Road to Solace

The road to solace is a messy one,
Strewn with pieces of my memories,
Heart lays invisible beneath
Shadows of fear, of uncertain lives.

Picking up shreds, I try to hold together,
Those smiles and happy times,
When I hopped along dancing waves,
Running into a drove of pecking pigeons.

As I sift through my collection, I recollect,
Many a wide open faces, in sheer marvel
At a structure of splendour, a display effect
Architecture had inspired in every cell.

Now as I mend the torn fragments,
A pain shoots up to my eyes,
But a heat of resurrection overtakes,
Sweeping aside all despair, all sighs.

But a larger doubt still looms large,
Will a billion be bluffed and bullied again-
In to the contrived make belief?
Or will it be the rising of a populace,
For righting the errors of a century?

I wish to smell a frequent scent of peace, see a happy face,
For without, it is still half way on the road to solace.

Divya Rao
December 7, 2008

Say, when?

What kind of a jigsaw puzzle is this?
The heart pines to tread an unbeaten way,
But yields to another's calling,
Trying to find peace at not having a say.

Digging into a grave of pathos,
I retrieve a skeleton of life,
Jaded beyond recognition, it seems.
Unused lies a box of happy colors;
Which too, in the grave dissolves.

Say, when will the eclipse move,
When will there be breathing space?
It's too dark to imagine a silveline;
To imagine again a happy face.

Divya Rao
November 22, 2008