It Always Rises Back, After The Fall

I am telling you
I’ve seen it all
with my own eyes.
Again and again
the full moon
reduces and shrinks,
fades and vanishes
to become a new moon
dark and lustre-less.

But miraculous for it
to grow back its antlers
bit by bit, inch by inch.
Regain its full bloom
shine proud, like never before

Does it even care
it’s soon to have
another fading session,
another dark round of
obscurity and oblivion?
Because it learnt early on
how to return, for a new harvest
how to shine again…after the fall.

© 2016-17 Alka Girdhar

…. …. ….

Today, it’s the full moon day, called Thunder Moon or Full Buck moon.

“...a buck’s antlers are in full growth mode. Known as the Thunder Moon because thunderstorms are so frequent during this month…” (I suppose, in the US, and not elsewhere)

This poem, being my comeback post, is not my best attempt. But I hope, like full moon, I too will be able to come back from time to time 🙂

Do Not Let Her Go Untouched

Do Not Let Her Go Untouched

Interspersed and enmeshed within layers of pain
Disguised as fleeting moments of cheer
There exists random transitory happiness

Capture her when she shows her face
Do not let her go unnoticed while she’s there
Follow her through, for she is rare

Leave aside all other ceaseless tasks
Hold her with your two obliged hands
Focus and absorb, feel bliss and bless

Then just as she decides to take leave
Detachedly allow her to slip away
Don’t cry for her, do not come in her way

For you already knew this, didn’t you?
That she never intended to stay forever.
She never did, she never does.

See her off with a smile, save the memories
To keep you afloat through the days of despair
Happy thoughts of her, till she returns again.

Be brave. Have heart. She will. She does.

© 2017 Alka Girdhar

I wrote this poem spontaneously as I realized today is International Day of Happiness. Of course, happiness is not just a flower amidst thorns. For some, life is the other way around too.

Each one of us has our own cross to carry as well as our individual process of learning how to cope with it, by general acceptance of things as they are while still discovering happiness within what seems like mess or chaos, and by focusing on little moments of joy.

Please do feel free to share your views via comments. You can also share my posts on your social media.

When Life Turns Malignant, Life is Our Greatest Bliss

Ask a person living on the margins of life
Months, days, hours, minutes to live.
Every breath matters. Life seems so beautiful!
The greatest bliss in this world is ‘life’!!

Life, that resides inside our tiny cells
A miniscule complex invisible world
Complete in itself…with nucleus, cytoplasm
Mitochondria, the powerhouses…
Life, the hectic motion of cell molecules
That sustain us, as we sustain them

Have you ever bothered about little cells
Inside your tissues and bones? They exist.
But do you ever think they are gorgeous?
Or superb? Or wonderful?
Are you thankful to your good cells?
Are you aware of their power?

No. We assume we are the stalwarts
Able bodied and alive. Cells merely reside in us.
Oh! But aren’t we just an ensemble of cells?
Walking talking cell-clusters of all shapes and kinds
Then why would cells not matter!

For a cancer patient, every cell matters
How many white blood cells, red blood cells
good cells, bad cells…cell count counts!
Debilitating fear prevails, of some sickly cell
Stealthily traveling to distant healthy body parts
To install another tumor that devastates.

The sole purpose of life, then centers around
Despising malignant cells – throwing them out
Loving healthy cells – feeding them with goodies
Healthy cells equal life, unhealthy cells a step closer to demise.
Every good cell matters, it’s meant to be nurtured and fed
Every bad cell too matters, for it needs to have an end
Each cells matters in this battle, of tightly holding on to dear life!!

We live by cells. Cells become life. Cells are life.
It’s as if deadly cells know they are all powerful
Angry disordered clumsy beings that turn malicious
Cause havoc, with loving sober cells they begin a fight.

But cells live by us, as they need us for their very life.
For only we can feed them, as they don’t have a mouth
Bad cells depend on us, they eat what we eat. They lose power
Food becomes our power, to save robust cells and their life.

That day is not far when we shall selectively feed healthy cells
While killing only bad cells, depriving crooked villians of their life
Victory over cancer will one day redeem many precious lives

Sure, life in our healthy cells is a precious gift, greatest of all
When life begins to get exhausted of living, true bliss it is
To relish each and every moment…of what we call life !!

