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THOSE WHO WRITE POETRY Echo’s from the beyond….
Siddharth Anand Lulu Press.
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To My parents Ritu & Mukesh Anand & My Grandfather B.K Puri
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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INTRODUCTION
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1. ABYSS…………………………………………...9 2. Those Who Write Poetry…………………………..10 3. ME & MY STRANGER………………………….11 4. Ashes……………………………………………13 5. Remembrance of a miracle…………………………15 6. Behind…………………………………………..16 7. STIR……………………………………………17 8. Why Birds Fly…?.......................................................19 9. Rare…………………………………………….20 10.Seeking you. Seeking your love……………………21 11.Poetic Exuberance……………………………….23
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12.THE FALL…………………………………….24 13.A Confession……………………………………25 14.Insomnia……………………………………….26 15.Joy……………………………………………..28 16.The Dark mysteries of the night…………………..29 17.Move the curtains aside………………………….31 18.Born free……………………………………….33 19.Sand Dunes…………………………………….35 20.Conversations with darkness……………………..37 21.A Touch of Love………………………………...39 22.Bleak Prospects………………………………….40 23.Near. Yet Far…………………………………...41 24.A Beautiful Death………………………………43 25.THE DAY WE NEVER MET…………………..45 26.Distances……………………………………….46 27.Dreams………………………………………....47 28.Gaps……………………………………………48 29.Insanity………………………………………...49
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30.Through your eyes…………………………….......50 31.enigma…………………………………………..52 32.Here & Now……………………………………..53 33.Life……………………………………………..54 34.Pieces……………………………………………55 35.I have stopped fearing death……………………….56 36.Simple & Easy……………………………………57 37.Just when I decided to walk away…………………58 38.Some moments……………………………………59 39.One Man………………………………………...61
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Acknowledgments Thanks to my mother Ritu Anand For patiently reading all my poetry and for giving me continuous support and inspiration; To all my friends for their patience and love and specially to my brother for being a living inspiration for me and my family.
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Introduction When I first started writing ‘Those Who Write Poetry I never thought that this work would lead me on to an amazing journey of self exploration and personal growth. While writing these poems I have lived them, learned through them and grown with them. I would like anyone who reads them to try not to understand them just to live them, just to become them and then they will hear their own voices. Echo’s from the beyond…
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ABYSS… I push my hands through the sand flowing through, they discover a shape, an image, a distortion, a ripple. The sun shines i can feel the light I am sweating But there’s no water in sight I lose touch. I lose taste. I lose sight. I feel like i feel no more Am i dreaming or was i dreaming. I don’t think I’ll ever know Bright light torches my face I open my eyes, trying to fight the light I hear a sound. Above me a bird. A beast. I don’t want to go But it waits; just for that. I pity myself. I want; to move on i try;& i try & I try I am helpless I cry. The only sane way is insanity the only way to survive with friends with humanity. TO be true. To see true is sin i live each moment inviting life if only i knew i am at the helm or driven.
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Those Who Write Poetry‌ There Are Those Who Try; And Die Trying. There Are Those Cry; And Die Crying. And Then There Are Those Who Write Poetry:
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ME & MY STRANGER I am not alone There is another me Which cant see me And Which I cant see. Me and My Stranger Have never met Destiny in its design such an Occasion Never set The World of this Stranger is new to me The power, the pulse, the energy Of a new place you’ve never seen Of course I’ve been there of course I’ve seen that place before But through the eyes of a stranger I see through another door. Imagination this phenom seems to me Two souls in one body, How can it be Yes I’ve heard of Alchemy but such a state in another my eyes have yet to see. As People these persons are far apart The end of One Begins from where the other starts I can't see it coming But can feel it becoming and this thought baffles me, frights me, excites me From darkness to light and then back to what’s behind
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as if the curtains are opened then drawn inside my mind. This stranger I hope will meet me some day May be on soulstreet I'll cross him on his way And together we can, become that one man of whom we were fragments of whom we were parts And then, a new story the true story will start........
