tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2924498128802995232024-03-05T21:55:45.111-08:00Rhymes and RamblingsJoanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-29841090786419296692013-10-06T10:43:00.002-07:002015-03-09T11:47:43.878-07:00There goes my hero... <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Friends, family and acquaintances have always teased me about, what they call, my school-girl crush. I do not have a crush on Rahul Dravid. I have never had one. What I have is a deep admiration – for the gentleman he has shown he is and for the epitome of sportsmanship he has emerged to be.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This isn’t going to be a tribute to the cricketer. What can I say that the stats and awards do not already underline; what can be written that hasn’t already been eloquently captured by authors, commentators and experts. Instead, this is just a heartfelt tribute to my favourite sportsperson, whose decade-old picture I still have stowed away in my wallet. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">It might be a bit of a ramble, I’ll warn you of that.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As I start to write this, it is the midst of IPL season. The Mumbai Indians have just ended their innings with a score of 202 in 20 overs – a score that the commentators have already declared a tough ask. My dad has teasingly nudged me asking me how Rajasthan Royals expect to maintain a run rate of 10 per over with Rahul Dravid opening. I show some bluster, quite unlike my idol; I look at the TV and throw some words of encouragement at my team, almost begging them to win, as the camera pans scenes of the dug-out, waiting for the start of the second innings, even as my brother scoffs at me. “Sulker,” he says and smirks.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">He isn’t completely off the mark. I have cried while watching matches. I may cry later tonight, too. That possibility certainly can’t be ruled out, no matter how much lip service I give my family. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Or, I may do a mad, demented victory dance and shake the walls! Depending, of course on the outcome of the match.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">But even as I predict my emotional volatility, I can say with reasonable certainty that Rahul Dravid will be as composed as ever. Irrespective of the outcome of the match, win or lose, he will step out at the end, take responsibility, give due credit and commendation, acknowledge compliments and praise with an embarrassed laugh. He will take a bow with dignity and quiet pride.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">One evening 17 years ago, </span>I remember sitting down with my dad, as he watched the test match at Lord’s, which would introduce to the world two icons of the game. The match has been (and, probably always will be) remembered for Sourav Ganguly pounding his way to smashing century, scoring the highest runs by any batsman on his debut at the Mecca of cricket.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Later, as parents, housing society uncles and silly schoolgirls went gaga over Ganguly, I remember resolving that I would make the quiet gentleman with boyish good looks, who missed his debut century by only 5 runs, my "favourite cricketer"! And, this fact I reiterated in countless scrapbooks, writing his name in coloured inks and drawing little hearts around it.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">A year after his debut, I begged my dad to gift me a poster of Rahul Dravid. I stuck it on the inside of my cupboard since my mother was adamant that she would preserve the walls from the horrors of cello-tape.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The poster has captured Rahul Dravid, with a shy, reluctant smile and a sweaty brow. (He did sweat a lot, didn't he?!) And, he has smiled at me ever since, never fading with time, quietly watching the contents of the cupboard evolve from crayons and ribbons to notebooks and novels. Now, the cupboard is home to torn pages from diaries chronicling my girlhood - scraps of paper that contain excited rants about Rahul Dravid's stellar performances, disappointed lines berating the times he failed to perform, silly rhymes worshipping him.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The poster has remained there, slightly worn at the edges, tearing slightly at the top, but still resolutely stuck to the wooden door. In many ways Rahul Dravid, the cricketer, is much like that poster - resolute, charming and a survivor, seldom showing-off and quietly smiling at detractors and fans alike.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">There was something about the quiet young man, the way he came, did his job well and smiled on even as his flashier counterpart walked away with the headlines. For the first ever time, that year, I picked up a newspaper and flipped first to the sports page. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In hindsight, I can say with some confidence, that there was something about his countenance that inspired trust; that gave you this “Main hoon na” kind of reassuring vibe. Like the best-friend-underdog-hero who you’re rooting for to win the girl at the end of the movie. I’ve always been a sucker for that stereotype.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">He did remain the classic Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Dependable through his career, playing his classy, stylish, reassuring game under the shadow of many Indian and international super-stars. But, when adversity came as it inevitably does, the quintessential twist in the tale, he stood firm, earning and justifying his epithet. The Wall. As a batsman he was ridiculed for being slow (in winning situations, the same style was referred to as being dependable). He came under fire as vice-captain when his captain was mired in conspiracy, and again later as captain when his tactics were sometimes criticized to tatters, as a one-time icon player who was passed over by his team at an IPL auction, as a leader on whose watch teammates were accused and found guilty of corruption. However, his stoic silence, a refusal to fall prey to personal criticism or impassioned yet fluent outbursts in defense of the very spirit of the game have reinforced my quixotic ideals.<o:p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I have often joked that in hard times I ask myself “What would Rahul Dravid do?” That really wouldn’t be such a bad guiding principle to live by.</span></div>
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-86501525375110151332013-05-06T21:29:00.001-07:002014-08-10T10:44:14.709-07:00The Crucifixion of Innocence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Inspiration
can catch you at the oddest, most unexpected places. So, for someone as
irreligious (is that even a word?!) as me, it was a wonder to have found my
next muse in spiritual text!</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">The
Bible recounts that before his death on the cross, Jesus said 7 things - he
mourned to his Father (why have you forsaken Me?), spoke to his mother (Mother,
behold, your son!), lamented his thirst and pain ("I thirst" and
"It is finished"). And, through these words I was able to see the
plight of a girl child. From her birth, through adolescence, marriage and even
in death, the life of some women is nothing short of a daily crucifixion.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">And,
I call this one,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">The
Crucifixion of Innocence</span></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">There
was a lot of screaming,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">like
someone in pain</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
felt a slight sensation</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">which
awakened me</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">and
my shrill cries drowned all the other sounds</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">the
hum of the machines</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">my mother’s
heavy breathing </span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">the murmurs of
the medicine men</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
continued hailing my own arrival</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">even
as the remnants of womb,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">the
rubble of my old home were cleaned off</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">my
shriveled body</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">My
sobs muted only with the pink linen</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">that
was wrapped around me</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">reminding
me of the warmth that once was</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Carried
from light to light,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Down
a grey-green corridor</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">presented
before a man</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
look up, curiously, sniffle,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">and
hope that my watery eyes</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">convey
my trust</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">“Into
your hand I commend my life”</span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
say with every blink of my lids</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">And,
a cold stare greets me</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">One
look at the pink fabric</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">and
my red face</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">My
Father turns away,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">and
as he walks away</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">his
words echo in the halls,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">“it
is finished”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">he sighs.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
am thirsty.</span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Always
