The Bridge

I stepped on the bridge,
the  surreal bridge of dreams,
long and wide,
and, at times, shaky and fragile.
I persevered,
clinging onto the handles of hope,
and treaded,
with slow, realistic steps;
Once I reached the midway, it narrowed,
Yes,
the bridge narrowed,
My eyes then spotted the destination,
Vivid and real,
where, the bridge shrunk and disappeared!

© Sarika Harikumar Shyam

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I

I, left me,hurriedly;
ebbing towards a space, so different, so strange,
engulfed in varied dimensions,
The I, left me, thus,
floating and swimming,towards another life;
a different me!

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All Rights Reserved @ Sarika Harikumar Shyam , 01/07/2020

Conflicts

I have risked my securities,
To embrace the uncertainties,
So,
I do not like to be judged,
Impractical and foolish, in my middle age,
For,
Unlike the self appointed judges of my life,
I don’t want to be, ‘one among the many,’
The many, of that relentlessly waiting crowd,
Who wait inharmoniously,
Till retirement, to revive their truest passion!

© Sarika Harikumar

An Unwritten Complaint

He filled his ink for her,
In his fountain pen,
Day and Night,
Night and Day,
Till the nibs drowned,
In his ecstasy...
They couldn’t complain, could they?
All their life, they toiled for him,
Feeling beautiful,
In the verses he compiled,
But they were all for her,
The other woman,
Who was beyond his grasp,
And above his love!

© Sarika Harikumar Shyam, 08/06/2020

Reminiscence

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Do you remember those yellow sunflowers,
Photographing our first kiss in the flash of their yellow fields?
They were shy, you know,
As if they never witnessed a love, as passionate as ours, ever…

Was it then that I told you about my love for their yellow hue?
I think so, I vaguely remember you sliding one behind my ears.
You then told me about your love for the sky’s blue,
And held me up to capture its hue…

We were so naïve then, weren’t we?
Reaching for the sky and plucking those flowers,
Showing off our love, to them and the whole world,
Did we ever think then that it was a fool’s paradise?

 I am afraid to go there now, to those sunflower fields,
As they might find out, our little secret, even before our hearts do,
I wonder if they would be glad or sad,
When they witness a love, as impassionate as ours, now…


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©Sarika Harikumar Shyam, 03/06/2020

https://bharathvision.info/mermaid-short-story-written-by-sarika-harikumar/

If I say

If I say,
I can empathize,
with your stress,
It will be an understatement…
The days which churned me,
to spill the best and worst in me,
and the days which witnessed,
the thankless faces of the people,
the very same people from whom,
I yearned for a single word of praise…

Those days…
are still a nightmare,
When giving the best,
Was a synonym of stress,
A race, for want of something,
which never was worth your sweat.
But still, we go after that want, that need…
That is human nature, isn’t it?
To excel, to get appreciated,
to perform for gains,
both materialistic and emotional…
For that is how we move on,
instilling the seeds of virtual growth,
to grow like a selfish being,
while deep inside,
your own selfless mind,
rests in a corner; helpless…

© Sarika Harikumar Shyam, 28/05/2020

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