Poem – Faith

In everything I do, I am guided

By a compass within myself…

 

Not by the opinions of a decadent society

With a microscopic vision and mind;

 

Not by the reckless, value-less standards

Of imitation New-World attitudes…

 

Not by the rigid rules of a prescribed Faith

That have been obeyed before they were understood;

 

Not by the rebellious Godlessness

Of unlimited, unethical freedom.

 

I live by my standards.

 

Shaped by a Truth I have been taught to believe,

By what I have learnt and understood,

And beyond that, by what I know from within,

By the unexplainable instincts and intuitions,

Tuned to an inner voice that I choose to trust–

Above convention, above logic…

A Thought that holds my life secure;

 

Molded by a faith in Faith, a confidence

That great Confidence works great Miracles.

 

I trust completely; I love!

 

I do not answer to the world,

I do not aver that I am right;

I do not claim that I know the way;

 

I know only that I have chosen,

And I shall not retreat–

I cannot.

 

Buoyed by the conviction that those I love

Shall bless me, and not renounce me,

Even if the ways I choose are not

The ones they chose for me…

 

And trust that though my ways are separate,

My ideals are strong; they have made me strong–

And my ultimate destination

Is one they would have chosen

 

Or better.

** Reposted

Poem — KALI*

You have misjudged me.

You have glimpsed only the depth of a woman’s love.
You have not fathomed the vehemence of her contempt
when that love is thwarted by a betrayal that shames infidelity.

You have felt only the intensity of a woman’s faith.
You have not comprehended the potency of her scorn
when that faith is shattered by the reality of a treachery more appalling than mere falsehood.

You have sensed only the warmth of a woman’s tenderness.
You have not known the eternal ice of her indifference
when that tenderness is subjected to mockery and requited by a sham, a pale reflection of her love.

You have known only the sweet passion of a woman’s innocence.
You have not been scorched by her soul set ablaze by a holocaust of pain,
when she has cremated all the dreams of her innocence.

You have interpreted a woman’s gentleness as her weakness,
her unwillingness to cause pain as her inability to defend herself.
You have not gauged the power of her endurance, or the strength of her conviction.

Be not so deceived.

A Goddess is born from the depths of a woman’s heart,
hallowed by the ardor of her love,
or baptized by the depth of her anguish:

A Fury with power to which man has no equal.

Challenge not that Goddess; test not her Wrath.
It shall consume you.
She has no mercy.

I shall not forgive.

*Kali–The Goddess of destruction in Indian Mythology.

Poem — Aspiration

I want to be that gull—
The storm and the sunset
Behind me;
Riding the wind
Towards the horizon…

I want to be that gull;
Unperturbed,
Graceful,
Serene,
Strong…

I want to be that gull
That a sailor spies,
And takes heart,
Pressing towards home,
Lost in the storm…

I want to be that gull:
A fighter,
A symbol,
A vision,
A message.

I want to be that gull.