One day on a lonely road

One day when

We’re walking down

A lonely road we’ll find,

Our significant other,

Estranged brother,

With a lot on his mind.

It may have been a year

Or two

Maybe it was me, not you.

We won’t know,

It’s come too late.

Apologies have an expiry date.

It may have been God,

Or fate.

Or maybe I was right.

To resent you

When you left me standing;

Walked into the night.

Maybe we’ll look up to see,

The same electric fear and be,

Caught in the light,

Unable to fight.

The stare that holds you, holds me.

We might have words to reveal,

We might have scabs we need to peal,

We might not pretend we’re steel,

But it will not be so.

Upon seeing what I sought to see,

I know I will turn and go.

What once was is what once was.

It matters not what crime or cause,

Or how numerous the flaws.

The towel was thrown in.

Giving up on each other was our greatest sin.

So on that lonely road that wound,

Around groves of thoughts,

And suppressed sound,

On that fateful day we found,

The close of a time.

Of a time with chirping birds,

And abundant rhyme.

But the song will be,

Somewhere else,

Perhaps in another tree.

So you go back the road you came,

There’s nothing left here to claim.

 

We’ve picked up all the pieces

And found us each new names.

Thus as one we turn away,

Another surprise, another day.

Life is curious one might say,

And so it goes, and goes, and goes…

Along that winding road it flows;

Into what God knows;

We’ll find it when our heads are grey.

 

-Poem by Akshay.

 

 

 

 

 

Love’s Last Breath

“Our love has breathed its last breath.”

You forget, love doesn’t die a natural death.

It dies from waters too shallow to swim,

It suffocates when there’s no depth within;

It dies when stabbed in the back;

Heart’s blood leaks through the open crack.

Love can last but for a while

When it knows for another exists your smile.

Love is jealous, it lives for one;

Any more leaves love undone.

And love cannot be what love is

When love is not so painfully missed;

Love will die when the loved is blind;

Love comes from the heart as well as the mind.

To keep it strong, keep it well fed;

Let it love from the toe to the head.

But should you find its imposter instead,

Walk away. True love is dead.

 

-Poem by A.P.M.
(Author’s note: inspired by Anais Nin’s quote:

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”)

Taking Leave

My best friend one day said to me

“We were never meant to be.”

I stood there struck dumbfound;

I tried, but couldn’t make a sound.

 

But as she turned to leave, I croaked,

“Will this be the last we spoke?”

With those eyes she looked my way,

Said nothing; so I didn’t stay.

 

-poem by Akshay

My Wish for You

Wonderings, musings come to me,

In dead of night, at the hour of 3,

And then come dreams uninvited;

And dreams, well, how can you fight it?

Work up the courage to close your eyes.

Work up the love to not despise.

Wake up, do your best to smile.

Try harder, it takes a while.

Move through the day and be good,

Be like you always would.

Don’t spill the troubles of your pain;

Don’t do it, wisdom is to abstain.

For fools aplenty do abound,

Filthy gossips all around.

Find one to trust, take your time,

Find that one partner in crime;

Be picky with the friends you choose;

Never let a fool’s mouth loose.

But above all, I wish for you:

In a world so cold, please, you stay true.

 

-Poem by A.P.M.

“The thing about being the one who’s standing straight is, you have everyone else leaning on you.”

-A.P.M.

“You will never truly know the strength of your relationships or yourself, unless it has been tested by adversity”

-Unknown

Sincere Advice

Be warned! Beware! Be strong,

For men aren’t what they seem.

Look not in their eyes, lest be paralyzed;

Don’t let them tell you dreams.

I’ve seen those eyes hold hidden gleams.

 

Hear my words, they come from truth-

Snakes don’t come in reptile skin,

They come from motives held within

From friends, from foes and even kin.

Real people, find and hold them close.

 

Yet you falter? But why should you?

You ran the race straight and true.

Little more and you’d have it all…

Can’t you tell ‘part hearts big and small?

Just look at what he’s done for you.

 

Don’t forget the people who were there;

Those same tame fools who truly care.

Who had the heart to see you through.

They count it a loss for them,

But in truth it’s a loss for you.

 

To leave behind the man who found

You in a pit, and picked you up…

Who saw you cleaned, safe and sound,

Who traced the line down your face,

And wiped the mark the tear had traced.

 

Who when you bled was there with you.

Through each mark carelessly carved

On your skin, till his turned blue.

What you counted as ‘one more’

He counted ‘22’

 

It is the same tale retold…

What pride to be the gen we are,

Ever pathetic, ever weak.

We are the bovine vacant cattle

Giving ear but to the loudest speak –

 

Recycled claims, and soiled gestures,

Gestures as seen before.

But you were trained,

Your heart was stained.

You see but that and nothing more.

 

But lo, take notice, silence has value!

Give the silent their rightful due.

Clamp shut the smiling, pleasing word,

Slap away the hand that holds you fast.

They don’t love enough to let go the bird,

 

They are a snare. Beware the generous!

The generous hand that holds this card:

‘Behold! A blessing I bestow on you’

The narrow pipe brings water sweet,

The drain has an abundant spew.

 

It is a treasure to find love

But love is not a simple word.

It does not spell out as ‘compliance’

Love is not found in mirror reflections.

It does not see difference as defiance.

 

True love is not picking you up,

Carrying you over the ice.

In letting you stumble, trip, and fall,

Love lets you pay a price;

Letting you learn by not being nice.

 

Hit the child! Don’t spare the rod;

It is a burden only few can bear.

There are no ‘thanks’, there’s no reward;

You’ll be more alone than you were before;

There’ll just be you and your God.

 

This is the truth of the farce:

True love does not entice;

Come the end of day

You feel your heart held in a vice.

Listen closely, I leave you this:

Honest, pure, sincere advice –

Love is not easy, nor for the weak

True love is hard sacrifice.

 

 

-Poem by Akshay.