Deep at the core of your being

Deep at the core of your being

Deep at the core of your being
Is that spark of the divine, all knowing, all seeing

The soul , shrouded in secrets of your heart
Whose intricate designs, you need to trace, peel apart

The ego ,that separates you from your truth,
That with satin lies, fallen from grace, you pamper, soothe

Whose anger at being slighted, love does raze
To fill your own cup , with ashes,a blue haze

With weight of the past, as it furrows your brow
Let it wither , this otherness, let it go now,

Water, nurture , grow the tree of love in the heart's soil
That no seething storm, no searing drought, will ever spoil 

The glow of knowing we belong in one another 
Together we prosper, in love grow, let go of the other.

--shubha 

P.S in response to a prompt on a Facebook poetry group, Wordsmiths 

Aroma of coffee - coffee stories

Aroma of coffee - coffee stories


On a visit to her friend's hometown
Three steaming cups of fragrant tea
On a pretty flowered tray
Carried by her roommate's smiling mother
Came towards her tantalizingly

But Ma, she likes coffee better
Blurted out her tactless friend
That's what she drinks every morning

Oh ! No I prefer tea in the afternoons
She said emphatically
Quickly breaching the awkward moment

She was particularly fond of neither
Coffee or tea
But how could she explain to her friend
What the aroma of morning coffee
Meant to her

How it seemed to waft in her childhood
The presence of Appa
Her earliest memories
Of standing in the early morning's pleasant chill
In the balcony with her dad
Before he left for office

The rustle of newspaper
Clearing of his throat
His voice,warm as the milk
She used to drink
His laugh , as sweet
The clink of his rings
Against the stainless steel tumbler
As he rolled it between his fingers
The smell, of his coffee

How could she explain
That her morning ritual
Of making, drinking coffee
Was a bridge to her Appa
As he labored overseas,
Many years now, alone
While her mother held fort here
To keep her brother, her
In the choicest schools
Afford them the best education
Pay medical expenses of her ailing grandparents

That the aroma of morning coffee
Wrapped in itself so many memories
A whiff of her parent's sacrifices


--shubha

Becoming us

Becoming us

In sunlit valleys
Of joy,camaraderie
We search,my sisters, I
For identity
For community

Questions scatter
On the breeze, that sighs
As we search for the we
Amidst the you, I

Purple , gray, our end looms
Mountain to the sky
Someday , we will all journey there
Crawling or chasing the butterflies

Then , through our linked hands
Understanding tingles
It is not about the end
Or the beginning
But the now, in belonging
In giving
In growing from the I
In becoming
Us

--shubha