A self-reminder, on Diwali

Something within you is gaining
momentum
A birthing waiting to happen
An aliveness waiting to be
experienced
A joy waiting to be discovered
A truth being unfolded...
Burst into that light, that radiance
For that is who you are

Yearnings

Amidst the din of the outside world
I look for you
Amidst the chaos of the mind and the emotions
I yearn for you
I know you are there
Yet I keep searching
And longing

I see you in the mountains
And the valleys
I see you in the markets
And the alleys
I see you in the light
And the darkness
I see you in the smiles
And the tears
I see you in the warmth of hugs
And the harshness of words
I see you in the summer sunshine
And the cold of the winter
I know you are here, there and everywhere

Yet I yearn
To feel your love in my heart
To think your clarity in my thoughts
To speak your wisdom in my words
To bode your rightness in my actions

I yearn
To live your Truth

I yearn
To sing your Song

Eros and Psyche

© Sketch and poem by Hetal Shah (Dragonfly)

The Beauty of Sorrow (The I-89 and the Green Mountain Blues)

Mists rolling down mountain tops,
softening their grandeur;
Clouds glazing the skies,
confusing their clarity;

A heavy sky keeps weeping
tears of a passing summer-
A summer of trials,
A summer of learnings,
A summer of inner endings.

And now the changing leaves
Speak of a new season approaching-
A new cycle beginning,
A new hope, a new me. 

Reflections

The beauty I see within you lies inside me too

The ugliness I see within you lies inside me too

Why then, the distance and the separation?

We are but mirrors for each other,

Mirrors reflecting the one true light.

All that is needed is a bit of scrubbing, a bit of peeling,

a bit of effort. 

You are my teacher and I am yours.

You are me and I am you.  

The birth of Venus
©Sketch and poem by Hetal Shah

I roam free

My spirit cannot be caged
Do not put me in a box
I roam free
Always have
Always will
This form cannot bind me. 
Nor can religion, race, culture or age.
Birth or death cannot confine me
Nor can time or space. 
Then how can you?

Floating

A lovely summer day, I went swimming. Not too long ago, a dear friend had taught me how to float in the water. It’s about letting go and trusting the water, she’d said. And it really is amazing. You let go of the fear, relax, and allow the water to engulf your body with its paradoxes of warmth and coolness, quiet stillness and soft movements. Let go, trust in life, and allow the comforting waves to lift you up while keeping you safely in their arms. And you just close your eyes and float, disconnected from the outside world, but connected to your heart, and your breath. For the longest time, it had been so hard for me to do this. I feared that if I lost control, I would drown. The truth is quite the opposite. 

Much like life. When lived inside out.

Zindagi beeti jaa rahi hai

Zindagi beeti jaa rahi hai
Waqt kisi ke liye nahi rukta
Kya sikha hai meine is zindagi se?
Kya diya hai meine logo ko?

Sirf kuch lamhe
Sirf kuch pal
Logo ke saath
Apne aap ke saath

Kaha jaa rahi hai yeh zindagi?
Kaha jaa raha hai yeh waqt?

Kyu meine kuch sikha nahi ab tak?
Kyu meine kuch diya nahi ab tak?

Khudgarzi se jeena ho to kuch hum sikhenge nahi, kuch hum denge nahi.
Sirf lenge, aur lenge.

Aur phir yeh zindagi aur yeh waqt to ruk ne waale nahi
Hum sirf rehejaayenge
akele

Humne tumhe rulaaya kyu

Humne tumhe rulaaya kyu?
Shaayad hum tumhe apna na paaye
Shaayad hum tumhe samajh na paaye
Humne tumhaare dil ko nahi dekha
Humne sirf apne swarth ko pura kiya

Ab kuch kehne ko nahi raha
Humko to saza mil hi gayi
Kyu ke humne tumko rula diya
Kyu ke humne tumko kho diya

Being found

I have you, my Love

And the need for anything else 

simply drops away 

into the nothingness that I came from.

Whirling Dervishes at HodjaPasha, Istanbul
© Sketch and poem by Hetal Shah



The inspiration for the poem came from witnessing these graceful Sufi dervishes whirl to the chants of Quranic verses, drums, tambur and ney (flute), in this Sema ceremony. This is a ritual of unification with the Divine. The dervishes hold their right hand open upward and the left one downwards - symbolizing the act of receiving from above, and giving below. We are but mere channels...

...And they whirl and whirl, fully in the Present Moment, fully intoxicated by Love. 

The Sounds of India: Early morning wake up calls

Bhajans being devoutly sung at 6am. Occasional wedding drumming happens at 7am. In the aftermath, any day and everyday, there's the continuous background raucous of honking cars interspersed with auto-rickshaws bleeping their dominance. Then the bicycles ringing their bells, begging to be heard too. And the scooters are starting up their wheezing engines, as vessels are clanking complaints of being washed. Somewhere up above furniture screeches protests of being moved. Moms are yelling across balconies to other moms, while dogs are bellowing sad renditions of their existence. Added to the orchestra are the sonorous announcements of Lorry-walas, and the rhythmic thudding of bats upon clothes being laundered. 

Amidst all this din of life being lived, and aliveness being declared boldly, if you listen carefully, there's the faint chirping of sparrows, and my favorite: the soothing and melodious cooing of pigeons...

There's room for everything and everyone here. 

With a sense of peace in my mind, and a smile on my lips, I have no trouble falling back asleep....

(Only until the final addition to the symphony beckons me awake: my tummy grumbling its longing for chai and nasta...:) )