Aren't songs of grief lullabies to the lost?
Shine,
Oh, shine!
Shine bright upon the world
Drool silver on all things bare
& wake the hearts who care
bring me peace,
oh my moon
bring peace to my heart
Let my stories hold you close
Let my poems spill you into art
Shine,
Oh, Shine!
Shine bright upon the world.
Let us bask in your beauty
let us hear the unheard.
Shine,
Oh, Shine!
Shine,
Oh, Shine!
-Gauri Walecha
When it rains on a spring night
I often think of you
& I think of the promises we made
A few moons ago
hiding behind the chaos of a thunderstorm
hoping for the bliss of a lifetime.
When it rains on a spring night
I often wonder
If you think of me too
& you whether you begin to question yourself
on your lies
on your denials
on your rotten truths
When it rains on a spring night
I try, with all my might
to bask in the beauty
but I fail
& instead
I spend my night wondering
if you fail too.
-Gauri Walecha
It takes courage to sing songs of life
while your hope hinges on death
to weave dreams of a future
while your heart yearns for the “could haves” of the past
It takes courage to know there’s a road ahead
when a sly boulder knocks you down on your knees
It takes a heart of steel
the resolve of a phoenix
resilience of a river
& the might of a storm
to walk that path
for the rest of your life
as if that’s all you have ever known
as if that’s all you will ever be.
-Gauri Walecha
All thy lies
All thy sorrows
All thy crimes
All thy halos
Light ‘em on fire
Bring ‘em to life
Light ‘em on fire
Bring ‘em to light
There’s a fire underneath
It waits for its calling
There’s a fire behind
It burns in fear
There’s a fire ahead
It awaits an embrace
There’s a fire above
It shadows grimace
All thy hearts
All thy dreams
Light ‘em on fire
End ‘em
All thy kindness
All thy gold
Light ‘em on fire
End ‘em
There’s a fire inside
It yearns to end you
Light you on fire
End you
All thy thoughts
All thy desires
Let it end ‘em
Let it end you.
-Gauri Walecha
Fire, Fire
Let it all burst into flames;
I have a desire to lie
I have a fear to fail
Fire, Fire
Let me burn my nights away;
I have a rush to arrive
I have the greed to delay
Fire, Fire
Show me all it is I got
There are paths I yearn for
There are friends I forgot
Fire, Fire
Make me halt when I cry
Make me run to the kind waters
When my lips run dry
Fire, Fire
Oh Fire, Oh Fire!
-Gauri Walecha
Well, after a long time, this is not a literature post.
I haven’t been writing my heart out at this place lately. It has been so long that I can’t even remember the last time I simply opened the text editor & poured it out.
& if you ask me what got in the way, life did.
I turned content writing into a major part of my career, & then somewhere down the line, it became difficult to separate words from money.
But I am finally back, at least I hope I am.
& this time, I am not saying this out of some yearly resolution. I am feeling it. I have been reminiscing of the days when I wrote like this. I want those back.
So, let’s talk… how have you guys been? It has been so long 🙂
To let go
to keep walking
to halt under the nearest shadow
or to walk away
I stand at crossroads
& the choices haunt me
A path leads me to glory
another holds my heart
a path reeks of freedom
another is drenched in my art
& between them
stand I
with my soul drenched in regrets
& what-ifs
What if I had known of these choices all along
what if I had foreseen the turns that led me here
what if I hadn’t been frivolous with my words back then
what if I had preserved my innocence better?
the questions haunt me
& they cloud my mind
I have a choice to make
a path to chose
but not tonight
tonight,
I dream
tonight,
I love.
-Gauri Walecha
As a kid, I used to keep my words to myself.
Back then, I believed it was because my audience wasn’t worth my truth
Now I wonder if I was only hiding because I felt safe being silent.
Silence has a mystical sense of gravity, & this is how it makes me feel-
“Hiding,
In hiding, I stay,
Away from all eyes
Away from all greetings
Away from what the world has to offer
Away from all the scars that It can give.
Hiding,
In hiding, I stay,
Hoping someone rescues me
& yet, fearing being discovered,
Yearning for the touch of something human
Praying for a refuge away from love-
How funny?
How tragic?”
-Gauri Walecha
Have you ever stayed silent in places where you should have spoken up?
Let me know in the comments below!
& I will see you tomorrow with another piece of my art!
I threw it away.
Everything.
The tiniest thing in my closet
That reeked of my past
Every memoir you wrote
That had stayed with me all this time
I threw it all away
& now I grieve.
I grieve all that could have made us
I grieve all that we could have been
I grieve the way our lives intertwined
I grieve the wounds you healed
I grieve everything you gave me
& everything that I sent you away with
I grieve parts of me I left with you
I grieve you
I grieve what was… us!
-Gauri Walecha
It took her several days to convince herself. She had never written something so sensual, and yet something in her heart was desperate to bare her desires to the world.
Was it the weather?
The wine?
or, the wise gentleman she had just started seeing?
Who knew?
Who cared?
She tugged a loose lock of her hair behind her ears, let her red satin robe fall on the bare of her skin, and sat down to write under the muted ambers of her table lamp.
A few wasted pages, and some gibberish-
an hour passed;
everything she ever knew about lust seemed to have fled her mind.
“Another hour before he returns!”
She looked at the clock and grimaced, “In what world do I call myself a writer?”
She stood up, pushing the chair away from her. The old wood creaked under her feet, and in the silence, it only sounded louder.
The night was quiet.
Her mind was far from so.
The mirror across the room held an angry image of this beautiful young lady. She turned to find herself in it.
Her face looked tired. Her shoulders slouched. Unkempt tresses were resting on her neck, like the warlocks after a long dark summer.
Satin hid her modesty, but in all her truth, she felt caged.
Her fingers traced the hem of her collar and traveled down to her chest to tug on the ribbon that held her hiding together. The cloth brushed against her bosom to reveal her nakedness. And, the sight held her in awe.
Doorknob twisted.
He gasped before welcoming himself in and rushing to shut the door behind him.
“What business do you have, standing naked with all the drapes undone?”
She hugged the satin close to herself and pushed her diary into the drawer.
Nobody must know.
-Gauri Walecha
From The Quill 