It's so ironic that we ourselves created a world we want to escape every waking moment.
Red blazing fire danced before my eyes, greedily engulfing my mother's body. The crackling sound of fire dominating any other sound caused by the crowd of people. The world faded around me as i concentrated on the sight in front of me. I wasn't even aware how many hours have passed since my mom drew her final breath. If someone told me to describe the hours subsequent to her death, I probably wouldn't be able to string four sentence together. Those hours had been hazy. I remember holding her hand with one hand and the other resting on her chest feeling her heartbeats as her heart heaved for the last time. I remember trying to get ahold of myself as the devastation hit me like wave of tsunami. The feeling of loss was sudden. I tried to think of all those impending arrangements and formalities I have to do, so I wouldn't break apart in a hospital room. After all, I have long since known of her illness. I knew what was coming. I had time to prepare myself. I shouldn't be loosing it like this. I managed to distract myself for almost five seconds before I lost it and as if a dam broke loose all the emotions hit me at once. The devastation, the loneliness, the loss, the confusion, the anger, I felt it all. The pain was almost physical, as if someone was ripping me apart limb by limb. I don't know how much time passed while I sat there sobbing hysterically. I don't know when people started coming in, awkwardly muttering their condolences, some taking me in a firm embrace as if they're touch will pacify the raging storm inside me. I wish it could but their solace couldn't reach me through the thick layer of sorrow. But I was still grateful for their presence. Even though their faces were a string of blurry images that I didn't care to acknowledge at that time, I was still grateful, especially when they stuck around and took over the cremation arrangements. I wasn't sure I could have taken care of things in my current state of insensibility. I guess, this was the boon of living in a small town. People always make time to stand by you. Either because they expect the same from you or they just don't want to appear insensitive, the reason doesn't matter.
In the process of breaking down, trying to pick myself up to give my mom a proper cremation and seeing her motionless body turning into ash something inside me went numb. I was tired. Tired of my mind being clogged up by emotions. Tired of life being so unfair. I wanted to stop feeling. I wasn't one to let my emotions take control of situations. Guess, that was before I had a brush with grief. And I was glad I didn't have anymore family, glad that I wouldn't have to go through it again. I kneeled near the ashes as the fire died down watching the thinning smoke still rising from the ash. I closed my eyes and tried to envision my life from this moment forward. And for the first time in life I felt burdened by life. For the first time I had no one to lean on. I was truly and utterly alone.
Many came before me,
Many have yet to come.
To profess a velleity,
To seek direction,
Standing right here,
Where you can see
The light of hope
Rising from the horizon.
HOPE
You are the cruelest of them all
The path is now lost.
And all of us wanderers have nowhere to go.
Mirror, mirror on the wall;
Save your breath, save your words;
What makes you my judge and jury;
You see an image, not my beauty.
Whoever says mirrors don't lie,
When your very reflection is inverted.
What's left in this world?
The dreams crushed
By love or lack of it
The waves of ruins
crashing nearby
While the light of hope
Setting on the horizon
The silence sings along
With our pain
Untill the mind craves oblivion
To run towards insanity
To seek shelter from reality
You patched yourself up
With little pieces of me
But can't you really see
It has left me empty
The daunting hollowness
Eating me from inside
Yet your eyes taunt
I must be guilty
What's so additive
About the pain and the heartache
That I couldn't step aside
Until pushed to the edge
I couldn't leave your side
The millions of seconds
It took me to realise
The best of your moments
Are the worst of my life
I felt each breath seeping into my lungs.
I felt each ray of sunshine that touched my skin.
I felt every gust of wind that blew past me.
I felt all those emotions hidden in my heart.
The sorrows, the love, the dreams and the hope.
I felt the time that ticked by and I didn't care.
I felt my heart beating to it's own rhythm.
I felt the silence telling me something.
Telling me that I'm alive.
And I believed it.
I was your shadow
Always following you
In stormy nights
In grainy lights
Even in your darkest hours
When you were too immersed
In your own darkness to see me.
I was your air
Essence of your life
But unnoticed
Until the day I left
And you realised
What suffocation is.
I was your sun
You frowned
Whenever you looked at me
Hid yourself
In my presence
But you didn't realise
Without me
No dawn is coming.