In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Clarity
Clarity: Seeking You
©April 7th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
When things are clear, oh Lady, dear
It’s easy to advise
But when the storms are brewing,
I’d like to stay inside.
I know it doesn’t help to hide,
It doesn’t help to fight
it doesn’t help us do a thing
It doesn’t win us rights.
My mind is trapped, my feet are sore
My body’s feeling stuck
My head is clouded, and I feel
I’m rooted in a rut.
When things are clear, and clean, and nice,
And muddy depths stay put
I think of things I’ve not seen yet
And then I think of you.
I know you live somewhere
As far away from me
As I from you; we’ll never meet
– I see you in my dreams.
Your beauty’s past compare, and I
See wrinkles growing brighter
And when the sun catches your eyes,
I laugh in pure delight.
I see a mind that’s strong and pure
A mind that’s not bestirred
To think on this and that all day
Instead, you think of work.
I see a mind whose strength is as
The strength of hundred men
You never lost your faith in one
Who lives in us or them.
You brought the water from the pond
You birthed babies well
You made the food, and fetched the wood
And dreamed of naught at all.
I recalled you when, one day I
Stood looking skywards
I saw the moon smile down on me
And mirrored you, from far.
Wanderlust possessed me, and I
Yearned to leave this world
And wander, bare-footed and poor
I wished for things that were.
And if I find you, I would ask
If you would travel far
And if you shake your head, I’d say
“Let’s find each other’s Earth.”
My mind is clear with you right here
My memory is bright.
If anger clouds my vision, I shall
Place it in the light.
If sorrow clouds my vision, I shall
Stir the waters deep
Then, let things settle down before
I head right on to sleep.
_________________________________________
P.S. I began with just rhythm and meter in mind, but decided to let the half-rhymes and near-rhymes, then finally, a few real- rhymes emerge.