Category: hope

VERSE | LET’S BLAME IT ON THE RAIN

On By Mahvash K. M.In Faith, hope, Humanity, Pakistan, Politics, satire, thereset, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
Blamed again and again for massacres 
We have no clue of, our proxy war
Of 40 years ago is still biting us in the bum
‘Fo-Fum - this beast at least
Does not have the bite of the ‘other-man’ 
With its depraved ideology
Hijacking faith and humanity
Bankrolling them into human bombs
Boom! There goes another one 
Creating martyrs of civilians
We protest, we didn’t do it
They say we did, you see
Another ethos, dark and evil has floated in upon the sea
And so they insist it is us
Nurturing terrorists underground and above
Guns blazing, egos inflating 
Up up to the constellation 
Of ISRO satellites 

But what is this?

3, 4, 5, 6 jets down - not ours
We shook them right out of their stars - their 5 out of 5 on Amazon 
Now they’re raging like bulls in a ring
We’re meme-ing and gif-ing like comedy kings
I’m laughing at both
A little harder at the misplaced ire
Full of apocalyptic brimstone and fire

But here it is

War is not what any of us need
Good sense, forebearance, lucidity
Is the need of the hour and I want to believe
In this ideology even as I
Pin a little pin of green and white
Crescent moon and star shining bright 
Onto my beating heart full of pride

Because when all’s said and done

Between neighbours who live side by side 
Sharing a culture old as time
Huddled albeit over our nuclear buttons 
War really is just not an option.

Image: generated via illustration software

VERSE | SIT WITH ME

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, Kindness, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
Sit with me today my love 
We don’t have to talk 
I just want to know you’re here
So I can feel your warmth 

The day’s been difficult and sad
My body throbs with pain that’s new 
There are little jagged holes 
In my desolate heart now too 

I thought that I would go to bed
Lie with my grief a while 
But that kind of lonesomeness 
In its visceral rank and file 

Is not what my aching heart yearns for
While in its darkened nook it weeps
So sit with me for a bit my love
Let your tenderness cloak me.
Image: Fine Art America

VERSE | LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES

On By Mahvash K. M.In Faith, hope, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writing2 Comments 
Life is like a box of chocolates
Someone once said 
Sometimes you get 
The caramel-drenched centres
That melt in the mouth
Like liquid satin, swishing on your tongue
In silky, sweet tones
Caressing your taste buds until
Languidly, unhurriedly 
They lavish one last nectarous kiss
Before disappearing 
In ambrosial bliss
Down the tunnel of your throat

At others it’s the bitterness of a centre
That’s dark - 90% cacao
That unleashes on your tongue
Spearing, laughing, spearing again
Inflicting a bitter-sweet pain
Just enough for you to stop and think 
To wonder if this is good
A revelation 
Of taste, an experience 
That’s bold, distinct
To recall, to remember when 
You’re short on inspiration
Or whether in fact 
It is an assault no less
On the mundaneness 
The safeness 
On your everydayness
Plodding on your tongue
Like a thug that’s sold
His essence, his soul 
To the gods of gastronomic 
Absurdity and virulence

I look back, the rhyme is longer 
For the bitterness that lingers
In the mouth; but I have also realized 
That my taste buds have conspired 
With my mind to bind
Most of the time
To memories that are wholesome
Sugared, caramelised 
So even when I pick 
A chocolate from life’s mix
I hope for the sweetness 
The toffiness, the bliss
But I also sit in readiness
For the wave of bitterness 
That sometimes takes me in its grip
But always itinerant
Shifting, moving on
And so I too go on 
Savouring
Every piece, never wavering
From the cholocate box of life.
Image: Steven Willis

VERSE | GENTLE GLOOM

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
Today I woke up to clouds 
Sitting in the morning sky 
They’d been there a while 
They looked cozy-comfortable 
Their greyness was all shades 
From the smoky pearl of sparrows eggs
To the steeliness of granite 
They were contented in just being 
There was no bloated turgidity 
To their form, no urgency
To spend themselves 
To waterously end themselves 
To cut their rain-sodden wrists 
To release the essence from their seams 
In a tryst with vanity 
Of azure blue visions and dreams 

These clouds they rolled in differently 
Serenely, so quietly 
They lay claim upon the sky 
Wiping out all the sunlight 
But there were no thunderous sighs
No jagged lightning in their eyes 
No weeping sheeting pouring rain 
No genesis, no annihilation 

These clouds they swept in differently
Stirring up a little breeze 
Cool, it brushed against my skin 
There was no banshee trapped within 
Wailing of storms and other things 
The darkness lingered for a while 
It left a whisper in the breeze 
A silver rustle in the trees
Then gently, gently it went by.
Image: Van Gogh (Wheat field under a cloudy sky)

