Night Is the New Day
Poetry
I wonder,
how easily some beings embrace
the mornings…..
How it resonates with the grace created
when the first rays of the day
touch the earth
making flowers bloom
igniting the imagination in poets…..
On the contrary,
I prepare for the battle with nothing
but sweaty palms, short breaths, fake smiles
and a poker face…..
On my way,
I notice the vitalized world
For most of them, it is enthusiasm
But for me,
it’s just the struggle…..
The consequences of making things more complicated
than they are supposed to be…..
In the name of survival, thriving and the loved ones,
people are eager to ignore conscience, justice, and fairness
“Grow up, fool,”
A voice in my head begins to scream
“They were born into the circumstances. They never asked for this mess.”
“How dare you judge them?”
I try to listen to my head
resisting my heart
“Did they really not ask for this?”
The inner voice continues…..
But this time it is the heart that comes forward
Suddenly, I catch a glance of
an epiphany
The cause and effect!
Karma to be precise!
“How dare you judge them yet?”
It’s the heart that begins to confront this time
But that tune isn’t as rough as the one in my head
It’s more like the one that belongs to my beloved…..
But my Paranoia still plays tricks on me
Is her smile sincere?
Is that offer as reasonable as it sounds?
Or are they trying to rob my very last penny?
Being in the place
where I make my living
I let my eyes roam around
gathering the essence of my surroundings
I silently try to decode each dialogue, whisper, and gesture
What's the purpose behind them?
Lying, cheating, stealing, and backstabbing?
I pause for a moment and begin to wonder
Does delusion cloud my perception?
Then, I spontaneously begin to reflect on past
The way I connect dots made sense!
How I foresaw one’s tears with a heavy heart!
The downfall of the lady who overlooked my warning!
But most of the time, I choose to remain silent cowardly
What if I got it wrong this time?
What if I were truly paranoid?
On my way home,
I stop by the sea
As the day comes to an end
Fishermen are going to begin theirs…..
The wind carries the warm good-byes of their wives and kids
My heart melts
while my lips whisper a silent prayer for them
Again, the environment is getting busy
Just like with the dawn of the light
also with the arrival of the dark…..!
I can’t help but think about the irony
And it makes me genuinely smile
I reach the city square with folded sleeves
and an untucked shirt
overhearing the chatter of couples on the sidewalk…..
The woman looks weary and the man looks bargaining
Looks like the day has cost her her beauty
even though some fragments are still visible
She walks away from him cursing and blaming
Still, her heart is softer enough to give away
a portion of the stack of notes
he spent on her to live the illusion
to a bunch of homeless people
while I stay there dumbfounded digging into my pockets
cursing myself for awaiting motivation……
Being at the bottom of the stairs
I try to contain myself
It’s true I was eager to get here
But like the kid who saves the tastiest food for the last
I let the anticipation build in me higher than the evening sky
As usual,
my feet take me to my doorstep
faster than I wanted them to…..
Leaning on the adjacent wall
after knocking on the door
I sigh in relief
letting go of my imaginary masks….
As always, the door slowly opens
And there she is…..!
My beloved….
The muse I worship….
The girl who makes sure
to remind me that my effort matters…..
The effort for making it to the end
of another day…..
The exhaustion fades away
just like ice cubes dissolve in water
But still, there must be fragments
And I never doubt her ability to pick up on signs
She holds my hands looking into my eyes
A look with a combination of empathy and humor…..
At the next moment, she asks the same rhetorical question
“How dare you judge them?”
With that, I fully come to my senses
I stare at her choosing my words
Then, she winks playfully
making us burst out laughing
And at the end of the day,
everything is water under the bridge…..
The sun has gone down
Even though the moon is not there
to fulfill the appetite of dreamers
starry heavens are inviting
the curious imaginers to
look into the ancient wisdom
of stars…..
The breeze that comes
carrying the sound of nocturnal birds
brings a gentle reminder
A reminder to be received by the ones
who are in tune with nature…..!
The hours of criticism are about to flee
The time has come to unleash the inner-self
and enter the playground of non-judgment…..
As Rumi once said,
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing
there lies a field”
So, as long as they aren’t violating each other’s space
it’s anybody’s sanctuary to act upon their wildest imagination…..
