Why the Hate?
I ask a stranger how s/he was born?
From a mother’s womb they say.
Just like I once was.
So why the hate?
I ask a baby what religion is.
To the best of my ability to decipher baby talk,
s/he appears not to know.
Just like when I was a baby,
blissfully unaware of grown-up talk.
So why the hate?
I ask a stranger how s/he communicates?
With a tongue just like mine, they say.
The birthplace of every language, I think.
So why the hate?
I once spilled paint on my arm.
A palette of various colors made habitats on my skin
before leaving during my next shower.
Yet my heart, personality & identity
remained the same throughout.
So why the hate?
I try to form a collective hypothesis of my conversations:
We’re all born the same way & die someday.
Skin color & religion prove to be highly incompetent
to help a heartbeat, lungs breathe & brain cells grow.
Beauty: A New Definition
For generations the wise ones have said
That beauty is in the eye of the beholder
But time passes, generations evolve
Some simple, some a lot bolder
Some proverbs die
Some new are born
Left to all to choose
Which are progress, which are scorn
Perhaps a similar time has come
To give beauty a new definition
Leaving the beholder out & say
beauty is in the heart of the pious one!
Beyond the Obvious
How the naive think
What abuse means
Perhaps some blue bruises
And a shattered spleen
Such evidence & signs
Are no doubt a fear
But is there no value
Of an isolated tear?
Everyone sees the obvious
Without a look inside
Curse this bloody flesh that makes
The wounded heart hide!
The Invisible Aura
Step into the vortex of my soul
To decode the language
I often speak to myself
Every night when I peel off my mirage
That the sea of gazes around me
surmises to be nonchalance
This is my universe where:
Depression is not a mere mood swing
It’s an actual chemical imbalance
My facial expressions are not always
Gateways to the feelings of my heart
Sometimes they are merely decor
My silence is not a symbol
Of any kind of equanimity
Listen to the aura who’s decibels
Don’t roar like a lion
But squeal like a mouse
Observe the aura that’s the
shy one in the corner
Acknowledge the unfelt emotions
For you may not feel them
But just a moment of your cognizance
Could determine their fate for eons
Soul Whisperer
I come with no ostentation
No glory or cavalcade
For I creep upon this junction
Not to arouse a racket
But to dismember the status quo
I make no proclamations to be
Your knight in shining armor
Or to dry your tears
But to bequeath equity of them
To feast on the salt with thee
I come not to sheath your malformations
But to stand in their gallery
And be a zealot for ages
Of what my heart senses to be
Not wounds but victors of endurance
Think not of me as a paladin
In a quaint fable
But a commoner just to proclaim :
I once bore what you did
And hearken the language of your soul
That others have stained as an enigma!
The Midas Scratch
Lay your fingers on the canvas of my flesh
And scratch till what you carve
Becomes the cynosure attire of my body
Never to be removed
Till the mind in its entirety
Is severed from the bones
Take no heed of any provisional brood
Or waterfalls of blood
For the blemishes will eventually mitigate
But the fable your fingers nurture with love
Will give me an immortal prevalence
To any and all around me!
Playing Along
After Leonard Cohen’s “Waiting for the Miracle”
When the heart drowns in total despair
I soothe it by telling tall tales
Of an intoxication known as hope
A miracle is coming, says the heart
The mind just plays along
I dance in the name off faith
Even when my feet are numb
Lest I reveal the inner abyss
A miracle is coming, says the soul
The body just plays along
Stay in the slaughterhouse
So, my wounds can blend in
Lie in the rain so tears seem small
A miracle is coming, say the tears
The eyes just play along
So far not a sign
Not even a mere shadow
Or the calm before the storm
A miracle is coming, I say
The miracle just plays along
(c) Neel Trivedi
Neel Trivedi is a freelance journalist & in the advertising business in Dallas, TX. He writes poetry & fiction. His work has been featured in Rhythm & Bones Magazine, Drabblez Magazine, Paragraph Planet, Dodging The Rain, Mojave Heart Review, Elephants Never, Chronos Anthology, Rising From The Ashes Anthology and Purpose Magazine. As well as Dailywisdomwords.com He can be reached on Twitter @Neelt2001
