Living Stone (The Gateway)

There on the ragged ocean's edge,

stands an edifice, tall and old.

Overlooking the silver in the night,

by dusk, admiring the gold.

She is the manefestation of a dream,

a lore made immortal in stone.

The crown of a long forgotten king,

the gold of a dusty forlon throne.

From her shoulders, the cloak of Time,

falls in many a satiny fold.

Perched on Her wizened high forehead

are stone flowers, eternal. Cold.

Millions of waves have cleansed Her feet,

But age hardly crumples Her countenance.

Yet those with a keen probing eye

will see the age of a thousand suns.

For years today, She has patiently stood,

and watched as the city has grown.

Like a Mother at Her child's pyre,

Like History trapped in a living stone...

~Maithili Desai

The Ideal Land

There is a land,
Somewhere beyond the rainbow, where it is all peace.
All is as calm as the unhurried notes
flying from a piper’s pipe.
Some words don’t exist there.
Words like ‘hate’, ‘war’, ‘revenge’……
Words which we use here everyday,
with ease and fluency.
There is the perfume of love
In the air, constantly.
bubbling laughter graces every street.
And smiles line every by-way.
No tongue has learned
To be insulting or injuring.
No hand has ever even thought
of inflicting pain on a fellow being.
Yet, a myriad of colours exists there,
Together, complementing,
Not competing.
It is so beautiful….oh this place,
it seems like a bit of paradise….
If it could only be brought here…
~Maithili Desai

Of peace we talk

Of Peace We Talk…
We talk, in our plush living rooms,
Of things like world peace.
We talk of it as we would,
Of the moon or the sun
or other things of space,
which exist but far away.
As if it doesn't affect us,
Not in the slightest manner.

As if, we become wise men
in our homes and talk of these phenomenon
like astronomers do about the stars.

But unseen by our self-blinkered vision,
Peace is slipping away every hour,
Like grains of sand from a lax fist.
And soon, when all is lost,
We won't have
the wise men’s rooms any more,
to hide into and pretend
that it is not happening to us,
but to someone
who is far from connected to us.
~Maithili Desai

Call For Return

Wait!!
Hold it right there, I say to you.
Loosen your hand on that scabbard.
Sheath that sword you have drawn.
Vacate the barrels of that gun you hold.
And,
Cleanse your mind and heart
Of the hate you’ve polluted it with.

Now lay down all these corruptions
and look beyond,
at that child playing in the street.
At that youth, with his dreams.
At that mother as she watches
Over her children as they play.
And at that maiden,
Who shines with a requited love.
And at those million men and women,
Who each day live,
In the hope of seeing many such days.
Now look in their eyes,
And you will find,
An ocean of love, of joy,
Of life.

Now again I say,
Lay aside your gun and hate,
For they have made a stone of you.
Cast them away and come to us,
For with open hearts and arms,
We welcome the Lost Sheep,
If only the sheep seeks to return…
~Maithili Desai

What went wrong....

A sheen less moon,
weeps silently as she watches
over the red rivers that swallow
the Earth whole
wondering, what went wrong…
How did this happen…

The sun from a distance,
frowns as he watches the plight,
as the last bits of life,
crumble and fall.
He wonders what went wrong…
How did this happen…

The stars try to twinkle
and look in vain towards the earth
to see a speck of it’s former life
but are looked back at, by Death.
And they wonder what went wrong…
How did this happen…

They had all been witnesses,
to how Destruction, had unfurled his wings
and made their Earth burn, hell like.
But yet, now as they join
the funeral procession, they wonder…
What went wrong…
How did this happen…
~Maithili Desai