To Drive into the Sunset Singing into the Night
Poetry
They told me to be ahead of everybody
To read between the lines
To race against the time
“Competition is the new norm”
They kept saying
“If you failed to keep up, you’ll be left behind”
They warned me
So, I tried my best to play by the rules
To get the hang of moving ahead with the current;
To make sure I get exactly where I was supposed to be
Miraculously, things fell into place
My outcomes resonated with the external validation
And I was proud of my killer instinct
So, I ignored the harsh blows I received during the ride
“In the end, everything's gonna be worth it”
I told myself
Yet, somehow I had forgotten the universal mechanism
that nothing lasts forever;
that every journey comes to an end
or has its own breaks
In my pursuit of the trending norm,
I had lost sight of that inevitability
I had overlooked my inner self
and the void within me
The consequences were fatal
They sent me through an endless rabbit hole
making me survive on psych meds, barely giving me the space to function
and putting me somewhere I was forced to question the validity of my ideals
Everything looked static
But deep down inside, I witnessed the collapse of the world I once romanticized
What seemed sweeter earlier began to look like the epitome of bitterness
Those overwhelming skyscrapers no longer depicted the triumph of human civilization
They were nothing but pillars that had risen from hell silently mocking the human race
A race that has been so ignorantly digging their own grave…..!
The exotic nightlife couldn’t heal my fatigue anymore
Instead, my weary eyes sought solace in a different antidote
Probably, a flower-plucking girl in a meadow
bathing the final rays of the sun before it sets
Or,
a change of atmosphere!
To relax by a stream flowing down under the green canopy;
To let the fragrance of wildflowers conquer my nostrils;
To listen to the ear-soothing songs of the nightingales…..
The restlessness and suffering became my only companions
Yet they gave me the perspective to shatter the illusions
using the elements of its own;
To realize that the dreams I chased were not really mine;
To see how they were imposed on me by others who claimed to know what’s best for me;
To contemplate how my spontaneity didn’t align with my goals…..
Too many collisions on the road!
Too many swings-and-misses!
Too many years wasted on desperation!
And too many hours spent in the therapist’s office!
Until I came to see the golden truth that no one’s ever independent
In fact, nobody’s ever going to be free
unless they look into their own inner being
and find a way of liberating themselves
Just like I learned my lessons the hardest way
I got used to letting go of competing with the mirage
Yes,
Time!
The grand illusion I blindly confined myself to…..!
With that came the harmony
and the urge to ditch the desire to conquer the world
and to be in the center of everything
It might not be for everyone
but in the end,
I just want to connect with people;
To fall in love;
To drown in nature;
And when the rain falls while the accompanied petrichor
fills my lungs,
I just wanna drive into the sunset
singing into the night…..
