The Baton of Fear

Ever wondered, what would happen if the skies fell down upon you while you lay under them gazing the starlight 

Or if the sun burnt you alive while you embraced the warmth of it into your lives

As irrational as this are the fears that web your existence 

Irrational still is the escapade you deemed would lead you out of the fear 

Before you knew it, it had consumed all of what you used to be 

And implanted instead, a life succumbed and subservient to itself 

Stop now. 

Stop erecting citadels to keep the fear from permeating through 

Step out of the sheepish shell and buy what life offers to sell to you 

Now is the time to be faced with the fear that floats around 

Never again if not this day 

For its wiser to battle and conquer the riches that most crave

Than carrying a burden of apprehensions to the grave 

The choice is simple and clear 

You're either alive or you're dead

No other poles were ever attached to this thread 

The greatest of lives were lived beyond the horizons of fear 

For the true meaning of success was to defeat the fear that failure bears 

So hold firm the baton of fear that has been handed over 

It is both an onus and an opportunity 

Do not let the onus restrict you, allow yourself to be liberated by opportunity 

Run wild and chase your dreams by letting the fear set you free. 

– Divya Rathi

Remember to Forget

It's been so long 
That she's counted hours that've added to days
And days that've to months 
All of which she'd spent to remember to forget you 

Years have repeated themselves over 
Bringing back all the first times and all the first days 
Driving her down to all the first places
Where she continues to take herself to remember to forget you

She grew from being naive 
To one that wouldn't ever be again 
She struggles now, to conceal her limp, for the hard crutches of resilience have begun to hurt too
Yet, pushes herself, and never ceases, to remember to forget you 

For what have you brought her
But grief and humiliation, and endless sleepless nights
Letting her go just when she would begin to believe you would never
The faith that has been walked over, only reminds her each day to remember to forget you

Don't bask in the light of irreplaceability and pride 
It was the best love you just let out and it's a roundabout life we're talking about
The limp would recover soon, and she'd walk far and away steady 
But you'd drown in the marsh of falsity you stepped yourself into, struggling to forget to remember her.

– Divya Rathi

Praising the Assassinating Provocations

As the nib of my pen begins to run wild on the blank paper 
And thoughts come gushing to my conscience, calling to be set free into space
It feels like I've been devoid of my own self for too long
And it calms me down to have found my way through the mystifyingly infinite maze of diabolic charms.

I've returned triumphant from the prolonged battle
Conquering desolation, deceit and destiny.
I've been bent and broken, certainly
But their hammers have carved me into better shape.

So I move on and about now, to build myself a home 
In this space where I belong 
Away from the realms of treacherous commitment 
A small beautiful home large enough to be filled in with devoted vision, pious affection and radiant desires.

It's almost celestial to embark on this journey
To trod the path enlightened with aspirations 
To allow the arms of the clock to wipe of the scars 
For triumph indeed is in learning from defeat.

I am walking myself into blooming tomorrows
Walking ahead of the worn out yesterdays.
I start off to build the residence of my resurrected effervescence
While praising the assassinating provocations that continued to bring me to life.

– Divya Rathi

Pallbearer Of The Past

She continued to sit by the window
As the summers transformed to winters
The sun lit the bronze in her hair and revealed the hollows of the fawn eyes
The eyes that were once embraced with splendour unfathomable
And are now worn out fantasising the paradoxical return of the chariot that carried away all of her desires

Her soul became an impermeable enclosure of burnt hopes
Concealed to perfection with an illuminated face bearing gleaming smiles 
But the smiles that once illuminated her eyes are long dead 
And resurrection is beautiful but fiction
Fiction that she now holds against faith

Having built an existence around the passions that she lost in the battle with herself
Having constructed domes of the present with the ashes of burnt hopes
She has been called thoughtless and miserly
But wasn't it finer to survive a promising delusion
Than to return back to grimace over actuality that is just a pallbearer of the past?

–Divya Rathi

Invasion of Solitude

Have I been in this place now for too long?
It feels like the demons of desolation refuse to die down.
To that abode of glee I do not belong anymore,
For my solitude stands invaded by deceit.

The stream of thoughts still gushes through,
Never ceasing to perturb with the memories of...
Of lips that still tremble at the mention of that name.
Of eyes that still moisten at the reflection of the past that has been walked over.
Of flesh that has been torn apart to render the heart open,
A heart that bleeds of wounds from the broken glass of trust.

How would they know what it feels like,
To lose one's forever in another's deceiving eyes.
And I'm too frail now for narrating this tale of agony,
For this soul of mine is too stabbed and theirs is too rotten.

These clouds of despair only turn darker and deeper,
The moonless night hides away the light of the oil lamp. 
And I move like a tramp in the woods of bewilderment.
But now the gloom is beginning to petrify
I need my abode, the one that lies beyond the sky.

– Divya Rathi

The Carousel

At the fair that cheered the best monsoon of their lives
She gleamed at the sight of that carousel
The carousel of merry 
The carousel of enigma
The carousel that fanned the wind of their union 

The gleaming eyes peered at him 
Taking him by the arm 
Together they hopped on 
On the carousel where hope rode 
The carousel that shone like the moon playing behind the monsoon clouds

The carousel then swirled in a motion that induced 
An ecstasy so magical that the floating air danced above
The world around spun into a haze
And all they could see was themselves in each other's eyes

But the spinning carousel has to stop 
Surreality doesn't hold forever
And so the melancholy of conclusion arrives
The world comes into vision again 
The carousel begins to bring itself to a halt

The gleaming eyes have now turned dark
They look into his eyes again to find a path that can lead them ahead 
Disappointed, she closes her eyes with a spinning head 
Resting her head on his shoulder, he leads her down

She wakes up from her stupor with swollen eyes 
To watch his descending footprints that the rains have begun to disguise 
The carousel is now silent 
Their now is now gone.

–Divya Rathi

With Life or Without

Trees bend down from their alley
The dry rain pours
Green mountains fade to grey
As I flinch at the sight of time running ahead of me
Moving along the road wishing I could stop
Chase the moments racing away
And forever hold on to my fistful sands of time.

But all I hold on to is a consciousness clogged with memories of the past 
Memories, that are boulders on the road to the future
Memories, that drain out the rivers of the present
I try to escape the blades
And let my hair down to the shady clouds of reality.

But they say that to live is to stand to, for and by the truth,
So tell me, 
Is it worth the fight
To wall the tides of time
For those who slaughter your souls 
When you present to them a part of yourselves
For those in whose self consummation 
You find your selflessness
Would've still grabbed them by the arm without doubt 
Only if they knew if I was with life or without.

– Divya Rathi