VERSE | BEDROOM PRISMS

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, Joy, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
I get out of bed, slowly, numbly
The morning dopamine has not kicked in
In fact, I have no sense of it 
I sigh … that’s never a good sign
It’s going to be one of those days again

I turn off the AC 
The gentle hum that had filled the spaces 
Where my happy hormone should have been racing
Stops. 
I blink slowly  
I look at my bedroom slippers 
Their shadowy forms 
Like yesterday’s leaves
Plucked off by the breeze
Lie on the ground 

I get up and look at my curtains 
Drawn together like knitted brows
Beige-blonde brows in a frown
Censorial, dragging down
I can’t bring myself to touch
Those sulking folds
To draw them back 
In the ritual 
Of morning time

I sit on the stool in front of my dressing table 
I look at the woman
Staring back at me 
Barely visible, her outline perseveres
Reminding me that I am still here
I watch her for a while 
Feeling nothing - vacuous space
And then  
I see something glimmer
At the back in the mirror 

The prism that I had hung up 
A vestigial piece of love 
From a chandelier that has long since 
Ceased to grace the space above
Had caught the first ray of light 
That had tried to flow
Into my chamber of shadows 
Teasing, romancing it
Holding, embracing it
In all its radiant rainbow hues 

I turn around towards this scene 
Of sudden brightness 
I get up, pull back the curtain 
Just a little bit. The colours
Fall in shimmering streams
Across my feet
I lift one up and then the other
I slowly dance with the rainbow of colour 
My blood gushes warm, I have to smile
It doesn’t seem like another dog day after all.

VERSE | TENDER METTLE

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
The very edge of the building 
The one of glass 
So fragile by day and in the cloak of night 
Catches the last light 
Of the setting sun
Sharp-angled, it thrusts its shoulders 
Into the fiery horizon 
Brave, unmoving 
It makes a stand
It will endure even as its heart
Of delicate, shattery glass 
Throbs behind curtains of lace 
Fluttering against its radiant face
Glittering, it plucks at the setting rays 
Shining swords drawn against 
The darkening skies 
And tomorrow’s daylight 
Until twilight when it will remind
The concrete world again 
That it still stands
It still prevails, gleaming, upright.
Image: Stained Glass Inc.

VERSE | THE BOUGAINVILLEA

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, plants, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
O Beauteous one 
This is for you 
For all the times that you have bloomed 
When all around have burrowed deep
Into the coolness of earth’s breast 
Hiding away, biding their time 
Until gentler, lighter climes 
Bestir them in their loamy beds
But you, O Intrepid one 
You have always overcome
You have worn your gem-like garb
In ways that made me catch my breath 
Racing, chasing to my heart
Wondering if you’d shimmer on
Or if your time here too was done 
But you wore your jeweled crown 
Glittering in the scorching sun 
I looked at you, O Enchanting one 
As you cavorted with the breeze
Those molten gusts upon my skin 
I gulped in then, the oxygen 
That sat timorously in the air
But I was pulled 
By the oasis that surrounded you 
Perfect, paradisiacal 
Unsundered by the elements 
There you danced so full of joy
I came to you pulled by the spell 
Of your vividness, O Alluring one 
You swayed your head 
Spangled whorls overspread 
Across the fretwork of your boughs 
Mesmerized I reached out 
Into your magic latticed web 
You pricked me then, O Bewitching one 
Your thorns were invisible, hidden 
I knew then that your glittering grace
Your wild gumption to face the sun 
Aren’t just in the softness of your blooms 
But in the armor you have chiseled from 
The tempests - stormy and searing
I looked at the ruby that had sprung 
On my fingertip that you had stung
It dazzled on my glistening skin 
Its precious seams filling my lungs
My essence and throb, O Wondrous one 
I found that day in the scorching sun.
Image: Fine Art America

VERSE | THINKING OF YOU

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, serenity, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
Hold my hand when you feel lost
I’m no prophet, no celestial guide
But I can keep your hand in mine
Sit with you by your side

Hold my hand when hope has dimmed
I can’t move mountains nor the seas
But I can be with you a while 
For you to feel some peace

Hold my hand when your tread is heavy 
I’m not Atlas, I can’t displace
The burden off your weary shoulders
But I can carry it with you a pace

Hold my hand when life is joyless
I can’t delight you nor beguile
But I can try to ease your ache
Give your face a little smile 

Hold my hand and let me try
To soothe your heavy heart a bit
Life’s ups and downs will keep going round 
But when you want, with you I’ll sit
AI generated

