Beauty in a bowl

*All photographs have been taken on a Cannon PowerShot A85 4.0 Mega Pixel digital camera.

Happy Diwali '06

Alpanas

On charity...

Today when I went to pick up my younger brother from school, while waiting for him to come, outside the gate I saw this beggar walking up to a lady and ask her alms. From what I gathered I presume she said no, and this evoked no emotion in me as he seemed quite healthy man, not the thin and starving sort you get to see, frankly, he should have been working.

And then, he pointed to his right foot and I saw that the upper layers of skin were torn and falling off and that he was bleeding quite badly. It seems like he’d just been in an accident and a car had run over his foot. As he had no footwear to protect his feet, and so his skin had been rent.

It was terrible. She made a face reflecting surprise, pity and disgust and refused him any money anyway. Within the next ten seconds the school guard had reached there and began shooing him off. He limped away begging for help.

No one bothered to give him a single paise.

I was busy guarding a heavy bag of belongings but managed to send whatever change I had with the guard.

I’m sure that lady and the teacher next to her, not to mention the countless passers – by were very well to do and did some charity through the year and prided themselves for the charity which they did – giving plenty to charitable organizations. But none could part with ten rupees to help a beggar buy a bottle of antiseptic lotion, cotton and a bandage.

It just disgusts me that people have become so callous. If he wore good clothes and came near the school asking for help, the school itself would have given him a first – aid box. Just because he was in rags doesn’t make him any less of a person. He still has the same needs as us, and feels the same pain.

I wonder when people will realize that charity isn’t that certificate of thanks they receive from a charity organization but how much they help a person in need.

And soon, those drops of blood he’d left on the pavement while limping away being walked and stamped over, dried and faded away.

Through Time...

A note beforehand – This poem portrays what a lady vampire and her sire shared. Time changes a lot, and this poem portrays what she felt and what she had to go through. Each part portrays a different phase she goes through. The whole piece has been written partly in poetry and partly in prose.

PART I

The sound of soft footfalls in the steps,
And a flicker of fruitless hope flamed in her heart again.
But as they faded
A soft sigh left her lips,
And her eyes dimmed once more.

She looked at herself in the mirror and mockingly smiled,
That she was moved to smile at all.
A cascade of ebony brushed her shoulder,
Oh! What a shoulder
The golden hue of sheaves of wheat in autumn.
Her bitter chocolate eyes smouldered with passion.
How many would give all to touch that velvet skin?
So many,
But…
And her eyes dimmed once more.

**

PART II

Peals of playful laughter filled the air,
Like a raptured fruit overflowing.
Green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,
And a smile sparkled upon her face.

“I’m never happier than when I’m with you,” she said flushed with joy.
“I try to be there always, my beautiful girl,
I just seem to be disappointing you in so many ways,” he said, a shadow across his face.
“you’ll never disappoint me,” she whishpered lovingly.

With a secret smile upon his face,
He pulled her into a warm embrace,
“I love you,” he quietly said.
“And I love you too.”

**

PART III

Her heart longed for him,
And her eyes looked far away,
Envisaging a place where she was eternally in his warm embrace,
Locked within a deep kiss.
Where she could look into his loving eyes,
Thinking of what it would be like to be with him,
To touch him,
To…

The glass slipped, crashing onto the floor,
Shattering into a thousand pieces.
And she watched the blood, her wine, spill.
Dipping her finger into the deep, red liquid,
She licked it off.

He had done this to her.
Her Sire.
But she had loved him so much,
And she loved him still,
And her eyes dimmed once more.

**

PART IV

The sands of time were the desert between them,
He loved her,
And she loved him more.
They were so different, and yet, so deep in love.
She was young, beautiful,
A darling fawn in a spritely dance.
He was older, he was graver,
He had played the game of Life,
And Death
A little more.

But the chaos in his life
Left that emptiness in hers.
He couldn’t be there for her enough
But she had loved him so much,
She loved him still
And her eyes dimmed once more.

**

PART V

“Why are you doing this to me?”
Her piercing shriek was like a whipcrack through the air.
Her eyes were red with crying.
She was in despair.
“Please don’t leave me like this,
Don’t let go.”

She slit her wrists in pain,
But no blood flowed out.
All was in vain.
“I’d rather die than live without you,
But I am in this cage.”
And she cried, and cried, and cried.

Then suddenly once her eyes burned alive,
And she flew into a rage.
“I don’t need you,” she screamed out.
“I don’t need you at all
I can live without you,
I hate you so much.”
And her eyes dimmed once more.