parched.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Always
hankering for more.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">More
words to learn. More lines to read.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">not
for the dull dolls,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">and
the hand-me-down pities</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">but
more dewdrops to touch, butterflies to catch.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">More
raindrops to drench myself and</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">camouflage
the tears.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">for
more love or attention,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">for
at least just an acknowledgement</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">“My
father, my father, why have you forsaken me?”</span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
weep at nights,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">and
in the dull lights of dusk,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
see hatred gleam in his smile</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Hidden
away in dark rooms and</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">behind
curtains</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">my
childhood passes by</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Ill-fitting
clothes hide</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">my
blossoming body</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">But
his hands still find every contour</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">tracing
the fullness of youth</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">unwillingly
molding to heat and hardness</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
don’t know enough words that can</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blackfont-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; line-height: 115%;">describe
the feelings together of</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">shame,
pain, pleasure and pain</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">that
rip through my body</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Sensation
through every nerve</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">telling
me that I am now</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">a
woman</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Dear
woman, here is your son,</span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">the
one you always wished for,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
say to mother, as a resigned bride,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">may
this marriage bring you more happiness</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">than
my birth did</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">A
dot marks my forehead now</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">as
red as the welts in my hand</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">deep
in shade as the stains</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">on
my bed each night</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">You
will be with me in paradise</span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">my
mother promises me</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">as
she holds me</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">soothing
me like she never did before</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">caressing
my face</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">wiping
away tears that have long stopped flowing</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">Scars
mar my hands and feet</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">that
were once decorated to celebrate my womanhood</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">My
core hurts and burns with each touch</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<b><i><span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">“Girl,
forgive them, for they know not what they are doing”</span></i></b><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">My
mother’s scared voice advises me,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">but
this time instead of calming me,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">the
cowardly words only anger me,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">do
they know not what they have done?</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">do
they realise not how they have brutalised my dignity,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">raped
my mind, tormented my body?</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">How
can I forgive them - those who</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">cursed
my birth and tried to break my spirit</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
forsake your advice, Mother,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
forsake your promise of paradise someday,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">For
what good is an unknown paradise,</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">after
living an everyday hell</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">I
will burn everything with my fire</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span 115="" font-family:="" lang="EN-GB" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;">before
they have a chance to light my pyre.</span><span 115="" font-family:="" line-height:="" ms="" rebuchet="" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-19695894222310483992013-01-15T02:13:00.003-08:002014-08-10T10:10:15.274-07:00The story of a psychedelic night<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutero/6099237221/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="I dance with fire by Deutero, on Flickr"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="I dance with fire" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6200/6099237221_da3dc9c7a8.jpg" height="500" width="333" /></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Psychedelic night</span><br />
<span font-family:="" ms="" sans-serif="" style="color: black;" trebuchet="">a city lit by dancing lights</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Crazed, crystal eyes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Acid veins and untamed highs</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The sinister glint and unaware hand</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Charting an unfocussed track</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Trippin'</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the wheels kept turning</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As he drove into the psychedelic night</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Starry night</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a city lit by dancing lights</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wistful, unseeing eyes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Red roads and tainted skies</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unmoving, side by side they lay</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Promises that will remain </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unspoken</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Frozen on blue lips</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As icy winds took over the starry night</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Flashy night</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A city lit with dancing lights</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bloodshot, concealed eyes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unreal smiles, an unearned prize</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The pretence of being human</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of concealing the maniacal animal</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Within</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Barely succeeding</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As he laughs into the flashing light</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Quiet night</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A city barely lit by dying lights</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Swollen, brimming eyes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unheard protests and broken cries</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Against vacuous bullshit celebrity</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Received by a zombie lot</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unseeing</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As they watch him walk scot-free</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As the lights died out on hope</span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-70586007460988295402013-01-06T09:46:00.001-08:002014-08-10T10:43:16.300-07:00The Ultimate Time Traveler's Machine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You close
your eyes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">& let
the music wash over you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like waves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As warm as <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The sun's
rays on a dark, chilly morn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The desert
sand by dusk<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or a lover's
arms at the break of dawn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As gentle as
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A light
breeze in summer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The touch of
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or the
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As soothing
as<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A child's
caress<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Your mother's
knowing gaze<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or a
partner's kiss<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You could be
