Seeing the god of death
By
THE PRINCIPLE OF HOPE
He sat there on the wheel-chair,
By
Come to take her child's breath
The mother fell with a yell
On his feet and begged
To take her life and
Let her child survive.
Well, that is a Mother
Always one step ahead of a father.
She suffers silently for her child for 9 months
And again suffers when he can't keep her for just 9 hours
She lovingly breast feeds her child
But the effect of that on him is mild [when he grows up]
She gets worried when her child is scared of a cat
But the child [when grown up] considers his mother as his doormat
She starves and makes her child eat
Only to be not offered a seat [in his house]
She carries the burden of her entire family alone
Only to be ditched by someone known [her child]
She works hard and gives him her name
But he fails to recognise her when he has money and fame
She does everything for her Blood
Sleeps on a floor of mud
Her heart breaks, when his tears are shed
She sinks, when he is not fed,
She wants nothing, but love [from him]
But he fails to realise his folly,
Enjoys his life with fun and jolly,
And when he does realise, it is too late,
So late, that it is not worth a wait,
He feels sorry, but words cannot be said,
There she goes to the grave dead.
Sindhu Gopalkrishnan
Thinking that life is not fair.
He went deeper and deeper into his past,
And remembered the incident that had left him aghast.
He was remembering his aim and his talent,
His passion in which he was perfectly consistent:
Athletics - his dream, his wish, his desire,
The only goal he immensely wanted to acquire.
"Go Sullivan! Go and win the race.
No one in this world can ever beat your pace."
The crowd roared, applauded and cheered him.
His burning desire to conquer seared him.
Just a few steps away from the victory line,
Just a few steps away from performing yet again really fine,
He tripped, and fell, hard on the ground,
The audience became still, there was no longer any sound.
Sullivan fainted, not knowing what ,
Till he opened his eyes and saw himself surrounded by hospital men.
"You are lucky indeed, Sullivan", he remembered the doctor saying,
"Had you been unlucky, between life and death, you would be swaying.
We just had to operate on your leg and in its place,
We had to put an artificial iron leg. So, for you, no more race!"
Sullivan stared at the doctor with shock, for a moment or two.
And then he realized that all his dreams had crashed and his wishes too.
Tears filled in his eyes, and started showing hopelessness.
He stared in dismay, and anguish, thinking about life's harshness.
His coach came in, smiling, and asked him, "My dear,
How are you feeling now? I hope you still don't have any fear."
"Coach, I will never be able to run again.
Why does life have to give so much pain?"
He uttered these words as tears came wetting his eyes,
He had lost all optimism, as if no one existed in those distant skies.
His coach came to him and said, "Sullivan,
Till now I have successfully taught you how to run.
Now let me teach you the utmost principle of this earth:
The only principle which fills the lives of the unsuccessful with mirth.
The principle which still keeps man alive: the principle of hope,
Which gives all those who have failed, for living, some scope.
The word impossible, if broken, itself says I'm possible;
It signifies that for each enterprise, each one of us is able.
So stop crying now, and take care of yourself physically,
For soon we'll be back on the tracks, to work on your running ability."
Sullivan stared at his coach, his eyes conveyed no message.
And then his lips moved to smile and say, "Yes coach! I have the courage."
Six months of continuous training, he finally entered a race...
His coach's words kept ringing in his heart "Just maintain your pace."
He came last; he could not overtake any of the others.
But when he finished, he was welcomed by cheers by all his brothers.
This went on for the second race also, and the third, and the fourth
And so on till the seventh, until the eighth, in which he came forth,
He conquered two competitors and came third last,
His happiness knew no bounds, even though he was not so fast.
And this chain went on, till in his twentieth race track,
Where seeing him running, people had to admit that Sullivan is back.
He was racing with the wind; as if he would never stop,
If his movement was running, then the others' was simply a trot.
He won the race and was given the first prize,
His receiving his award was accompanied by hoots and cries.
He was asked to speak a few words; it was indeed special.
He started speaking by thanking his coach for being so critical.
He then thanked the other thing which gave him, to win, so much scope,
It was the only thing which made him even live: the principle of hope.
Vaanya