**

PART VI

The streets were bathed in moonlight.
A soft swish of a cloak here,
A glimpse of a silken glove there,
Treading in her dark, velvet boots she was out a hunting;
To have a little fun.

A chattering voice she heard
He was the only one.
She smirked.
The tall, dark, handsome sort,
Rather pleased with himself,
Yes, his blood would be hers.
She moved in for the kill,
Till,
Stunned, she stopped,
For this is what she heard:

“Yes, I think she’s falling in love with me, I quite like her too. The problem is, I barely have any time for her. I can’t decide what to do. But I don’t think I should tell her no. it’s really okay. It doesn’t matter. I’ll have a good time anyway. I won’t tell her no.”

Then what she’d suppressed for months
Welled up, swelled up,
Her mask shattered,
All torn and battered
In her blaze of rage,
Swift as a shadow,
She stood before him
Looking at him with her pitiless eyes she whispered:
“She deserves better than you.”

Then deep into him her fangs she sunk,
And drained him of his blood.
Barely living he lay on the cold, grey stone
Shivering, fear in his eyes, white as bone.
In a fit of wrath her dagger did she unsheathe,
And stabbed him, and slashed him,
Relishing in his every scream.
Till in a pool of blood he lay,
Dipping her finger in the deep, red liquid,
She licked it off.

He had done this to her,
Her Sire.
She had loved him so much,
She loved him still,
And her eyes dimmed once more.

**

PART VII

Slipping back into her room that night,
Try what she might,
She thought she could never be at peace.
Looking out into the deep blue sky
Gazing she realized,
She had to let go of him.

She had been a fool even to try
To make herself wait
And cry.
Those tears had been in vain,
And she did what she never before did dare,
She accepted what she felt for him and let it go.
And no longer did the memories remain.

“I’ve heard a lot of beautiful things,” she began whispering into the night
“And we’ve even had our fights,
I’ve said I hated you,
And even that without you I’d die. I still wonder why
We had to say goodbye.

But will I ever really feel you love again?
Will you ever fold me in your arms again?
I don’t know.
And now I don’t care.

With that quiet resolve in her mind,
She smiled.
And turned away.

******

Down from the door where it began,
And I must follow if I can
And the road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone
And I must follow if I can.

*All photographs have been taken on a Cannon PowerShot A85 4.0 Megapixel digital camera.

Fallen from the skies

They told me love is like a star – I’d try to reach it,
But it would be too far.
There was only contempt in my eyes
When I looked at them, and smiled.

The fool that I am
I began to uncurl
Like a flower,
And my petals did unfurl.
With my wings I did soar,
I did fly,
Ever higher than before
In the deep hued sky.

Then came the unexpected crash
I didn’t know what hit me
You’d laugh to know how I tumbled.
You’d laugh to see how I fumbled.
Was it that fleeting gaze?
But why did it leave me in such a chaotic daze?
Oh, yes, green and blue his sharp eyes did twinkle,
Like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled.
The thread of love he wove around me,
And in the hollow of my heart,
A scarlet flame burned
And I began to long
Long evermore,
For that warm embrace,
For that careless brush on the cheek,
For that passionate kiss,
I knew I was in love.
And then I tried to reach it.

But in vain.
I grasped blindly again, and again and again,
The strife made me insane.
It drove me mad, it drove me wild,
In the end that scarlet flame wholly engulfed me.
I was broken
I was lost
I was scarred
I was rent
I was fading away,
While those tears of blood flowed down my face.
Then, rocking softly, softly, softly
To the shadows I was left whispering-

“Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky.”

My Sire

It was time you rose,
Higher, away from the darkness,
Away from the entangling shadows.
So you rose.
Your movement flawless,
You were not delved in insanity,
You knew exactly what to do.
I thought you were hiding, and you were,
Just with a painted mask called waiting.
I couldn’t hear you, see you, feel you.
I think you were scared to show me what you were,
What I would become.
You said it was my foolish curiosity that made me fall,
You were, and are wrong.
It is foolish curiosity that makes a scientist out of a man,
Then how could that be my mistake?
No. I came to you because I wanted to,
My next move being my last.
My very life drained and gone.
The floor bespattered with my blood.
My lifeless body now falling into my grave,
I rise again later.
I realized you hadn’t done me any favours,
You took away from me all I had.
I didn’t find what I came looking for.
I’ve become a monster, empty, but eternal like you are.
I truly hate you my sire.