

The clock hands have much to unroll?

Not wanting more hate to unfold,

And systems to implode, push to

deconstruct  the broken, the shattered, 

Rebuild outside the margin of color,

So we can all breathe like siblings

In the land of the brave, not depraved.

Color coded
Vishnupriya

Color is potent, decisive, leading
to a point of no return.
Just an angry limb pressing on another,
A virus more lethal than Covid
going beyond the here and now,
decades or centuries, eons maybe,
And George Floyd is gone forever,
like the candle we snuff out
every birthday making a wish.
Did  George wish last birthday
to live beyond color? Or despite it?
But wishes come color coded
in the land of the free.
How long before a vaccine, a fix for hate,
anger, brute force of the worst degree?

Braids

I braid all my stories of

yesterday and today every night

for a sneak peek tomorrow, a dry run

before putting it out there for those who care..

I heard it knock on the door

Saw it  upclose strong resolute

But I gave it the slip, kept the door shut

And took the other road to the open ground.

I heard its rasping whisper in my ears

I plugged them with earbuds and

sang my own song so loud

it drowned the other voice.

I smelt the rot spread from

one to the other in the blink of an eye

And tasted the fallout of desperation

Yet chose my saner solitude instead.

I could sense its clammy palms

cold with sweat outstretched

I clung to my breath coming fast

and counted my blessings one by one.

The yester tales visit me

But I  look out the window where

all the blue green pink and white weave

warm blankets to snuggle in and cozy up.

Today’s not been easy but

I mean to make it  such

Walking loaded slows you down

But I mean to travel light.