Nights of Whirlwinds

Dejected over the long text chats,
Demoralized in the online meetings,
That are driven late into the nights
Along the steep curves of insanity -
With the people on the other side
Of the sunrise, exchanging cold words
Fueled by foggy perceptions.

Discouraged to hold my head high
By the whirlwinds of anger and despair
Born of overwhelming frustration
Day in and day out for months on end -
Testing the limits of fragile perseverance.

Yet the battle with righteousness endures,
Striving to make the wrong things right.
When the nagging troubles are vanquished,
The taste of victory is profoundly savored,
Releasing tranquility from banishment.

Then one day, destiny calls -
One meeting with the same people,
On the same side of the sunset.
And that made all the difference!

May 10, 2025

Don't Give Up On Your Child

Don't Give Up On Your Child

Don't give up on your child.

Mind you! He is your child.

Fill him with hope.

Fill him with light.

He gets angry on you,

He may even shout at you.

He blames you, scolds you

Because he is your child.

He lies to you; steals from you.

Remember! He is your child.

Fill him with knowledge,

Guide him towards wisdom.

But don't give up on your child;

For he is gifted, he's blessed.

He looks up to you as God.

So don't let him leave you.

No matter what the world says

For it is always bound to say

But you know him better

Because he is your child.

Don't give up on your child.

Do not make him leave

Without saying goodbye.

He's your child, he's your child.

July 28, 2020

Tree of Spirits

Tree of Spirits

There is a world far beyond our own,

Where there is a tree and not a soul.

Planted on the dark side of the horizon

It harbors the spirits lost in tragedies

Struggling to find a place in Heaven.

When the moon sneaks above the sky

Looking like a black orb without radiance,

Looms out of the dark clouds with a sneer,

Then the tree glows in vibrant colors

With smoky hues of red, green and blue

Forming a grim nimbus around it.

This grotesque spectacle is conjured

By the occult of witches and warlocks

For the souls try to take forms of the past

In a hellish way to liberate themselves

From the leash of branches entwined

Within the hideous trunk from which

Beautiful faces and rotten skulls and

Mortified eyes peer into the darkness

In a despairing search for a glimpse

Of something that breathes.

August 29, 2020

Notes

This work was originally published as part of a photo prompt hosted on Instagram.

Better Than Hell

Better Than Hell

The stream of bad blood flows

From one age to the next

And forms a rope of lineage.

Which is frayed in between

As a mark of unjust actions.

It is pulled harder and harder

To keep the tradition moving;

But it breaks painfully

Finally meeting a tragic end.

The two parts are tied again

But they refuse to succumb

To the unrelenting pressure.

For it is cut by the divine law

To strike a balance; and so

Giving birth to a rebel who

Persistently fights for truth.

To make ends meet

By any means necessary,

The rebel is lured by riches

As a diversion from wisdom.

The enticement didn't work

Because the magic couldn't

Play its cheap tricks for long.

The rebel was hell-bent upon

Weaving the frays with threads of justice.

"When truth itself cannot be polluted, 

How can I be?"

Is what he said!

But where will that blood flow,

Other than in sewage drains?

It smeared the rebel with reeking

Muck of offence, vice and villainy.

The rebel conceded defeat

When the war broke out

With false allegations that

Are not worth fighting for.

In the face of humiliating abuse

The rebel left with a resolution:

It is always better to be in hell

Than spending even a minute

More here.

July 27, 2020

Transcendence

Transcendence

Suffering from a heavy heart,

With a lump in the throat,

Drenched in sorrowful tears -

Are the lines of bygone years.

But the past  cannot be condemned

However bitter it might have been.

For it has taught many lessons

In the school of hard knocks.

Now the soul is flourished

Beyond the limits of misery.

It has outgrown mortal wounds

And transcended the common

Understanding of knowledge

With a courageous breakout

From the flesh of transient body

Confined in the sphere of illusion.

It has embarked upon a journey

Towards the Supreme One -

The infinite, the boundless,

The pervasive omniscience,

The ultimate truth of divinity

Which I am already a part of

Since the beginning of time

Until its endless weaving of life,

Where it resides forever and ever.

Inspired by the story of Jada Bharata and the philosophy of Hinduism.

April 21, 2020

Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back

I said, "Don't look back,"
But my son kept walking
With his head turned back
And a finger in his mouth.

Then he stumbled over a rock
And nearly fell to the ground.
"Look ahead, my son!"
I cautioned him again.
Then he turned his head
To look forward
And suddenly I realized
The truth in those words.

© Amit Herlekar

#originalpoetry

In Love With The Dark

This is a verse I came up with last night when I was in bed.

