The lovely valley
has many ups and downs
difficult to tally
It is a game they call
It is hide and seek.
it is a child’s play
with one hiding
and one finding.
How many places
they find to hide?
How many ways
they seek to find?
Spots which else
not known to many
get to be discovered
with a strain unfelt.
Hide and seek
goes in a form
lively and gay..
keeping the children
in a happy sway.
The game covers
the adults too
with an altered vision
where innocence gets away
comes in the impulsiveness
in a stealthy stream.
Concealing the presence
for reasons of corruption
is in vogue nowadays.
The cops engage in a seek
driving it hard in places
unknown and unheard of.
Hiding behind a veil
to keep away from shame
has taken a turn at present
while the ignominy strikes through
the ashamed gets out
getting behind someone .
A game of the young
has become a game of
the adults too
not for joy and love of it
but out of necessity and disgrace.
I overheard a long talk
transpired behind my back.
Two women were talking
with such closeness
perhaps they would be sisters
or could be also friends.
The one was saying softly
Look, I am going to tell you something
It is of high importance.
It is between you and me.
Never let it out at any cost
as it centres round the elites.
Sharpening my ears I eaves dropped.
The second with curiosity high wrung
came very close to the first one.
The first one seemed to literally bite the ears
With rapt attention I stood there like a pillar
my anxiety was mounting and overwhelming.
In a hushed voice the first one said
that a high-placed family of the town
is under scrutiny of the investigation team
for malpractice, malevolent attitude and
swindling billions in the guise of imparting education.
Taken aback I made my way across the lane.
Getting back home switched on the television.
Every channel flashed the news with colourful
pictures and photos of the family which was
so confidentially revealed an hour back
by the two women and overheard by me with strain
with the tag “between you and me”.
Poetry is abstract.
It is a spontaneous overflow
Not an interact.
The night descends
It is quiet, quite dark.
Then slumber ascends.
Mediation gets across
You might say if
there is amiability.
I say if it had been
there would not have been
a case to mediate.
Understanding is the basis
for mediation and resolution
If there is little or nothing of that
it will not see the light.
It would go to trial.
It would take years.
It would devolve on generations.
releasing nothing in way of settlement.
but more and more of discordant diffusions.
With the temperature rising
travel becomes uneasy.
Travel we have
to fulfill the commitments
be it social or business.
Tiding over we go about
with a strain and a drain
sapping the energy .
depleting the resource.
disabling the mind
destroying the body.
Go we with all these
to make both ends meet
otherwise sustenance
would become a question.
Take it or leave it
cried my mother.
Angry for what
I know not.
The sudden outburst
was unfamiliar
causing a feeling
of discomfort.
In a freak of anger
justifiable too
like mother
so the daughter
I threw the thing
I remember not
what it was
as years have
rolled and memories
have got rusted.
Sensitive was and is
my weakness as
everybody terms it
but I feel strongly
it is pride and
self-respect that
had held me and
is still holding me
in a status different
from the rest
many might dislike
me and only a
few would agree
with my sensitivity
or rather I would
address it as
sensibility am I right?
Love me for what I am
not for what I am not
said the poetic muse.
Love me not for my beauty
but for the pleasant thoughts
I give you, said the rose.
Love me not for my wisdom
but for the human experience
said Solomon the wise.
Love me not for my bravery
but for my compassion
said Asokha the Emperor .
Love us not for our grandeur
but for our uniqueness
intimate the frescoes of Michael Angelo.
One a penny two a penny
hot cross bun
goes the rhyme
when pennies were of worth.
now they are pennies
with a puny limit.
Escalation in prices
has reached the sky.
Gold and silver prices
rock up and down
with the fall too little
while the rise is too high.
The land value is exciting
prompting the landed to sell
and become landless.
With the cost becoming dear
travels to places near
provides pleasures nominal.
Where are we moving in the sojourn ?
In prices trying to reach the sky.
In existence going deep down
singing the rhyme
one a penny two a penny
hot cross bun.
Meenas Poems 