VERSE | YOU ARE

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writing4 Comments 
You Are
  Too different 
    Too controversial 
              Too weird 
  Too quiet
     Too absent 

You Are
  Too passionate 
Too frigid 
      Too pushy
           Too gregarious 
Too reserved 

You Are
    Too opinionated 
       Too invested
 Too indifferent, disinterested 

You Are
Too much but
You Are
Also not enough

These arrows used to fly 
East and west
Between the bazaars and the mosques 
Down and up
From my beating heart 
To my silent mouth, forging
Right angles containing me 
In burnished boxes glittering bright 
But in the moorings 
Of all these paradoxes writhing out 
Like strident dirges from treacherous lyres
Howling of brimstone and hellfire
Now I hear only one thing 
I only hear that one constant thing

YOU ARE!

In the refrains that ring
Thunder and break 
I hear it sing:

YOU ARE!

In all that cacophony 
In the clarion calls of propriety 
Pounding, rounding endlessly 
From the steeples of society 
That is all I ever hear now 

🌸 YOU ARE! 🌸 YOU ARE!  🌸 YOU ARE! 🌸

Yes I am! I finally am! This is me
And that is all I ever need to be.
Image: Fine Art America

VERSE | WHAT DREAMS MAY COME

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, truth, verse, womenwriters, writing3 Comments 
I had a dream last night
You were in it
Fuzzy, unclear 
But the hook was there
That had plucked you from somewhere 
Inside my head or maybe
From some deserted place in my heart
It wasn’t an act
Of which I was aware
I had no say
In the furtive way
You appeared around me again
Even if you were phantasmic, chimerical 
In that time, you were real
A swaying, decaying bridge coupling
The physical and the figmental

It left a bitter aftertaste
In my mouth when I awoke
I brushed my teeth
With renewed vitality
(My dentist would be happy at least)
I spent the day going over the locks
I had put around certain memories
These escapes 
Even in my dreams
Made me restless, agitated me
When I was awake
Tonight I will have my dose
Of vitamins and minerals 
(They promise all sorts of well-being)
So that when I dream
The bolted doors inside of me 
Keep holding their integrity   
                                                      
But even if they lose their might
Releasing spectres of the night 
I know that in my waking hours 
In dissecting and determining
The cryptic whys and wherefores
Of night-garish visages
Invading, distressing me
These dreams, these unbidden images 
Have already lost their sting 
They have shed their whipping wings
To fly at me when I’m asleep
Through all of my monster-proofing
And so deep down inside 
Something tells me that tonight
I will dream of other things.
Image: Trish Wade

VERSE | WINTER WITHIN

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, mentalhealth, poetry, truth, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
Life goes on wrapped up in days 
Amd months and years 
And then something small, inconsequential 
Peeps out of a grainy abyss 
It emerges unshrouded, unexpected 
And the fragility 
That is also life, folds up 
The soft blanket about us 
And we feel the chill 
Of new news, the icicles
Of probabilities, plausibilities 
Pierce benumbed flesh 
The fragility of life
Touches us with light fingers, it tries 
But our hearts beat like the delicate wings 
Of butterflies at the end of spring 
We feel, we reel we come undone 
For a while or longer and then 
The chill settles into our bones
Wistful companion for a season 
That somehow takes root 
While summer and autumn 
flit past in their time 
Winter settles into our boots
In the lines of our palms 
And behind our eyelids like iodex balm 
Tearing now and then at flesh and veins 
Amid the dead quietness it brings 
Of endings, a resting in the dirges it sings 
Winter becomes our climate within
And we toughen our skins 
With hope, nostalgia and other things 
And somehow we survive, we go on 
Wrapped in hours and days and years 
Until it happens all over again.
Stephanie Weaver

VERSE | A DROP OF STILLNESS

On By Mahvash K. M.In hope, poetry, verse, womenwriters, writingLeave a comment 
My peace is like morning dew
Perched on a blade of grass
It sits there in sublime solitude
While teeming, streaming life goes past

Some days ago that pearlescent drop
Dropped off its subtle peak
Down into the earth it went 
Into the soil it weeped

Since then I have been on edge
Where my dewdrop used to be
Filing life’s sharpness away
Filling me with serenity

My gut, my spine and my heart
Now beat confused paths within
Searching for the quietude
My drop of stillness used to bring 

While it balanced on the silken beam
Of nature in sweet repose
Soothing from the inside out
Blooming gently like a rose

My pearl is lost, now anxiety
Has taken its tender place
I’m agitated, overwrought
There are new lines upon my face

But like the ceaseless quest
Of the moon for the furthest star
I’ll keep looking for my peace until
It’s poised again on a blade of grass.