Poetry
Prompt for Poetry writing:
Judge’s Choice Winner: Ninada
Solitude’s Awakening
At the end of the world I stand,
Braving the storm, I look across the land,
Solitude my sole companion-
And down below is the angry canyon,
This intemperate downpour has made.
But I am no longer afraid!
The cliff’s rough edge beneath my feet,
The vast nothingness wild and sweet.
The ruthless winds biting my core,
In this chaotic silence, I fear no more.
For she is my umbrella, my protector.
Battling for me, my spectre!
Her touch, a whisper of the morning light,
Breaking through this stormy, velvet night.
Her cautious eyes, letting nothing pass
Beneath the bellowing sky is my courage amass,
And in that warmth of her gentle grace,
We share an ephemeral, timeless embrace.
Through trials and tribulations, has she marched,
With unwavering courage, she has embarked,
On paths paved with thorns and rocks,
Her resilience built to flummox.
With festering wounds, she walks on and on
Guiding me along, from dusk to dawn.
In her eyes, I see the wisdom earned,
Every step, singing of a scar discerned.
Courage as her compass, she braves the weather
She is my one sole tether,
Between me and the emptiness below
Lest I fall into the dark hollow.
When lightning strikes, bringing the sky alight
In that split second, I behold her sight.
I realise, she is me and I am her-
Amidst the world going blur.
I awaken to my true protector,
I see through me, my saviour.
At the edge of solitude, I find my soul,
In the depths of silence, I become whole.
On this precipice of inner peace,
I embrace Serenity, my safe space.
So, let me linger on this edge,
Where solitude is my solemn pledge.
To accept, to heal, to be,
One with the world, and finally free.
Audience Choice Winner: Bagyalaxmi Kumar
Catharsis
You are so frail, you spineless wimp. Pathetic.”
That’s what they’d say,
Seeing my heart glow, in the hues of passion.
A powerless irrelevant critter, unable to lift its head high.
That’s what they’d made me feel,
When they scrunched up their noses and frowned at me.
Vulnerability– always a liability– the mark of irrefutable incapacity.
Never worth any responsibility,
I was – “She, who cannot reign upon her own affections.”
Catharsis– A dream;
For what must be a concrete right.
Such an inconceivable utopia–
Where my emotions are unfettered, to run free.
Thoughts, feelings– dreams; battering against the walls of this cage.
Eyes glaring in, in multitudes,
“Don’t you dare escape.”; warnings in the dark.
Cowering in a corner, silent sobs resound in my chest.
“Never be too happy, never show your pain.”
“This makes you strong, after all, we say this for your best.”
A lonely path drudgingly traversed, cradling my soul to me.
“I can’t let it show, else I’ll never be enough–” I accepted;
As my umbrella, against these tempests.
Love– not.
Visceral storms raged against the world–
Strife shadowed by porcelain masks;
“My sentiments are my downfall.”,
I believed, and let their heads roll.
An oasis in a dreary desert – a mirage.
Not hope, it was but a cliff, the end of my threshold.
Raging voices inside me whine, and beg for deliverance- “Jump.”
I let go, relinquishing the somber shroud of callousness.
The abyss of uncertainty welcomes me,
The umbrella flying away, in a gush of liberating wind.
Tears spill as I let out a guttural howl-
The world– privy to my “ruination”.
With the permission to laugh, love and lament,
The rain touches my face in tender caresses.
I blissfully dance away– the sea of passions embracing my breath, in its still depths.