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Ashes‌ Walking on ashes I write poetry With extinguishing flames And my feet Feel a flickering pain Something more of The mortality burns, As I feel captured In a pensive concern From the very Moment of birth To my last breath On earth I was a flickering Flame Flayed and moved Even by the slightest of Breezes Scared of the Dark face I would Finally face I kept running Away, Like a madman Away from the slightest Of perils I took Striving strides To save my self From those riding tides I tried. I tried To save my life But Eventually landed In the palms of death
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Yes, I burn today Yes, I burn with my body Something more has died in me Something more than mortality‌
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Remembrance of a miracle Lovely was the day Then; the birth of night It was the night of birth Nothing special The sky was as dark as the night. no stars. no moon. no light The rushing cries and the delicate secrecy of creation; A moment. A miracle And slowly my eyes expanded and so did the world. my world The feeling of pain The feeling of ecstasy with me was i without me; Only a sky The vast brilliant sky I was drowning and was rescued as if I just lost my previous life The world was recreated or was I. Reaching towards the arms of my beholder I looked up Not sure of being sure but was driven I Instinct made me cling And I cried. Today;I cry again Today;I am lost again Today;The abyss is deeper I see;I think;I walk;I feel;
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But I want to be lost. Lost into the eyes of a stranger...
Behind... Difficult It Is Tough To Find Beyond the Flesh Beyond The Mind Mans Soul Behind‌
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STIR … I sink within And thoughts race by Tears don’t appear I want to disappear.. To die. Irrational is the world Unjust its rules The game is still played in the jungle But stars do exist in the darkness of night To save our souls To bring in some light. The world is a stage, but I am not an actor Deep, within me, a mystery lies Although invisible to our eyes There is no doubt that it does; Fear is an illusion Love a mystery Though, I’ve been through it I don’t comprehend the abyss. my history; A glass of wine changes my life Changes my vision. Changes my sight Fire can burn me Transform me to ash My Being like glass, can crash; Onto the ocean I stare, looking for my reflection But it keeps changing, rearranging
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I look for my self and all I find is deceit & dejection. It all depends on the stillness of the sea I know. I know I can see; I want to transform To be reborn I want to drown in the sea; May be, that way Ill find my Self Through which I live Through which I be Through which I can dive within me
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Why Birds Fly....? When ever I look up Into the sky I always wonder Why birds fly What gives them hope What gives them joy What is it that gives them that enormous high I see every morning As I see the sunrise Flocking together I see them flying What is the reason they take off What makes them realize there because they never live by all those things when they get married they don’t need rings together they live together fly together they take on the brilliant sky I have a question for the aerial race I want to ask them how is the sky What does it feel like when you fly… Whenever I look up into the sky I always wonder why birds fly….
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Rare‌ There Are Men Who Live With Hope And dreams There Are Ones Who Live With dread and Despair But A Man Who Lives With Love Is Rare:
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Seeking you. Seeking your love I have no choice To love thy this way I don’t decide. Its you, who take my heart away I have no choice I am empty without you, with you I am whole Its not me speaking its my soul I have no choice I long for you each day Each moment without your kiss and your touch is filled with agony, the pain is too much Yes I am addicted I am yours forever Even if I die I'll shout aloud your name I'll call you out from the sky Tell me you wont leave me that you wont deceive me Tell me you will always be mine Speak to me tell me this tonight Seeking you. Seeking your love I have no choice To love thy this way I don’t decide.
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Its you, who take my heart away I have no choice I am empty without you, with you I am whole Its not me speaking its my soul I have no choice I long for you each day Each moment without your kiss and your touch is filled with agony, the pain is too much Yes I am addicted I am yours forever Even if I die I'll shout aloud your name I'll call you out from the sky Tell me you wont leave me that you wont deceive me Tell me you will always be mine Speak to me tell me this tonight
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Poetic Exuberance The mystifying reality Of poetry Captures you in time Engrossing you; making you a part, of, the poets rhyme The verses and lines The depth and the music behind They don’t speak through words It’s the silences that have to be heard Magic in the rhyme Each time you read it; a new meaning; you find. A poet offers you a gift But its on you to receive it The beauty is ever present But its on you to conceive it What it means to you And what lies beneath and behind If on the sheet of paper you don’t find Listen to your heart And the poet Inside Thus becoming part of the Poetic exuberance…
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The FALL‌ I fell down Touched and felt the ground; It was somewhere I hadn’t been before someplace I'd never seen before My naked hands. I filled them with sand clinching my fist with anger and rage I lion caught within a cage I raised my arms Threw them apart and caused a rain to start... Rubbing my eyes Clearing my sight up, I looked again.. Was I alive, or did I die.. I demanded a answer from the sky. I knew I had slipped From Acme to Abyss Now, I am not what I was But what, I am, going to be Lying down I started to drown, in the sea The sea of sand within me...
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A Confession Being myself is a challenge I face each day. I am fighting with my own consciousness. Great is the challenge To go beyond the boundaries I draw myself, for myself; With a borrowed mind; I think With a borrowed heart; I love With borrowed eyes; I see I try to escape But where do I go Where will I run Away from myself... So i cling on Although I know; Its wrong And so I live on in the storms and the rain until the day I die Until the day I ‘am born again.
