The Journey Thus Far Poem by J T Jayasingh

In the silent empty hours
Life’s wagon wheel rolls back:
It shows hackneyed reels
Of undone actions;
The childish childhood
Simply passed without a fit pal;
Why he hated me, my brother?
Perhaps taking me as a threat;
Why that trembling fear
0f meeting girls and elders?
What an ugly shyness!
Even to face the next door aunties,
Somehow it passed, the childhood
With Mom’s stories, innocent plays
Quarrelling, weeping
Laughing and mocking.

Adolescence- red hot furnace-
Heavenly dreams gave way to
Burning thoughts of fleshy girls,
Red pimples on the cheek
And uneven beard on the face
Revealed the clashes inside,
Ambitions withered like petals
And loves shattered like fog.

Next, youth with oodles of confusions,
Fires and raw dealings;
Sometimes a light flashed
And the world was under his feet;
Sometimes a foggy darkness
Buried all his peace;
Reading, thinking and writing
Made truth a touch so near
But miles far away;
Conquering of every new peak
Opened new vistas of mounts,
Virgin valleys and untouched heights.

The young man arrived
With a fully grown up beard,
Honing body and soul and spirit
To start a brand new life;
Less in thoughts and more in dreams;
Careless and vibrant in moves
Like an insect at a flame- trial and error.

Every single step was a journey,
Every other stop was a learning spot,
When reality faded Maya revealed.
Vacant railway stations
Roaring shores, shop verandas,
Empty grounds after hectic actions
Jostling human seas, tender leaves,
Tired home coming birds,
Life trod on making lasting marks.
No sign was within the grasp
To know who he was
To know the purpose of life,
Simply a journey thus far
And a journey forward.

- J T Jayasingh