 

I started the above poem with bliss of life in my mind. But given that I have closely seen a few cancer patients at various stages of this malady, and talked to many more of those suffering while I happened to visit cancer wards, the poem took a different turn and became not only complex but also out of tune and form. Disorganized, like malignant cells.

Victory of life is about good cells and bad cells…more so for those fighting with cancer. Besides other reasons, cancer cells win when they are fed enough for them to become overpowering. They compel good cells to commit suicide.

Also, “Cancer cell do not drive the growth and spread of tumors alone — they can bully their healthy neighbours into helping them.”

Thus, they are baddies through and through. One day when science is able to cut off all kinds of support to bad cells, that is when there will be cancer cure.

~~~ ~~~

#WorldCancerDay #WeCanICan .

On The Verge Of Breakdown…

Nature: Ambience at every step

 

Nature’s Cry

Too benign in her ambient harmony she is
but like most other women, she is
overworked and underpaid

She takes it all with a smile
and continues to serve and oblige
bestow food, water, shelter, respite

She bears it quietly, but at times
retaliates, blows tornadoes
fumes volcanoes, warms up too much
goes bitterly cold; she goes on strike

But merciful mother nature that she is
she quickly forgives her spoilt children
hoping her wayward brats will learn
one day soon; hope not after it’s too late

© 2017 Alka.

♣~♣~♣~ ♣~♣~♣~♣

Nature, like most women, is so calm and giving…provides free fresh air, food, water, and of course a feast of breathtaking beauty to everyone. But in return she is being taxed. Too exposed, vulnerable and defenseless in the hands of humans who are using it.

Industrial pollution has changed air composition and that of rivers.
Fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gases are a reality.
Trees are being cut down via deforestation.
Genetic engineering and genetically modified crops are toxic for the wild life.
Ozone layer is getting depleted due to industrial gases. Global warming is looming large.
Resources are not just getting polluted but also depleted, while overpopulation means we are going to need more and more.

There are many more causes of natural and environmental breakdown…but what can we do? Can we change it?
Look around. We all can do our tiny bit, within our own community.

After all, looking after nature as also the women in your life, will  prove beneficial for the family…our world family of living beings as well as our own family and home.

~ alka ~

Fly Like A Kite

Fly aloft like a kite
Soar high and higher still
Ecstatic and bouncy with delight
Walk dreamily on clouds
Enthrall viewers on the ground

Probe uncertain realms
Be coaxed by gentle wind
To never give up half-way through

Find your strength, have faith
That your string is in reliable hands
Of that fond player, who made you fly
Who carefully tuned your first leap forth
Till you found your own balance

 Fly high like a kite
Just don’t fall like one
Onlookers can be very unforgiving

~~~~

© 2016-17 Alka Girdhar.

Be A Winner, This NewYear

Congratulations!!  You have been so amazing
You there! Yes you…you are a bona fide winner

You have made it till the end of one lifeshaping year
You’re all set and geared, for another bountiful year

You could glide smooth through this long dicey year
You bravely overcame all your big and small fears

Your going got tough, but how you evolved even tougher
You did not permit the icy turmoils to make you shiver

You faced lethal demons, that were so hard to beat
You never knew you had it in you, but see…you did

You understood life’s all about stealing joyful moments
You learnt to be grateful for the life’s very existence

You made some friends, but you sure lost some
You got some love, and you did lose some

You took mindful steps towards the betterment of self
You perpetually endeavored to achieve your best

You dived headlong, reached out to grasp a fuller life
You were resolved to work towards a blessed family life

You lost some, but then you did gain some
You made it through, aren’t you just awesome?

You can do it all again, all this and much more
You have it in you, and you always will forevermore

You’ll be blessed by God, in this brand new roller-coaster
You’ll emerge out stronger, year after year, year after year.

