Blowin’ in the Wind

So many false Gods man has worshiped,

in search of the truth so plain

So many harsh roads traversed

looking for respite at the end

And so many days of loneliness he spent

waiting to meet the one

The truth my friend, has long been told

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Chasing lies all life

and life after life man runs

Some he borrows from people around

some he cultivates in his mind

Self-inflicted justice prevails

harder and nobler than he knows

But the truth my friend, has long been known

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

And he set out, to seek the lands

where his dreams shall be seen

Along the road suddenly he cried

for he had lost his eyes

Walking along, he failed to see

both the journey and the end

If only once, had he felt he’d know

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Readied himself he did since long

to enter the world grown up

Real was it, he said to himself

yet real it couldn’t become

Masks and faces he puts on his face

to face his world he made

Never was needed, such grand decept

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

And lives he does for long as may

and plays the games of life

Yet life deceives dissents from him

for he doesn’t feel alive

Life was taken, soon after birth

and breaths he still had left

Rise again, O friend of mine

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Vishal Gupta

17 June 2017

You Didn’t Have To Do That

‘I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.’ – Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel, Life of Pi

Words often fail to express

messages that can only flow from your heart to mine

and one such message came to me

When you hugged me for the last time

Away from the world, under the stars

Amongst friends, alone at last

The only witness – the cake between us

the only words, ‘you didn’t have to do that’

And you hugged me close and I held you tight

Knowing, this was but the last night

But deep down inside I knew this’d be the first of many

When my world would be bereft of light

Holding you close, I heard my heartbeats calling out

Hearing your words, I heard them tearing apart

I vowed never to see or hear you ever again

But what is honor compared to a man’s love?

Perhaps your words, painful as they may have been

were much needed for me to go on

Sure I’ll miss my angel with the broken wing

But I guess they’re someone else’s to mend hereon

My Banjari my Devil, my Monsoon my Prestige

Who struggles to pose in pictures and lives to make life large

Perhaps my world wasn’t big enough

to contain soulmates, as different as us

So now only you would remain in it, for a while I’m sure

For I may have lost the key, but I’ll get a new door

Perhaps you’d come again, perhaps you won’t

If you do, get a new key, this heart isn’t for rent anymore

Loving you I learnt, what a struggle it is to care

To love to fear to smile to despair

For the worst prison on Earth isn’t the one that kills the soul

The worst prison is the one that poisons with hope

And a note to the new gardener of the flower that was once mine

to the one who shall possess a Beautiful Mind so divine

Do not mistake her freedom for rashness

do not stop her from being her own self

For if you can’t hug her in the dead of the night

when she has returned, fighting battles inside

and looks to you for a hug and a kiss and a cuddle goodnight

If you can’t bring her chocolate cake without a question

If you can’t tell her you love her with all her flaws

If you don’t believe that your love will free her from herself

If you can’t love her, beyond all the anger you’re bound to feel

Then I suggest you dare not take up the mantle

My Monster is not the easiest of women

She’s the fire that can light up your world, or burn it down

She’s the light that can shine with glory, or turn you blind

She’s the drop that gives life, or wreaks havoc

Her smile can last you a lifetime, or make you wish to die

My Monster, is not the easiest of women

She is, however, the most woman of women

Vishal Gupta

16^th June, 2019

West-coast Sunrise

Dedicated to a friend I made recently.

West-coast Sunrise

I woke up early this morning

to savor a west-coast sunrise

I know the rising Sun shall delude me

but the changing colors of the sky

on the horizon is a beautiful sight

The color of the sky is dark greyish blue

and it is as dark as the night

where one tries but is unable to make out

the difference between sea and sky

I await the moment

of the appearance of the horizon

Come to think of it, aren’t we all?

There must be an evening moment

when the horizon disappears

only to emerge again on the morrow

I’d like to see that

with a girl I once knew and loved

The sky has turned light blue

but the horizon hasn’t appeared yet

At some point it’s going to be bright enough

to see the line separating Poseidon and Zeus

I start to see a line

but am unsure if it’s the horizon

or my desire to see it

A part of the view I’d earlier dismissed

as reflection on the glass of my window

has turned out to be an urbanized hill estate

I can see the soft waves of dawn now

but as they go distant they grow softer

until they smoothly mingle into the sky

Still, I see no horizon

I realize till the horizon doesn’t appear

my world is open to possibilities

the sea could be a giant lake

or I could be living amidst the clouds

A bevy of doves chases a crow

The thief, scurrying away with a prized fish in its beak

A dove or two teach up and peck, hurting the dark winged one

But the crow flies faster and higher, out of reach

The horizon hasn’t appeared yet

or perhaps my eyes deceive me still

perhaps the faint line has arrives

but I do not wish to see it

As I wait longer, the horizon becomes clearer

still without distinction between heaven and earth

“That comes later,” I hear a voice within me

“Distinctions only become clear when souls break apart”

Vishal Gupta

22 Jan 2018

Peace

Peace is messy, peace is hard

peace is not easy and asks for blood

Peace demands fight, doesn’t fight itself

Peace stays quiet, and lets its armor talk

Peace is the breeze, found on rocky shores

Peace is the snow, glittering on mountain tops

Peace is a lover’s embrace, in the morning light

Peace is simply knowing, that the world will be alright

Man lives his strife, in pursuit of peace

Forgets to light the fire, busy gathering wood

How could his gifts of conscience be of any worth

if he wakes for the sunrise, and only sees dusk?

But peace is not easy, and demands a price

what some call patience, some may call cowardice

and men would curse the one who dares to dare

but there’s no glory his whose soul peace has no lair

So when the demons come with their clubs

you let the armor of peace protect your soul

For in battle sometimes the most difficult thing

is to sit tight and do nothing at all

The one who does not fight loses no battles but wins no war

Only one patient enough to pick his battles ever goes far

We need not beckon to every call or every war

we need only the storms that cause worthy scars

And you need not meditate for hours and hours

you only need to see, feel, and act from your heart

For often the solutions we seek in the world

are for the problems created within us

And once you achieve the balance of peace within

You harness the flow of the universe

You close your eyes and wave your hand

and peace shall make you a wizard

When the time comes to fight

your eyes shall remain on the goal

your body fights with all its might

and your head stays calm to know the next blow

It takes time and pain and music and love

Peace demands strength to resist all temptation

but what it promises is to make your life yours

what it promises is a night of blissful slumber

For the woods may be lovely dark and deep

so why not stop by for a week

And there will still be miles to go to the unending road

And miles to go before you sleep

Vishal Gupta

22^nd May 2018