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Insomnia The night is calm and silent And all things living Rest in the absence of sound and sight The moon above silently Gives a mesmerizing touch to the starlit sky And insects make that sounds That starts and stops then drowns I try to close my eyes To the memories and reminisces Of the day And although the day is over Thoughts of it stay I have this silent sickness Which darkens each side of my mind I think along, the night that’s long I think along inside Inside and outside I am not still I am in motion still And although the lights are off The world inside is awake still PART 2 I think the being in me Something it wants to say Not letting me sleep
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Seems to be its way Some part of me rebels And some part of it cries As it looks behind and analyzes The broken dreams and the day that’s gone by It shakes my body Every part of it Till I surrender to its cacophony The next thing I see Are the sun and daylight And the chirping birds outside And as I walk up from my bed I feel a silent tremor inside as I remember the sleepless night.
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Joy‌ The instant of surprise The moment my eyes Caught hold of a sight The phenom of a flower bloom; I saw and I smiled And then I cried.. The tears hanging from my eyes a mixture of sadness, joy & surprise. Smiling at the sun Waving to the winds Dancing with the birds & bees I went on to Touch it; to Feel it; to be it; and it relented and shared its joy....
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The Dark mysteries of the night A deep fear Engulfs my soul And I try to protect What is left of me Beneath the dark fabric of the night There is something behind Trying to find Some way To make me A silent prey These mysterious a quittances I would Rather avoid But they insist on friendly associations My only escape is to close My eyes Or find solace in the darkness inside Avoiding thus its sight In this wicked dreaded ness Of this night And the fear I encounters Finishes with night As if it could exist only Without light But through those haunting silence There were words that were said Things I couldn’t see Filled me with fear and dread And although for you The night Is just an absence of light For me It is much more
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For I can experience movements And listen to sounds In the dread of darkness which move around‌
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Move the curtains aside‌ Move the curtains aside Let my eyes Penetrate the abyss of darkness Reach across and see the light Move the curtains aside I have been waiting for long Longing for a glance Let my eyes be witness tonight Of this divine, mystic romance As I enter and open the door I slip and drop in the nothingness below And fly a strange flight I am falling like a bird With wings paralyzed And the fading of distance and time I see Thinking inside of my eventuality With no where to fall or drop Either my fall or I will stop And in that moment of stillness I see a form emerge From within and from without Of a storm and a dusty cloud It has no form or shape or size Something far from what I had thought or heard or seen It was a surprising surprise I know it could see the presence of mine But I could not see its through mine eyes Finally when It appeared
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And the cloud of fear disappeared I could see a mirror in sight I stared and hawked in disbelief and shock And felt a chill in my spine Whatever it was, that I was seeking all my life Was always with me, inside‌..
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Born free… Born with the same force Of the same elements Under the same sky How come we become What we become? “There are rules” Speak The protector of humanity But I ask their voices Which pronounce him as one Omnipresent. Omniscient And then severalize Him here on earth How come you defy Your own logic? So I refuse to choose From his different forms For who are we In front of his Divine alchemy All the rules You make I will break For his rules are the ones I follow I am segregated, separated Called a rebel But I would prefer to be a wild flower Than a dead stone I call your tradition rotten For it destroys freedom Through nonexistent illusions
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And I proclaim my self As God For what is God But a beautiful And splendid thought‌.
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Sand Dunes.. Wild winds and violent storms The ceaseless tides of life Engulfing me And my being inside The cacophonies Of thoughts and opinions Ceaselessly reverberate Creating waves in the waters Of the mind Sleep eludes my way And anxiety occupies the day I know I am descending The narrow stairs of this Delicate destruction Of mine Limited Expansions Limitless contractions My life is a Irony of contradictions And I have no solutions Only conflicting conclusions I might not be able to solve the puzzle Of life Or win the strange games played In the mind I may end up losing I may end up crying Drifting in the shores of time I may become immortalized
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In the collective struggle Of suggestive anonymity.
