Apr 7, 2016 The Daily Post

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.

 

 

Tags: #Clarity, #Daily Prompt, #RamblingPoemWritten at 3:00 a.m., #TheDailyPost

May 7, 2013 Awake in Real Time: Coffee-induced Meditations and Journal Entries, Reading, Writing, Thinking, Teaching and Learning

Ruminations
(Not too earth-shattering or terribly original, but what I thought of today)
©Vijaya Sundaram
May 7th, 2013

It seems so obvious, somehow, when one puts it baldly, thus: One has to have a meaning, a purpose in life.  If there isn’t one, find one.  If we cannot find one, look elsewhere.  If we still cannot find one, create it. That’s it. 

If the meaning and purpose come from a place of emptiness, then one’s actions are empty at best, and harmful at worst.  That’s where we get the Dzhokhars and the Tamerlans.  That’s where we get empty men with hungry souls emptying their weapons into innocent and hapless people.  Adrift without meaning and purpose, the empty ones fill their emptiness with rage, religion and false notions of honor.  Killing is the ultimate worst expression of that emptiness.

If we act with mixed motives, our lives will crumble, and we will create confusion in the lives of those around us.  No one will benefit in the end, and all of us will be unhappy.  I did all this for them, how come they don’t appreciate what I do? is the question that haunt those who act with mixed motives.  Or: I don’t mind sacrificing my needs for others.  Really!  Confusion and anger come from these, and ultimately, disappointment and bitterness. 

If our motives are clear and obvious, and we are not working only for our own benefit, but for the benefit for all, our lives will be the richer.  As a great soul once purportedly said, “What you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.”  Interconnectedness is everything in the web of our lives.  Self-expression and service to others work only if both come from a place of joy and love.  Clarity is the result.

If we work with purpose and true motivation, and we are doing it from interest and a willingness to learn, and a willingness to be vulnerable to failure, our lives will be the richer, and so will the lives of those around us.

If we act from moral strength and purpose, and our actions are real and obvious extensions of our intentions, and there is no self-aggrandizement detectable in our actions, our lives will reflect that.  And inexplicably, others’ lives will be affected — positively.

Meaning and purpose germinate in such grounds as these. 

It is the job of teachers and parents, and of the policy-makers to help create a world with meaning and purpose.  If, instead, we create a generation devoid of true self-hood, but made up of selfishness instead, we are committing societal suicide.

Create meaning.  Help and hold each other as we cross the treacherous terrain of existence.  It’s in the reaching out and the holding that we find the poetry of living, the art in life.

Ultimately, a true artist or poet does art or writes poetry for its own sake,  because it’s beautiful and because it makes her or him happy.  Artists or poets don’t look for rewards or recognition (although they wouldn’t refuse it if it came their way).  They bring others pleasure, but they do it unintentionally.  They come from a place of truth.

Make your life a work of art.  Make poetry.  Make truth.  Make love happen.  Make the act of living, both for yourself and for others, a beautiful thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tags: #Clarity, #Life, #Love, #Poetry, #Truth, Art, Beauty, honor, interconnectedness, meaning, self-expression, self-hood vs. selfishness, service, Teaching the young