In Love With The Dark

Being in the light -

I don't get sleep

Even if I want to!

Or I see many faces

Which I don't want to!

It allows unnecessary focus

That is uncalled for;

Making my soul go sore!

But then, there is darkness -

Waiting for a warm hug in its bosom.

It engulfs me like a blanket,

Without needing a real one.

It keeps me nice and warm,

Mesmerizing me to sleep,

Making me oblivious to

The unending stream of
Irksome thoughts and memories.

It never lets me down;

Never letting the world know

That I am around, in some corner,

Shielding my soul from the misery

All around.

May 5, 2019

Smile Of Surrender

Smile Of Surrender

The words of pain
Flow so eloquently
Through my pen.
It seems as if my life
Knows only sorrow.
The ink that's flowing
On the parchment
Made of my own skin,
Is my blood dripping
Out of the holes inflicted
By unhealed wounds.

Trapped in a cave,
Filled with vacuum -
Like a black hole
Where even the light
Doesn't pass through -
Is my joy just sitting
Hopelessly in a corner.
It is just a hazy dream
I had to recall
For the sake of penning
This dreadful verse.
Because I don't know
What it used to feel like.
I have forgotten
The meaning of joy.
It has forbidden me to taste
The sweet flavor of bliss
As it turned sly against me.
So I am cursed not to
Deserve happiness.

The grief towering
Over me and casting
A shadow every moment
Is sucking my life
Out in utter darkness.
I have resolved to
Believe that this pain
Is my new found
Happiness.
Embracing it has been
So much better
For my feelings are
Turning numb towards
This great sorrow,
Leaving me in a
Tearful smile of
Surrender.

Oct 24, 2018

Turbulence

Turbulence

Your passive taunts don't bother me
When you glorify my weakness.

I don't have the nerve to fight;

Not because I am afraid of you,

But because I am scared to

Lose my inner peace.

Although my silence is full of answers

You don't care to know my troubles.

And I cannot bear your noise either.

Because listening to your rant

Has become a burdening torture.

Why don't you recall our days of joy?

How happy we used to be for each other.

Remember the time when

We were caught in turbulence

Right in the middle of the storm?

And all those times when it didn't matter

If we didn't even go out for a stroll?

There was a light shining in your soul

With the power to sing songs and verses

That had spells to light the darkness.

Now it feels like you yearn for that pain

For that happiness to be in place again

You want that empty hole to be filled

But you have forgotten what to fill it with.

Instead, it is filled up with mediocrity.

You pick on the things I didn't do for you

Which did not bother much back then.

I am slapped with the ledger of things

You have been doing for me every day

And you expect a fair value in return.

I want you to have your desires quenched.

Then you will see that your thirst is insatiable:

The lamp of joy lies within yourself, darling,

Which has been doused by that empty hole.

We both used to have so much in common,

But now, you and I are standing at the poles

With nothing but an endless desert between us.

The scorching sun is enjoying this vivid spectacle

As though we're basking in this mess at his behest.

Rest assured that I won't give up on us.

It's just another turbulence in between us,

Which we will have to face it together.

I know that in time, it will subside;

In time, the light will glow again.

In time...

Oct 17, 2018

The Choice In The Void

The Choice In The Void

The reason to fight

Against the geysers of

Frustration and fatigue

Is inflating into a giant balloon

While the emptiness is

Waiting, and watching anxiously:

To know whether it will be

Filled by happiness or sorrow.

Happiness is not a chance offered,

Nor a dice to play in the game of luck;

But a choice - a very conscious one,

That has to be made on what is wished for.

Because even in nothingness,

Like the ticking time bomb,

The moments could be lost, forever;

So it is the choice that decides

Whether those moments turn into

Priceless memories or worthless regrets.

The devil is a watchful predator

That is also consciously waiting

To pounce upon the void

And forge a throne for itself

With a sole purpose of

Hunting down the moments

And turning them into nightmares.

In spite of this awareness,

It's a hard choice to make!

(c) Amit Herlekar

Sept 27, 2018

Irina

IRINA

It evokes great joy in my heart
When I keep watching you.

And if things were different

I would cross the oceans to marry you.

It's all about your gorgeous face

Carrying the most beautiful smile

That I am madly in love with.

Its overloaded with cuteness -

Those plumpy lips

Painted with a color of grace

Casts a shadow on your

Well-aligned teeth underneath.

I don't mind even if you think

We don't know each other.

Because it just doesn't matter.

Your ravishing smile tells me

Everything about you.

