Along The Fallen Path Poem by DASHARATH NAIK

Me walking with my shadow
along the fallen path
evenly uneven on fire all the way
hand in hand exchanging words
our joys and sorrows
our likes and dislikes
our merits and demerits
playing Antaskhari* playfully
madly lost in absolute fun and frolic
giggling like a singing skylark
flowing like a brook serpentine
and crying at times
shedding tears like a fiery cascade
when something unpleasant hurts
one of us seriously.

Life burning with and without passions
confused in utter darkness
everything appears hazy, , , , ,
love at times playing tricks
all the way betraying ourselves
causing bleeding gravely and
we lay undone though doing our best
against all the challenges
of triumphant time courageously.

The life mirror doesn't always reflect the truth
illusions are illusions and not real
we took a lot of time to realise the truth
for we were biased of the short-lived pleasure
dancing like a cute baby in our courtyard
neatly painted with sacred cow dung
for we had a pre-conceived idea
that life is a dream to be true someday
and chasing our dreams
we wasted energy day and night restlessly.

What we got we got too late
what we realised we realised but not to our satisfaction
not to give us the much cherished peace of mind
but just the materials of comforts
the luxury we always longed for...
for we were blind albeit our vision
the valuables are invaluable
feeling the intense labour pain inside
our vested interests were vast but meaningless
the best way to live life meaningfully
is living it for others purposefully.

©® Dasharath Naik

*An Indian game of singing song in turn