Every so often, we set out, to get somewhere in life,
Only to be taken for a ride, by this guide they call life,
Leaves me wondering, what is to take, and who is taken,
But make no mistake about it, because life is never mistaken.
At the beginning, every destination seems very clear,
But passing time reveals, a mirage is the only thing that’s near,
For foolishly trusting the senses, thirst is a steep price to pay,
And can only be quenched with eagerness out of the way.
I soon lose trust by forcibly walking with my need,
And lose more friends, by talking with my greed,
When I follow my mind, I even lose all respect,
From a slave of caution, what more can one expect.
I close every door and window leading to my heart,
But that only causes the remaining good to depart,
So temptation tells me, the highway and I must part,
Into the by-lanes that lure me and my destination apart.
Running in a hurry, I soon stumble over desperation,
And stand again, bruised and badly in need of inspiration,
And every single time that I come close to the end of the rope,
I have to steal a little from the truth, to give to hope.
All that I know suddenly seems a whole lot less,
When every extra mile is fuelled only by a guess,
I know not what lies in waiting, around the next bend,
For, every route I’ve taken, has led me to a dead end.
The farther I move away, the closer I get to the start,
For, all the roads in life depart, and converge, at the heart,
Among all these crossroads, the smile is the only shortcut I can take,
The distance is the same, but every footstep a pleasure it does make.
Back to the Beacons after some mirror breaks. This time Aparna does it, by leading me back to the beginning, back to the roots. Often, we lose track of what we set out to achieve, and most often it is because we lost heart in the objective, or because we no longer find the happiness that the path promised.
Most often such paths reveal the hidden happiness only after we get there. But sadly, most of us lose heart and get sidetracked, long before the destination is near. The only option is to take some of that ‘Getafix’ magic potion to drink along the way to keep us enthused and motivated towards the destination. That ‘Getafix’ potion is inner-happiness, so you know where she fits in. 🙂
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Aparna
May 3, 2010
Crossroads are famous for being junctions where there is almost always, a feud between mind and heart. Its so enticing to look back at the path you took that lead you to the crossroad you are at right now, and start debating whether or not you took the right turn back then…I sense that you are in the middle of such a debate??
guptaghost
May 3, 2010
well, yes and no. yes about all the mind-heart dilemma, and retrospection/introspection part.
no, about me being in the debate. actually the poem is the middle of the debate. i am just the bystander to whom the events are unfolding. sorta, induced simulation scenario. watching myself behave the way i might if encountered with such a scenario (the kind that normally fit into ‘Gazebo’.
but then, the story is not over, it will be back to haunt you in ‘Crossroads Revisited’ that comes out next month. The actual crossroads concept got sidetracked as i went off on an abstract tangent, so the ‘original’ crossroads concept will appear in ‘Crossroads Revisited’. 🙂