at any place<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alone or
lost in a crowd<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With
complete strangers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Allowing
yourself to be carried <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To that one
moment true only to you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With music
you too can be a time traveler.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-29156971287120215832012-11-28T23:06:00.002-08:002014-08-10T10:43:00.466-07:00Our Life could be full of music... <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutero/5991271765/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Tango in Argentina by Deutero, on Flickr"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="Tango in Argentina" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6028/5991271765_e625993de2.jpg" height="329" width="500" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy: <a href="http://twitter.com/Deutero" target="_blank">Kumar Jhuremalani</a></span></td></tr>
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one for the times we fight; a soft serenade as we kiss and make-up; and, for
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<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-80855152939822914062012-10-30T22:17:00.000-07:002014-08-10T10:42:41.548-07:00Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I woke up today morning with a strange longing for the quiet days I spent in the scenic and oddly spiritual hills of McLeodganj. And, then I recounted the evening I was leaving the little place for the big bustling Delhi, the restless night I spent on the bus, and the few lines I penned in a moment of epiphany, that lay untouched and forgotten in a memo on my phone...</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The view from the Pink House in McLeodganj</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They both sat in silence</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Breathing the same air</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Staring into the same space</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Letting the same world pass them by</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The same thoughts toying with their minds</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Outwardly calm but tossing and turning
within</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The same troubles troubling them...</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unspoken, unheard,</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Both struggling to make peace</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span><span lang="EN-GB">Discussion is futile as expression is hard
to find</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The questions are the same</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But both seek answers in different places</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The search for truth may lead them down
separate roads</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But now united in silence</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They travel together down the path of
introspection</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-49978505242236233922012-10-09T20:47:00.001-07:002014-08-10T10:42:22.390-07:00Unspoken Escape<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can't use clichés. Not when I'm spilling unspoken thoughts and feelings. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, no, I won't tell you that you complete me. You don't. My life's fuller and more complicated than that. You're not the only missing piece. You may not even be a piece in my jigsaw. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I won't even tell you that I love the person I am when I'm with you. Because, sometimes, even you may hate the person I become when I’m with you. You can bring out the worst in me just as easily as you bring out the best. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I won't tell you that you get me and understand me the best. There are other people who have known me longer and know me better. You know only one side of me and my other facets could leave you flummoxed. But discovery and surprise is what will make our journey fun, right? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I won't use songs to describe how I feel. I won't say you make me feel like a teenage dream, though, you really do. Or, that I love you like a love song, though, I probably do! I won't say those words because those words aren't mine and they weren't written for you. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd tell you instead that you have taken up permanent residence in my head! Signs start appearing in the mundane - I spot your name everywhere. And, I tell myself that it's a nudge from the universe, trying to subtly tell me that I was meant to find you & end up with you around no matter which road I take. Everything reminds me of you - innocuous signboards, songs you may like, food that I know you hate, dialogues on sitcoms that you'd appreciate, everyday stuff I could recount to you, earning a few laughs. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ah, the sound of your laughter - it fills me with so much satisfaction knowing that I have the power to produce those hearty, genuine, real reactions from you!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, the music! Oh, the music! I can't listen to a song now without thinking about you. It's either a song you've introduced to me or one that you told me you hate, the one from that band whose history you recited to me when you were drunk or that one whose lyrics I passionately deciphered for you, something you sang to me once or those in which I see my myriad feelings for you reflected or something we listened together, unspeaking, unthinking, lost but together.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You're not my "best friend", not even close! I can't talk to you about everything. Not yet, anyway. But, in my unbiased, unclouded judgment, I think you could be that person. I love talking to you - our conversations are an exciting rollercoaster. You can drive me up the wall & then have me rolling on the floor with laughter within seconds.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I love how I don't want to be a better person around you; a different person. How I don't have to try. Because I know you take me with all the good, the bad & the ugly. You take the weird, the idiosyncratic, the absurd & the bat-shit crazy stuff and come back with some of your own crap in equal measure! And, we each put up with the other. And, when we can't take it anymore, I know I can count on us having one of our can’t-remember-why-we're-arguing-at-all fights.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know I'd like to give you a chance. Give US a chance. Really, I would. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not scared of you; of getting close to you; of gradually opening my heart and head to the risk of you breaking me, hurting me.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, you see, I have the words; all the exact words. So, when everyone around me advices me to "just tell him" how I feel - it isn't because I don’t know how. I know the words. I just don't know if you're worth my words. If despite all this, I'll get more than stunned silence in return from you. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm tired of the signs I’m getting from the universe. Why don't YOU give me a sign? Why won't you just go on and turn that faucet that will allow my words to flow, to escape. Go on, take the first step.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-48374708965011408142012-02-03T22:29:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:42:04.026-07:00Shadows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
Shuttling through</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">darkness</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">no light at the end of this tunnel</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">yet</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hurtling past destinations</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">blurred images of the past</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Destined to be left behind</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO2z5pwvuvDhBtAGM7car1WNv4sqi1FIdqeW0uIVTTo2ghq_nx8jTdRK5s0sp0G3pT6rvQvtiKTGuxsKLH1l__mLDFSLehyD0H-t14uE_Yxe3-MW_Beiooj-_JR1wA9cjW3KnNH0bb288/s1600/7517_172976845375_2612536_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO2z5pwvuvDhBtAGM7car1WNv4sqi1FIdqeW0uIVTTo2ghq_nx8jTdRK5s0sp0G3pT6rvQvtiKTGuxsKLH1l__mLDFSLehyD0H-t14uE_Yxe3-MW_Beiooj-_JR1wA9cjW3KnNH0bb288/s320/7517_172976845375_2612536_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Memories at Goa's Sinquerim beach</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
