Spark

I have walked a lonely road, I say,
It was dark and joy free.
I’ve never been happy, hoping or gay,
Because I never could see.

I was blind. Oh yes, I was blind I say,
Withering away in the dark.
I never realized my blessings till that day,
When there was a sudden spark.

In my life, I have seen things,
Which many fear to witness.
Sometimes I thought myself Lord of the World,
Without any guilt or meekness.

And yet I fell from those stairs,
That lead up to the throne of fame.
But still I did not beg pardon,
As I could not have borne the shame.

And as my sorrow clasped me tight,
Though I struggled with all my might,
I could not but feel depressed,
And stumbled on, along my fate.

It was that time, when he came,
But not as a bright ball of flame,
And yet the spark he caused, left its mark,
Buried deep upon my chest.

I was walking aimlessly,
Hopelessly and heartlessly.
When I saw him sitting there,
Holding a child, crying helplessly.

I crouched down beside him,
And asked what the matter was,
His answer occurred to me,
As quite; a terrible loss.

He said he was of nowhere,
He had nowhere to go,
He showed me the child; his only brother,
Would be dead by tomorrow.

I tried to offer him assistance,
And wash away his tears,
But he begged me to stop doing so,
That he could cry away his cares.

He cried on so grievously,
That I was quite astonished to see,
Him smiling through his tears,
And looking towards me.

“My dear friend” he said,
“You think me sad like you,
But I will carve my way out,
And pass happily through.”

“I have lost much; and death will come,
But I fear it not,
For it will take me to a place,
Where I will find; the ones I have lost.”

“You do not see your gifts,
So you weep and mourn.
If you see what blessings you have,
You will; find the road easy to wander upon.”

With these words; he got up,
And clutched the child tight in his arms.
And walked on wherever the road led,
Whether to the river side, or to the sun lit farms.

From that day, I’ve learnt my lesson,
And even now, I walk the road,
But no longer can I call it,
What I had called it so long before.

By :
RAIMA GHOSH

You waited so patiently for me to come and find you.
Truthfully, I ignored you because it hurt too much to feel the pain.
The weight of everything was so heavy.
I didn’t want to go back. I wanted to keep moving forward.
Years later, I found you. Exactly where I left you.
You hid in plain sight, but no one noticed you.
When I saw you from shore, I knew it was you. You recognized me too.
All those years of lifeguard training paid off.
You were always trying to survive.
You knew I’d eventually come back so you just kept treading water.
You smart, wise, strong girl. You figured out how to save yourself.
When our eyes connected you stopped treading.
Then - you stood up and walked towards me. Towards the shore.
The whole time, while you were waiting, you knew you could stand, but you continued to tread water.
You wanted to wait. You waited for me to find you. Right where I left you.
She said, “What took you so long?
She came and wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big, long hug.
She pulled me close and whispered slowly,
“It has taken us a very long time to get this right so listen closely.
I’m ok now. You did the work you needed to do. You are very brave.
I celebrate you every day because you came back. You found me.
I’m standing because of you.
You rewrote our story.
Now go and live”.
And with that she was gone. Leaving behind only her true self.