© 2016 Alka Girdhar

 

Three Sisters – Blue Mountains Katoomba – timeless resilient mounts

~~~~ ~~~~

Wish you all lovely readers and dear followers of my blog, a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!!

May your  new year be better than the one that you are leaving behind.
Did you have a great 2016, or not so good? Hang in there.
As you can still keep your hopes alive in 2017.

Babying Around

 

Babying Around

Oh! If I were to be born again
To feel again the newness
Of being a brand new human

Cradle cap that never heals
Slippery skin that peels and peels
Changing color like a chameleon

Making bitter-sweet faces
Secretly smiling for no reason
And crying loud for every little

Looking around wide-eyed
In huge awe and wonder
At bright undefined hues

Amazed at all odd shapes
Jerking alert at rattle sounds
And at human voices

Sleeping the whole day
Waking the whole night
And keeping others awake

Lie on my back full day
Waiting to be picked up
And taken around

Convey hunger in loudest shrills
Making people run around
My family at my beck and call

Let everyone try to please me
While I amuse everyone around
By sucking my little foot thumb

Try to roll-over on my own
Fall from the bed crying
And get my mommy crying

Skin-to-skin with mommy
Looking at her angelic face
As she feeds me calmly

Cradling secure in dad’s arms
As and when he’s around
Till I grow too old for all this.

~Alka~

~~~ ~~~~

. Now I am too old for all this babying around and fancying doing cute stuff.

But we are still like a brand new baby on the day we are born, aren’t we?
And for me, that’s today…my birthday

Also a great day to be back to my blog…with my new baby poem

R U OK?

We all have lost touch with somebody or the other.
Reconnect to make more time for the people who matter.
Why?  If you initiate the conversations, it can break the ice.
You never know, it can save someone’s life

Start a conversation. Ask “Are you ok?”
Listen. Pay attention. Do not judge
Encourage action, in the right direction.
Help people around you feel ok.

~~ Alka 2016 ~~

Today, the 8^th of September, is R U OK Day. In Australia, it’s a national day of action and a reminder to regularly check in with family, friends and workmates.

So here I am asking my readers: Are you ok? You are free to share your problems with me, either via your comments here, or contact me. You never know, some reader may come up with a solution to your problem.

These Veterans of Motherhood

Young moms are moms. Sure!
Are older moms moms too?
Seen it all. Been there. Done that.
Rotund tummy, birthing nerves, joy at the new-born
Ones, who once changed and washed far more nappies
And soothed their colicky babies
Have now left teethers and rattles behind
Disposed them, barring a few…for sweet memories.

Arriving in an alien land, landing double-shift jobs
No extended families ever, lonely media-less times.
Walked their toddlers to child-care, settled them in a kindy
Initiated their primary schooler’s A, B, Cs and Ds
Exhausted weekends at (selective-school) coaching centres
Helped their prodigies with high-school projects
Made secure their future, saw them soar high
Empty handed moms – from their nest the kids fly
Soft-hearted moms become hardened moms

Young moms, still learning about motherhood?
Older mommies, the walking encyclopaedias
Been there. Done that. Seen it all.
Kind of still young, but growing older
Preparing for another dose of mom-hood
Booster shot, of becoming a grand(er) mom.
Some already are content grand-moms
Older moms, not less of a mom, if not more.
Not exactly passé, definitely not past

©Alka Girdhar 2016

~~~ ~~~

While writing this poem I had in my mind women friends who once arrived here in Australia as newly weds, or pregnant with their first child, while some had a toddler or two.

Over the years I have seen many of them undergo most of the above experiences as busy mothers, and now some of them are getting their children settled in jobs or marriage, while other moms would probably join them sometime in the coming years.

Recently I joined a mothers club. Many if not most women there are young mothers discussing problems faced by very new moms. There still are too many motherhood problems in this easy era of social media, even when most of them have plenty of helping hands around, that older moms never had.

Hence, I felt a need to remember the evolving role of the older, or should I say more experienced, mothers as well. Because the joys as well as responsibilities that come with motherhood continue for the whole life..

Freedom Is Everyone’s Birthright

.

Magnanimous Word

Saare Jahan se Achcha…Hindustan Hamara

Happy Independence Day to all the people of Indian origin, wherever you are in this world, and of whatever faith, religion, color, caste or creed.  Be One!!   The country you hail from is one of its kind – a land of beautiful culture, strong values, spiritualism, linguistic and religious diversity.

It’s a day to value your freedom, to remember that it was attained after huge sacrifices, to not take it for granted and to constantly work towards maintaining this freedom so that our future generations can thank us, just as we thank our ancestors for the hard work they did to give us this day. A free country gives us all roots and belonging, it’s a prerogative but also an onus.

This poem by Rabindranath Tagore sums it up:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where…

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