Unknown faces stare out </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and when the train slows</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they come knocking at the window</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a flicker of recognition dawns</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">looking into their eyes, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">reflections of the persons they were once</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">shadows of old friends</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Familiar places</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">stop by her door</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">garishly lit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">meant to be inviting</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">but only serving to highlight</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">the messy roads</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">littered with rags of ragged memories</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Surrendering to </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">the warm web of words</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">from the unturned page of the novel </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">and woven from strains </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">of a melancholy song</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">tired of singing its happy tune </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">over and over again</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Not alone in her journey</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">but surely lonely</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">distracted by a fancy story telling</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">lost in the same singular song</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">creating a cocoon </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">a safe soundless haven</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">body heading home</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">mind escaping to a fantasy</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Tomorrow is different</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">waking up from an unreal reality</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">to life</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">that rarely travels in a line</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">she will try to move off the beaten track</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">but she will soon make her way back</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">on life's circular track</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">this time she may wave back at the staring faces in the window</span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-648963340617529432012-01-23T07:51:00.001-08:002014-08-10T10:41:50.414-07:00Second Wish Upon A Star<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden is the colour of the night bathed in lights</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of the dark tarmac shining under headlights</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden is the dream I dream of you in the darkest of nights</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of your smooth words whispered in my ears before far "Goodnights"</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutero/4168985685/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="oooh more shiny! by Deutero, on Flickr"><span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="oooh more shiny!" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2490/4168985685_c5e64e3e1b.jpg" height="281" width="500" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo Courtesy: <a href="http://twitter.com/Deutero" target="_blank">Kumar Jhuremalani</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden is the last intoxicating, swirling sip on my fingertip</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden the warmth that spreads to every end, every tip</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden, the liquid luck that gives my heart fillip</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden, even the white lies that spill from your lip</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden is the carpet in which I curl my toes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden the courage that fills me as I reach up to you on tiptoes</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden butterflies aflutter within me as you bend low</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden the soulful strains of a song so slow</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden the starlight from the star I wished upon</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden the face of the curious moon trying to catch on</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Golden the binds of the curtain that unfurl</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Keeping our secret safe.</span></div>
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-25069675710944889672012-01-08T10:45:00.001-08:002014-08-10T10:41:31.906-07:00Wish upon a star<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The intoxicating smell of cigarettes </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Electric sounds of your fingers against the guitar</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Looking into the glass in my hands</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The swirling liquid like golden lights on a dark night</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Words & giggles, laughter and silliness </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This isn't me, not what I do</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Good Sense, to thee I bid adieu</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Take another sip to wash away any regrets</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Looking up at the sky wistfully</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wish I may, I wish I might, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh please, make my wish come true tonight</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Light breeze, curtain aflutter</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I gaze out the window, singing to myself</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sometimes wishes made upon a star</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do see the light of day</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dream or drunken mistake or worse, neither </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, awake and aware, befriending Nonchalance</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unwinding, like a stuck cassette, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dim and hazy, that night I cannot forget</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Detailed and clear – the memory</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I just don’t want to forget</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But that's all it'll remain </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It'll be a secret, between Silence and I</span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-60577786698830678462011-12-01T01:10:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:41:12.633-07:00"Eh... What's up, doc?”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If I asked my doctor THAT he’d probably say, “Well, seems like your fever, again. Blood pressure seems normal, though...” Sigh!</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You know how we all, always, complain about the illegibility of various physicians’ handwritings? Yeah, well, indecipherable writing isn’t the only thing that’s plaguing our medical professionals. Along with, Handwriting 101, there is a desperate need to introduce a refresher course on “Subtlety, Soft Skills and Sense of Humour” in the syllabus of medical courses. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why? I’ll tell you, why!</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Case in point: My X-ray reports that showed nothing out-of-the-ordinary, except for this one glaring statement that claimed “Subject’s lungs are unremarkable.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">UNREMARKABLE? Really, now?! They could’ve said “Subject’s lungs function perfectly well”, or “Subject has normal lungs that do what they should do just fine”. Instead, they call my diligent, well-performing lungs, UNREMARKABLE. The thoughtlessness of it all! </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, what does it take for lungs to be deemed “remarkable” by the medicine people, anyway? Will pumping out oxygen to the rhythm of ‘Why This Kolaveri Di” do the trick?</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As if it wasn’t good enough that my lungs, despite not having any visible medical defects, was qualified as unexceptional, my doctor, rather unkindly informs me that I have “small veins”! Did you even know there was an optimal size defined for blood carrying vessels? Well, I didn’t. You can just blame it on the education system (or, maybe, I was absent the day they taught this in science class). So, anyway, after the doctor had pronounced my veins “small” and nonchalantly walked off, I began my outrage:</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Small veins? SMALL veins? Small VEINS? What does that even mean? SMALL VEINS? And, how could he just say it quite like that and walk away without so much as a thought to my feelings? For people who are supposed to be life-savers, doctors can be so heartless.” (I’m not usually so dramatic. Getting overly emotional was one of the side-effects of the medicines I was taking at the time. Really.) “He could’ve just said I have delicate veins,” I suggested. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mom who was glued to the newspaper and only half listening to her unwell daughter pointed out, “Delicate implies that you have normal-sized veins that are err... umm... fragile.” Whose side is she on, anyway?!</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Fine, petite, our-injections-are-too-big-for-your-fine-blood-vessels,” I continued brainstorming. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“The needles of injections are uniformly sized – there’s no such thing as a big injection,” came the wise interjection. Again, pick a side, MOM!</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Weak me grumpily grumbled, “No such thing as BIG INJECTIONS, but I can have SMALL VEINS. HMPF!”</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mom, finally looked up from the paper, and kindly suggested, “How about this: Your veins are too fine for the standard-sized needles?” Hmm, that could work. Mommy could even deliver that S3 refresher course, maybe!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
Well, to be slightly fair (I have recently stopped taking those pills that make me over-sensitive, so now I can be fair to people...), all that medical jargon crammed into their brains must hardly leave any space for Standard English words. Like, take for instance the cute intern who came to check-up on me (or maybe he was curious about the small-veined girl. Maybe, there aren’t too many of us. Maybe, I’m a relic for these intern types). He cutely stood there, rocking back and forth on his heels in a most un-doctor-like-manner, as the nurse checked my temperature. 102 degrees, she blandly informed McCutie. (My fever had learnt NOTHING from Sachin Tendulkar!) <br />
