History –
A story
Of past glory,
A lesson
Of time gone,
Never undone,
Of pride,
Of might
And insight
Gained and hurt,
Recovered and lost,
Of heaping wants,
Growing needs,
Wild as weeds,
Tall as trees ….
Frozen slabs
Of Time,
Ever freezing,
Ever flowing ….
Drawing,
Landscaping,
Wiping,
Winding ….
Where in this
Wilderliness
To trace
The roots,
The overgrowths
Of seizures
Of indecency
On modernity,
Laziness on
Cleverness,
Clumsiness on
Youth ….
In the crazy
Whirl winds
Of Power games ?
CAMOUFLAGED TRUST ?!!
What is it
That comes along
Camouflaged as Trust
And claimed broken ?
Appreciation,
Which keeps turning upside down ?
Or peeping Curiosity
Soaked in sore patience,
Seeking answers
That lie within ?
Or Cleverness
Often mirror-imposed in Fox
For its scavengerly habits ?
Or all these together
And much more
Unknown to my ignorant awareness,
Turning me into a protagonist
In a farce of converting
Disguised, disastrous expectations
Into challenges,
Too overbearing for my frail being,
But for the unfailing grace of
That Omnipresent Nobody.
REMEMBERING OLIVER TWIST
Old and bold,
Fit and set,
Fagin lives on
With his whip
Of punishment
Ready to strike
Anyone,
Who asks for more.
The roots of his reign
Stretch deep and wide
Across colonies of
Developed or developing
Civilized Jungles,
Where misused freedom
Tip-ties tongues
And overgrown independence
Asphyxiates;
And thronging webs of
Silence and sins
Flourish and stink ….
And amidst miseries
Of lonely crowds,
Poor Oliver’s
Dumb-found plight
Struggles for strength and might
To speak right for Right.
GREY AND BROWN
Grey and Brown
Are friends and foes.
Grey is cold and casual,
Brown, hot and humble,
Grey idles, Brown overworks,
Both falter and fumble.
Grey’s expressions wobble,
Brown jabbers and squabbles.
Together they create mess
And then hunt for defense.
Scavenger instinct ignites
And on goes search for scapegoats
In the cruel Wilderness
Of black blame games !!
Objectives off, goals gone,
Truth and Right, quarreled on,
When stirred up, blind with fears,
They join hands and come together ….
Grey and Brown
Are friends and foes –
When will they
Open their eyes ?
Bionote
Vanita Thakkar is a writer in English, Hindi and Gujarati. Her poems, stories and articles have been published in anthologies, magazines, e-journals, etc. Her collections include Wings of Silence (English) Us paar (Hindi, Grant for publication : Gujarat Rajya Sahitya Academy). She is also a renowned musician.