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Conversations with darkness.. Oh blank and mysterious unknowingness of the dark Can you answer the questions I ask? I am lost tonight Can you show me the way? Can you tell me the answers Never found In the day Visions through my eyes in your intense realms I find Many different shapes and dazzling designs Answers in the deep realms Behind the curtains you hold A story never heard Waiting to be told I speak on, keep on knocking on your door Silence is all you offer Nothing, nothing more I insist, you answer the questions that I ask Enough of the deep mystery, now remove this dark mask you answer through stillness tiring to fright masking the light through the curtains of the night Your words are never heard by the limitedness of my ears But I know You have your own ways To speak out, to say
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And To listen to your answer I have to silence the constant dancer And then I can explore The mysteries behind your words The mystery of your soul The mysteries of the darkness Behind the closed doors Oh dark and mysterious silenced light Oh mystic blankness Oh moonlit night I misunderstand you Forgive me for that Now I understand What you could offer What I could have had Let us forget this frenzied fight Oh darkness let us fuse together Become one tonight
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A Touch of Love The silent lake Gently reflects the Moon in its Calm composed Waters And the moon Admiring its Own beauty Shines a touch Brighter The liquid mirror Delights in It’s fleeting Possession of Celestial light And slow With the night The moon shies Away Leaving the lake Lonely, with Mesmerizing Memories
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Bleak Prospects Step by step Carefully I tread the The dangerous Paths ahead Ferocious animals And a frightening nights Are my sole companions And darkness will Show me the way My survival depends On how well With how much Zeal I face this Endless ordeal I am just a character in the play And have a decided part to play I dare not say Even a single word For it is not me Who has the say The doors are closed On both sides Leaving no way out or ahead
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Except the prospect of death.
Near. Yet far‌ I have never been Close to The real me It is like I fear drowning So I stay away from The deep sea I look on from the shores Marveling At the endless horizons And the infinite waters Of the still ocean Which behold me I see the sun Rise & shine And go back again, in the night And the ocean observes This I would love To have a splash But I fear That endless depth Will engulf my limited self So I look on from a distance And listen to the wisdom Of the sailors of the sea Their stories
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Their experiences Is the closest to it I can be May be some day I gather courage And take a final plunge May be some day I may unravel the mysteries Of this deep sea Within me And till Then I wait And till then I live with this illusionary reality‌.
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A Beautiful Death A flame Dancing on the candle Red and white and both Transforming the wax into vapors Through a miraculous Spectacle of light I touch it with the tip of My finger And look at the
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Dark deposit And wonder How much more lies Beneath What burns under? Intensely it burns Attached to the wig And slowly it loses Color As it kisses the Gaseous universe The candle knows As it experiences its Gentle death And cries with What is left I feel guilt This way Burning the candle away I spread my lips And a puff of air Blows the flame away Extinguishing the beautiful death.. Sometimes I burn And sometimes I melt So I remember the candle Whose life I saved I wonder if some kind heart Would save me in A similar way‌
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THE DAY WE NEVER MET The day me never met We met each other in our hearts The day we tried too leave each other The day tried to make a new start
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What happened before is gone forever Those moments of love we shared together A new pain has replaced that never ending pleasure And I don’t know what to do There is a part of me that is old and earthen There is a part in me I’ve never forgotten And a part of me that is new I stand and stare at my past Trying to analyze what I’ve gained what I’ve lost Trying to assize the cost. Was it worth this much Was it a fling our love There is a divide in my head and my heart A dilemma that breaks me apart. Perhaps it had to happen and it did Perhaps it was all to each other we could give Perhaps with it we can live Perhaps never again we will need to delve In the deep confines of our former selves Perhaps this feeling we can outlive Perhaps someday or never We may forgive each other Perhaps someday or never We can be again together…. Perhaps someday or never….
Distances... I saw a mystic Out side the Mosque Lost in the music
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Of Allah And I wondered Which world He Lived in? I saw an orphan In tattered clothes Crying for A loaf of bread And I wondered Which world He Lived in? I reached my House, and behind Closed doors Looked at the Reflection Of a Man in the Mirror And I wondered Which world He Lived in?