<br />
And, then he knowingly nodded and muttered, “Yes, every bacterial infection has its own unique manifestation.” And, in my medicine-muddled-mind all I could think is “Wow. Sigh.” It was only after the effects of the mind-dulling tablets had worn off that I realised all he was trying to say is, “Dudette, I haz no idea why your fever won’t go away, yo!”<br />
<br />
And, in another shining example of how doctors and their patients clearly speak different languages though it all sounds like English, is the time I tried to joke with my doctor about my illness-induced-weight-loss. Always the optimistic one, I proudly told my doctor, “Well, Doctor, I seem to have lost 5 kgs!” <br />
<br />
Without looking up and while still scribbling in his only-slightly-legible-scrawl, he said, “Oh, don’t worry, you’ll gain it back. If your weight has been around one area for a while, it will tend to go back up.” <br />
<br />
Mind screamed, “Whaaaaa... is he implying that I was fat?!” Face assumed calmness, though a nervous giggle escaped and I quickly replied, “Oh no, Doctor! I’d rather not gain back the weight I lost. Instead, I’d rather lose some more! I mean, I wouldn’t want a relapse or anything. But I could shed a few more kilos. Hehe...” <br />
<br />
Doc looked at me with seriousness in his deep-doctor-eyes and said, “A relapse has nothing to do with weight loss,” and he proceeded to give me a lecture on regular exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. Too late to add, “LOL, just kidding, doc!” right!<br />
<br />
Anyway, after the lecture on merits of eating “only home-cooked food for the next one month” had ended, it spiraled into a sermon on the merits of “resting well”. I took this as my cue to enquire about when it would be a good time for me to return to my 10-hour-work + 3-hour-daily-commute schedule. I diplomatically ventured, “So, Doctor, how many days of rest do you think I need before I can get back on my feet?!” (See, what I did there. Real smooth. Something my doctor could learn from me. The art of subtlety. Yes.)<br />
<br />
Automatic response: “10 days at least.” A pause. Close peering over doctor-glasses happens. Then, “You’re in college, right?”<br />
<br />
I blush. I giggle. I respond. “Err. No, Doctor. I’m a working professional.”<br />
<br />
Back to scribbling, automatic response: “Oh, ok, in that case 7-8 days rest!”<br />
<br />
Well, there’s no rant here. I’m just flattered he thought I was still in college and that makes up for the tactless “small veins” remark. Good save, doc, good save!</span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-38587255895397464052011-10-03T22:24:00.000-07:002014-08-10T10:40:51.854-07:00Ghosts of her past<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutero/4209142672/" title="hand prints by Deutero, on Flickr"><img alt="hand prints" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2772/4209142672_812b5fbc50.jpg" height="334" width="500" /></a>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A hidden key, a rusty lock, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unused and abandoned,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But still right where she had left them,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just like the ghosts of her past</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A withered flower</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hidden betwixt pages </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of a dog-eared diary</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On which were scribbled words</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Describing emotions she could no longer summon</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A colorless picture</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a worn out frame </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hanging on a faded wall</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Captured in a candid moment</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A recollection she would rather forget</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A clock, now, quite dead </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Upon a mantlepiece</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Its quiet digits betraying a time</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Outside her memory</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Its life had continued without her</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A few words of love</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a yellow letter</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With a hint of romance</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The resilient prose had stayed, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Keeping the promise their maker had disregarded</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A solitary teardrop</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A lonely descent</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That disturbed the dust</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Which had rearranged itself</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To cover bygone tracks</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Imprints of a home that once was</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tell-tale signs in obscure corners</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of a life that once was</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The forlorn room</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lit by the rays escaping through the broken window</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shattered panes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shards of glass</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Held together by each other</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She dared not move them lest they cut her </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Instead she smiled at it and a million reflections smiled back</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just like the ghosts of her past!</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-86824622945004533142011-02-22T08:48:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:40:36.375-07:00Finally...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Surreal night, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Odd sense of peace descending, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Burying all worries, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Was it denial? </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or finally, acceptance?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutero/5991799796/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="yellow is for speed? by Deutero, on Flickr"><img alt="yellow is for speed?" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6026/5991799796_c281d304d2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Weightless, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And hurtling through space, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Following an infinite golden light, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Was it goodbye? </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or finally, a homecoming?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Breathless,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Heart a-flutter, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A gasp and a sigh, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Heavy eyelids, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Was it fatigue? </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or finally, tears?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fumbling fingers, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Flowing words, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stumbling thoughts, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Was it gibberish? </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or finally, meaning?</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-76831536377438819622011-02-08T20:34:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:40:17.842-07:00Life behind purple tinted glasses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In that moment her sunglasses were her best friends.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tainted emotions that on her heart heavily weighed,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That her treacherous eyes betrayed</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Behind purple tinted glasses lay entrapped.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Only hidden, not overcome</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Out of sight but choking her mind </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Escaping the only way they could find </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Through soft tears that hard frames couldn't stop </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She freed her hair from its rigid restraints </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And she let the wind blow them all out of place </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hoping it would hide her streaked face </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As the hurt and pain also fled their confines </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He glanced at her in the rearview mirror </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And he spied the tears through the futile disguises </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And briefly he wondered at what her past comprises </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the mirror could only reflect her tears, not their cause </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He realised it wasn't his place to judge or cure, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His only duty was to drive</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And hope that she would survive </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So he didn't ask why or where but just focused on the road ahead...</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-57315562457097283252011-02-01T20:38:00.001-08:002014-08-10T10:39:55.250-07:00Fool for you!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
