This is a poem I wrote on 21.11.07 in Mumbai, when life was getting a little confusing for me. Though its a bit old and included in my previous blogs, I’m adding it here as it somehow really fits the mystique of the sea I so admire.
Transition
The breeze it blows shallow in the quiet of the night,
As I perch on the edge of the in-finiteness of the sea before me
The sea draws me out to take me deeper within,
Everything around me seems to take a metaphorical turn
The palms that sway with the wind,
Personifying my life of something caught in between
The cries from the whale that are from afar,
Calling me into the dark unknown
The moonlight that demystifies it,
But not quite for me to venture in
The owl with its hoots and its stoic yet startled stare,
Of knowing it all, pondering over it, but staying perched.
The breeze it blows shallow over my starlit gaze,
As the waves continue to hit my naked feet
My mind wanders to those distant worlds,
Of which I know not of
My heart yearns for those rushes,
Brought thru adventure, love, and conquest
But I’m afraid to lose it all,
To gain something I don’t know even exists,
Losing all I know my whole identity to find the truth?
To prove that, I’m living a lie, being a prisoner of my own device?
How I wish to be the Albatross,
To taste the pleasures of both hither and yonder!
But surely, it’s better than being the tortoise with the bruised shell,
Scarred from the tremors of the lies flying sharp and fast,
Retreating into a self imposed exile when the pain can’t be bared,
Just ambling along with life?
The breeze it blows shallow on my naked self,
As I perch on the edge of the in-finiteness of the sea before me
I feel vulnerable, confused and deceit ed by the land,
I take the plunge into the unknown before me
I realize slowly how far I’m into the sea,
The currents pushing me back from where I now want to be
It’s a test of my character, which I’d rather fight,
Than the lies and betrayals which I have left behind
The breeze it blows shallow into the in-finiteness of the sea before me,
As the waves rise and lull in the quiet of the starlit night
My body drifts farther into the unknown,
I feel numb all over due to the freezing sea
But in this numbness,
I lose my self of being,
I feel one with the sea, one with the entirety of eternity,
I feel the passion of being alive
The consolation that someone, somewhere out there,
Is guiding me towards what I’m meant to be.
-Puranjay Mahapatra
(On-21.11.07)
The Lucid Monk 