Dreams.. We can dream And in those dreams We can fulfill All our
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Longings, yearnings and cravings And each night we can choose To explore A Different color A Different theme And much more.. In those illusionary shores We can be free From the barriers Of a limited reality And for once We can be All we ever Wanted To be Dreams, God made private So that we could live Through them The life we wanted Although It had to be In an illusionary reality‌
Gaps‌ The palms of my
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Hands are incomplete And I wonder At the presence Of the gaps Between my Fingers Why do they look as if They are waiting To be completed And now I understand That god made them To remind me How incomplete I stand Without you Without The Palms of your hands
Insanity And I have these fits of insanity
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Transforming me Engulfing me Just as if the wind blows me away My skin is pale And my hair spills all Over my dry morbid face If I would be color I would be more a shade of gray I react to My image in the mirror As if it was of a stranger’s Don’t ask my address For I may lead you to the wrong door
Through your eyes… Some eyes are moist
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They speak of unjust Sadness as if They are deprived of what They deserve to be Some eyes are intense Determined to find answers To endless problems faced Endlessly Some eyes are angry Projecting violence & Vice Giving Rise To the Animals inside Some eyes are wise As if they could see Inside of me I avoid them Or they might Expose my reality Some eyes hypnotize Capturing me in a magic Spell Their mystic alchemy Transforms My reality.. Some eyes are beautiful Reflecting the beauty Of the soul Which without Their mesmerizing glory We wouldn’t be able To imagine Or behold
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Some eyes are Full of glee Reflecting happiness And Joy. A beautiful Reality Some eyes are pure In them I try to find Meaning, Traces of thought Or mind But in that nothingness I find The face of God Smiling behind….*
*This Poem won the Prize for ‘Best Poem’ at Lady Harding Medical College in 2006
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Enigma God made flowers And they blossomed God made birds And they took flight God made the sun And it spread light And then God made Man A phenom He is Still. Trying to Understand‌
I live here and now... My discontinuity with The past gives me life
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I am not guided by what’s gone I live in the present & each moment I am reborn I am least concerned with Yesterday The things I did and I dint For those are moments now Dead to me And only in today I live I remember to forget My worries and regrets And instead Rejoice in this tremendous now To bury the dead And walk ahead Is my only vow I am free For this moment gives me The opportunity To sing, love and dance I don’t want to miss This moment of bliss I don’t want to miss This chance..
Life... A fabrication of a story in my Mind
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Discovering the Nuances of the Characters, colors and designs The script moves on Like a screenplay of thoughts As I enact each scene Within the situations behind How important To each person is His Life And how few, of the many, realize Behind the characters, colors and designs Is a fabrication of A story in the Mind‌
Pieces.. You came into my life And transformed my existence
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Like a turbulent flood You washed my past away To understand your enigma I lost my own identity. You made my day, and my night My eyes in each atom of existence Could see only you, your sight Me and you together Thus became each other Our love and its fragrance Spread about in all the four directions And flowers, birds and stars Became a part our deep allegiance. And then one fine day You walked away Leaving my life In pieces..
I have stopped fearing death I have stopped fearing death For now they’ve killed me And my soul They’ve murdered the life in me And made me a cog in the Whole
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When I was a novice I was shocked Witnessing the naked reality And the rebel in me Wanted to fight against the Forces of the dark There was a flame burning bright A fire inside In my eyes there was a spark And then one day they butchered me With spears, knives and swords Killing every part of me Sacrificing me to there gods And suddenly inside I found peace of mind For I had died to myself And instead Became a part of the dead..
Simple & Easy It has sort of become Our disposition To involve In things of More exertion How easy it is to smile And how much More tough
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To frown How easy it is to love And how much More it takes; To hate Still we’ve developed this liking For the difficult things of life If only we could see That the most beautiful things In life Are simple and easy
Just when I decided to walk away‌. I breathe the same air I eat the same bread I read the same paper I talk the same language I listen to the same music I watch the same shows I play the same games I drink the same water I eat the same food
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I ride on the same roads I tread the same paths And still They look at me In that strange way And still The words that they say And still The way they walk away And still So I’ve stopped thinking And I’ve stopped Fighting those eyes I’ve turned my back On those Who’ve turned their back on me Because… Because I’ve finally realized That endless source Of life within me I’ve finally realized My reality
Some moments.. Some moments Rare and few In life Take you within Deep, deep inside Some moments When you close Your eyes And yet you
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Witness Cosmic rays & Celestial lights Some moments When you feel Something More than pleasure A mystic delight Some moments When you experience And realize The presence of What lies Beneath inside Some moments When you Witness Its sparkling splendor And come face to face With the Divinity inside Cherish these moments In them rejoice For these moments Are Called Life‌
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One Man‌ One man is all is there is Of that man we are parts One man there is one soul One man there is in our hearts Through different eyes we see The world that is eternally one The world created by that maker of all The world of which he is the sun
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He thinks through us, through our hearts Talks through our speech Listens when we talk to others And He is the one who is always there With us when we are conceived our mothers He is in fact all we are And he was there form the Beginning, from the start One man is all we are of That one man we are parts He wanted something to play He created the world this way Bored with one he created many apart Different faces And races different He wanted interesting art None of us is wasted in him For all of us he is there The sun the moon the stars the earth He is everywhere How can anyone Claim to be his only son And make us feel the others Equal we are in the eyes of the king And all are sons of him For once listen to the voice Love The voice inside your hearts One man is all we are of that one Man we are parts‌
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