</span>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh! What woe we cause ourselves</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Over finding love that is forever and true</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We fret and fawn, meddle and moan,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Turn into varied shades of red,green and blue!</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For every time we meet a boy</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Who is gentle as the moon</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And bright as the sun</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our heart goes into a swoon</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And our mind screams "He's THE ONE"</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Every good deed is magnified</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And flaws (if any) are vilified</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hellbent on discovering our soulmate in disguise</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We turn to our superpower to over-analyse</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"He maybe jobless</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and without a wage</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But he's trying so hard</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to turn a new page</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He's so smart</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and his thoughts so sage</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But he looks so boyish</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">like he's just out of college</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What, oh, what must be his age?"</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"There's this guy on my mind </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">as I write a sappy ditty</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gasp! He hates Titanic, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">only the-greatest-love-story-EVER! The tragedy! The pity!</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But he makes me laugh more than F.R.I.E.N.D.S,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sigh.. he's so charming and he's sooo witty</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think I may have a crush on him</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(But just itty-bitty)</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So what if he's from another city?!"</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"He's just so perfect, he's just sooo right.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We're so good together we just can't fight</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He's so talented, he can even cook</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whipped up a gourmet meal and fed it to me by candlelight</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then he strummed his guitar, sang me a song he'd written</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sigh! what a wonderfully romantic night...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But this was 8 hours ago, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">should I call him or wait? Oh what a terrible plight!"</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"So he's the love of my life but it's complicated</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And he's unlike any other guy</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He notices things & remembers stuff</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He's kind, thoughtful, sensitive & shy</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He brushed my shoulder, touched my hand</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And hugged me for THIRTY seconds as he said goodbye</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, he's kinda committed but that can't last</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He likes me too - said it himself & he can't lie</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh Good Lord, why won't you cause his girlfriend to die?"</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wily and wise</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In love we become otherwise</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Usually composed and cool</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How do we turn into such romantic fools?</span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-22059143739792123292011-01-26T12:20:00.001-08:002014-08-10T10:39:37.240-07:00Liberation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She lay there, slightly a-flutter</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Reluctant to take the leap and fly</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He held her in his boyish hands</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And with virgin thrill threw her to the sky</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She quivered and she shivered </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As the indifferent wind chilled her spine </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She sagged back and rested limp where</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the walled terrace, she knew she'd be fine </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Worried yet eager, he ran toward her</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As if knowing she wanted to be reassured</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And he whispered to her confident words </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As if knowing he could be heard </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gingerly he released her heaven-ward</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And once again firmly tugging, guided her flight</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cajoled, she let the breeze carry her </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cruising, coloured & tasselled, she was a pretty sight</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She was gliding, slowly climbing higher</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With scaling height, her confidence grew</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Overlooking the world, meeting clouds</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Buoyant, higher & higher she flew</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He caught her eye, as he floated in languor </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Majestic as he challenged the skies</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And the wind changed course </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A karmic conspiracy in disguise</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Soon they were eye to eye</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They flew side by side</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Entangled, they were a riot of colour </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She was oblivious to all, except that ride</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And then, she was freefalling</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Uncertain if this was real or imagined bliss</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The same wind, that was once her ally</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now pushing her down to an uncertain abyss</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As her paper body was ripped by thorns</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She came to realise that she had</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fallen in love</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But fallen from grace</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He had callously let her plummet </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He had brutally cut her strings</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But in her fall she was more free</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Than she had been in her rise to fame...</span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-34683392570122020242011-01-09T21:45:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:39:05.298-07:00Invaluable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like the pair of stilettos,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that once adorned her resilient feet,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">lending them grace and softness...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As she stood in them, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">tall and straight,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the world looked up to her</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and she stared back at life,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a smile on her lips and challenge in her eyes...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They had walked with her through the mundane,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and when she danced her happy-dance, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they tapped in rhythmic joy,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and when she sat on the cold floor,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">with her knees pulled close to her chest,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they caught her salty tears... </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now they lay in a forgotten corner</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">fighting age as it tried to steal their glory... </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like the ornate wrist watch</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that once hung loosely along her wrist,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">kissing palms that were garralous with destiny.