That you are the woman

With whom I want to spend

My whole life.

The thick dark hair of yours

Manage to flutter in the breeze

Without affecting the beauty

You are bestowed with,

Covering the groomed eyebrows

Which are trying to hide from me.

And what to say about your eyes!

Those big shiny black pearls of love.

They are the dazzling pair of gifts

Rolled down to you from heaven.

Those long curved eyelashes give

The right touch of glamour.

So the twinkle in your eyes is

A rare spectacle of elegance!

But as I examine you closely

I see that those magical eyes hide

All the sorrows of earthly life

And reflect the love you ask from a man.

The waves formed by your cuddly cheeks

Reflect the glint of shyness about you -

Exhibiting the innocence you wear

As the mark of great finesse!

And when you smile, they swell;

Tempting all the children around you

To squeeze them and then kiss them.

If I had met you for real,

I wouldn't have come up with this verse.

Because everything that has created you

Would have overwhelmed me so much

That I would have hardly succeeded

In expressing these words about you.

I am grateful that I am underwhelmed

For not seeing you in person

As it allowed me to write this song

Just by staring at the portraits of you.

Like goddesses and angels,

You are all around me.

On every wall of every room.

Accept this verse as a token of gratitude

For sharing your portraits with me

As they fill the gaps of loneliness with joy

And cure my insanity with your warmth.

I am so sad that we are far away

So this poor soul has only one request:

Please keep sharing your portraits.

I want to dream of you every day

For turning this illusion
Into a delusion of reality

As I live my life in them.

My heart knows that

Our love for each other

Lives on and on,

Forever.

Sept 2018

The Cadbury Girl

The Cadbury Girl

There was this girl I adored when I was a kid

She appeared in a TV commercial for Cadbury's Dairy Milk

Back in those days, there was no Google, Facebook or YouTube

As her lover hits a long nervous shot and wins the match

She appeared so happy, so joyful and so lively

She jumps out into the field, bypassing the security guard

With her crazy dance moves, she finally embraces him.

Then I really felt that life is so beautiful.

I used to smile every time when the ad appeared on TV.

One of my friends on Facebook shared a video compilation.

It was a collated video of all the popular ads of the 1990s.

The Cadbury girl commercial was one of the clips.

Then I was really curious to know about her:

What's her name, where does she come from?

I began to look her up on the web immediately.

I was curious to know what she's been doing:

Has she been working in the movies or any TV series?

In my desperate search for her all over the web,

I finally found out what her name was.

It was mentioned in one of the comments on YouTube.

My heart was racing with my eyeballs rolling over the name.

Then my heart stopped and my eyes were wide open.

I was completely shocked and surprised for that moment.

It was written: RIP Sophiya Haque.
I looked at her Wikipedia page like an obituary.

It made me sad.

When I looked up her images,

She wasn't the Cadbury girl.

Some said - she is not Sophiya Haque,

She is Shimona Rashi - said the rest.

Whatever her name is, wherever she really is

With forty seconds of her appearance

She made a lot of us have

The Real Taste of Life.

Feb 6, 2018

(c) amit herlekar

Downfall

DOWNFALL

- 1 -

Once there existed

A Great Empire -

A loyal servant to its people,

Rich with humility,

Protector of humanity,

Intolerant against injustice,

Reigned with unquestionable glory.

However,
There was an heir to this legacy,
The blood of the Royal Family;
But an extremely vicious one -
It was of the son of the King.

Once the prince ascended the throne,

He ruled the kingdom with insanity.

He was the Emperor of cruelty,

Ruthless in every possible way

Snatching everything from his citizens.

Thus,
An ominous silence haunted
In the entire Kingdom.

- 2 -

The army planned a coup

To restore peace and harmony,

And the lost glory that once existed.

But it did not have a leader

Who could stand before them

Front in the line - absolutely fearless

Who was generous to sacrifice his life

For the land of glorious history.

Soon the word was sent out

But who would have known
The prospective leader dwelled in a village nearby

The army found him sitting on a hillock

Who was huge, strong and brave!

They pumped him full with patriotic wisdom

And unfathomable courage.

It made him quickly fall in line,

He made himself an idol of a true leader,

Proclaimed himself as the new face

Of the Kingdom's bright future

And a symbol of justice.

- 3 -

The legendary war finally began

It was a battle of epic proportions

The fight for a noble cause

To end the oppressive rule

And win back the lost freedom.

At last, the war was finally won

The cruel King was overthrown and slain

Our leader was hailed as a true Hero -

The warrior who protected his comrades

While enduring a lot of pain

During the fight against the oppressors.