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Always her steadfast companion,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">not begrudging her for all the good times it was ignored,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for it hated being a villain like the clock </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that struck 12 in cinderella's story.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So it would try to stop its steady advance, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Failing always, merely a puppet strung by fate...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was always the first thing she turned to,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">when she awoke blue and dazed,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in the midst of a blue night...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now sitting atop a dusty cabinet</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rusty and unmoving...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hands almost meeting but not quite,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it was always almost-12...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Looking at these old objects</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She smiled in memory at their little conspiracy,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that night 13 years ago,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">when atop a terrace with lights that outshone the million stars</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">she had twirled and spun and swayed to an endless tune</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">till her faithful pair of high-heels gave way,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">sending her falling into his arms</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and as he broke her fall and cradled her shaking body</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">her watch in a heroic act, froze in motion,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">forever preserving that pure moment...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Old now, worthless they lay</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But as long as they brought that playful smile to her weathered face</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They would forever remain invaluable!</span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-60243236478700640132010-11-24T22:30:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:38:48.982-07:00Defenseless<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Throbbing temples, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Untamed thoughts racing inside my mind, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Trying to break the fences,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like wild horses kicking up a storm...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An unruly force that won't let my eyes close </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tearless and thoughtful, unblinking eyes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I lie awake...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And wonder...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wonder about the vague promises you sketched</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That my fertile mind converted to colourful masterpieces</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tripping over your artful words</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My heart travelled to exotic dreams </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lost now, it weeps </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As my brain returns to the black and white sensibility</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's no bright hues to distract </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And no gray to tolerate..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The defences that you disintegrated,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With promises that weren't etched in stone</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And dreams that weren't bound by a silver ring,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Are up again... </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My mind screams, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"You're a million-dollar scam on the front page of a tabloid" </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Bad news," my heart agrees...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"But so hard to ignore," it quietly adds</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Smiling now, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Knowing full well it will weep again at another's words</span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-59335296967707095572010-08-28T03:34:00.000-07:002014-08-10T10:35:53.681-07:00Sonnets of Strife<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would've loved to name this one "Love And Other Disasters" :P</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Delicate shoulders shaking, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eyelids quivering,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A heart-quake is what struck her,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Crumbling the walls of laughter...</span><br />
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</div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A volcanic eruption,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Out of control emotion,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Reason is hard to find,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As ashes of anguish cloud her mind</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A tsunami of tears, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A flood of fears,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A drought, feelings devoid, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Disasters even destiny couldn't avoid...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She stands on shores, a battered mass, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Littered with broken glass, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shattered memories of a surreal past,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Numb now, to a love that couldn't last..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Don't leave her now, I beg of you...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You're like the moon that dispels her dark doubts</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whose gravity can calm the unruly waves of her life</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You're like the wind that carries away her shouts</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whose gentle lilt can turn into sonnets her cries of strife...</span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-68861001769883285002010-08-11T22:06:00.000-07:002014-08-10T10:35:32.187-07:00Castles in the Air<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She rested her head on her silky, cool pillow,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In her lavender room, now bathed in an orange glow..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She invited sleep as she laid and curled,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Coz her dreams were more real than her real world..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She wore ribbons in her hair,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And her heart on her sleeve..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And she climbed up a beanstalk-stair,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To reach the castles she built in the air..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Built far away from everyday cries,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Encased in the calm of rose-hued walls,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Away from the turbulence reflected in violet skies,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of storms brewing from white lies..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Built alongside a lake of feelings, frozen over the years..</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whose thin ice contained dark waters,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As salty as her tears</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Running as deep as her fears </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bound by a white picket fence, beside which she'd be sitting,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As gentle breezes brought by promises, soul-mates...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Neither approaching nor acting, simply waiting,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Until the winds of change took em all, left her simply wishing</span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-51656465369136422762010-07-25T21:39:00.000-07:002014-08-10T10:35:13.610-07:00Garden of hope<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unruly hair</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unblemished skin</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Untouched by the world</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bathed in innocence</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The morning dew is her companion,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The flowers are her confidants... </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She uses the sky as her canvass</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To carve shapes with a sprig of grass...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deutero/5994484837/" title="Crystalline Memories by Deutero, on Flickr"><img alt="Crystalline Memories " src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6143/5994484837_e714815117.jpg" height="320" width="270" /></a></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Brilliant eyes</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beautiful lips</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Blossoming youth</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Learning, feeling, sensing.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rising moon is her guide,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The setting sun is her secret-keeper...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As she reaches for his hand, </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a starlight symphony as fireflies strike a band...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Withered limbs</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Weathered face</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wounded heart </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Awaiting autumn...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The darkest night brings hope,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But every dawn brings fear of another lonely dusk...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As she stares at the garden, her youth's spirit-</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And makes wishes of eyelashes longing for another visit.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-1346105981671955222010-02-18T23:21:00.000-08:002014-07-27T12:12:27.295-07:00Thirst...<span style="color: black;font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Her throat is parched and her lips are dry<br />
even the sweetest nectar and holiest water can't defy<br />
This unquenching thirst<br />
Born from a lack of words<br />
Lodged in the unreachable depths of a withered heart<br />
They refuse to escape from lips waiting to part<br />
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</div>
<br />
She tries to speak-<br />
Find Some expression, even if it's meek<br />
Of unrequited love<br />
Of unappreciated effort<br />
Of unfaithful friends and loyal foes<br />
Of emotion sapped by unrelenting woes..<br />
<br />
Oh! Won't you look into her eyes so hollow<br />
Yet you can see the pain that runs deep, iris steeped in sorrow<br />
One touch will unbreak her<br />
One kind word will unleash the tears<br />
That will dissolve the lump of what's been left unsaid<br />
That will revive a soul that's trapped and near-dead...</div></span>Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-39853105679870681482010-01-24T06:15:00.001-08:002014-08-10T10:34:37.613-07:00The Hearltess Angel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He arrived </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like the first ray of a spring morning’s sun</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Quiet yet ambitious</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Hoping to light the world</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He did hers – with his brilliant thoughts</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He – the unaware genius</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He made his way into her life </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like the fresh drops of a monsoon shower</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Seasonal yet persistent</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Quenching the thirst of a parched earth</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He revived her life – with his constant company</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He – the unwilling saviour</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He warned of his departure</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like autumn’s shedding leaves</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Slow yet certain</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">A reminder of empty days and lonely nights</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He unravelled her hopes, undid the good</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He – the heartless angel</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And, now like the cool winds of winter</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He moves noiselessly, stealing warmth</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">His icy coolness leaves her tears frozen</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And she is stranded on the verge, the brink</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Wanting desperately to summon emotion but unable</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He – the unlikely friend <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">But, he will stay </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Like the distant star in the velvet night sky</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Aloof yet brightly shining</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">A glimmer of hope for a weary traveller</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">He – the reluctant memory</span></span></div>
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-59582539009263357752010-01-15T10:57:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:34:06.973-07:00A Lifetime...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">She stares without seeing,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Looking back at me with unblinking eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">That tell secrets wordlessly speaking,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Of trapped ambition or severed ties<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Forlorn she stands - unsmiling and speechless<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Her lips so arid as laughter has withered away<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">For a fleeting moment her eyes lose their emptiness<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Filled with a fond memory of a forgotten friend or a sunny day<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Lonely she stands singular and stoic<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Her rigid limbs unmoving, frozen<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Even as crowds move around her - thick and quick<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Betraying the remnants of arrogance, confidence that once was brazen</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Staring back at her – I am trapped in a timeless vacuum – <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Face of regret, body of unexpected defeat, aura of gloom<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And it is like looking into an eerie mirror <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Prophesising a reality far from dreams, of a remorseful future <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And I open my eyes <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">To see the miracle in each second<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">As the repressed secrets buried in them <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Flow like tears down my cheek<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">I free my ears to catch the beats of life<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And the sudden surge of energy <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Finds release in the tapping of my feet<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">My lips twitch upwards in a reluctant smile<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">As my resolve grows stronger - <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">What will be, will be<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">But it won't be from of a lack of trying...</span></span></div>
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-292449812880299523.post-56961641351241082682009-12-21T12:15:00.000-08:002014-08-10T10:33:49.018-07:00Possessions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These tables around which we would once gather,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">To share boisterous chatter and solemn silence...</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These windows that liberated the sound of our laughter,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Filled with gaiety you only find in the company of friends.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These walls which were once witness to us living,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Within which toiled and rested, did and dreamt...</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These corridors that once echoed our thinking,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">As we faltered, fell yet made another attempt.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These roads upon which we once strolled,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Together, step-by-step, hand-in-hand...</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These streets which we once explored,</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Making our own paths – random and unplanned.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">These are symbols of a time gone-by</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Reminders of what shaped my being</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Though others may now those tables occupy</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And through those windows, new eyes are seeing</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Within the walls may blossom new lives</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And the corridors may carry a different sound</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">On those same roads, another march arrives</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">And more unseen streets await to be found... </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">Though, to my successors these symbols I resign</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These memories will forever be mine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></div>
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Joanne D'Souzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09216935717182017273noreply@blogger.com4