When he returned to his village,

He was welcomed in a chariot with a guard of honor

To signify his courage and strength.

- 4 -

A new King was instated

The kingdom lived in harmony.

But as the days became months

And months became years

The Great Leader was being forgotten.

His service to the province

Was not remembered.

His very own comrades ignored him

He wished to join the army

But he was turned down in vain.

People recollected his dark past -

A man with no family;

Unfit to be in the society

They disregarded him as
A prime example of an outcast.

- 5 -

He had ignored his friends and left the village

And joined forces against immoral rule.

Now there was no who one stood by him,

No one to commemorate his sacrifices,

No one to appreciate his hard work,

No one to thank him for saving lives.

There were a myriad of fingers pointed at him

Like thousands of arrows aimed at his heart

Only to remind him of his tainted years

Which made him regret his entire life

Alas! The empire within him, ultimately, was fallen.

Ruins Of Hampi, Karnataka

Sept 2013

Loneliness

Click the image to zoom in

Poem Text [Edited, December 1, 2019]

Loneliness is an avenging disease,
For the one who is made to feel lonely.

When I am all alone in this world,
With a mere thought about you
I am never alone ever again.

Fleeting Angel

I looked up turning around

The spectacle of magical swirls

Dancing with colors of joy

On the dark canvas of blue sky

As the glitters shower down upon me

I realize it's you; it could only be you

My angel with large butterfly wings

Flying with the glow of nimbus

Who flew down from the heavens above

To tease me with your joyful play

Trying to hide in several places at once

While I get only glimpses of you

Sometimes here, sometimes there

But I know where to look for

I spin around for a quick glance

And then you are gone

Leaving a twinkle in the sky

July 2015

The Hitchhiker

Click the image to zoom in

Below the Night Sky

Below The Night Sky

Studded with myriad of stars

Up in the dark sky

Alone was the night

Waiting for me

And my thoughts

To wander with noise

For memories of pleasure

Causes soothing tides

Within my heart

Against the roaring sea 

In this silent wilderness

April 2015

The Struggle Within

The confrontation of mind and heart

Conceals the emotions deep within.

When they are revolting to break out,

It is the instinct - the innate nature

Of the soul not to show or utter

Even the slightest hint of sorrow.

The dam of silent tears is closed

Behind the mask of my impassive face.

A great degree of violent pain is endured

When a volcano on the verge of eruption

Is capped by silence to let it implode

Not to cause additional distress.

My conscience does not comprehend

That the silence evokes hostility

Which haunts in the eyes gazing at me.

But they will never understand,

The agony inflicted upon the heart.

Accusation begins to confront avoidance,

Adjuring to break the distancing silence

Without understanding the struggle within.

August 6, 2014

Inferno: The Beating Of A Dead Heart

INFERNO

The Beating Of A Dead Heart

Head turned back, brows locked, eyes fixed on the stormy sky

Unrelenting to forgive, hate boiled to a point of raging flame

For the prestige of it was too dear to lose out to compassion;

Nurtured by vigorous vanity, contempt had grown into cancer.

Such callous display expected nothing in return but loathing.

Waiting in vain with great patience for the final touch down

Proud to be crowned as an atrocious prince of willful scorn
Spite was surplus in the heart making it oblivious of mercy.

As the curtains went up, it was an unexpected surprise;

A sight of displeasure began clouding those furious eyes

It was not hate that was revealed! It was a face of love.

Emanating from the bottom of a heart crying out of pity

In a dire need to cradle that heart under the spell of evil
Tears were shed in prayers to root out the abhorrence,

And to plant a seed of love that will grow like a beanstalk,

To flourish a heart that beats in rhythms of endearment.

But compassion was mistaken to be an act of retaliation!

Then assault was launched only to receive warm affections.

Spears of vicious snakes hurled, boomeranged garlands,

Infuriating the hostility burning to the point of inferno.

Such a heart which only detests when infected with hate,

Turned those eyes blind towards the sweet colors of love.

Thus, without standing the sight of a hand offering to help,

Love tasted bitter as it was regarded as sickening poison.

The beauty of love did not decline in the wicked sight of hate;

It grew brighter with every audacious show of abomination.

Like a rising sun at dawn, spreading the subtle morning rays,

A gentle breeze blew and chased those stormy clouds away.

The resenting heart did not see a chance to change its stand;

Utterly reluctant to accept the face of loss in a petty battle.

Thus, it ended living in perpetual death of gnawing vexation

Ultimately, a prolonged repentance burnt the soul to cinder.

July 30, 2014

Swarming Vanity

Click image to enlarge