of fate, sandstorm and pulverised bones

"Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverised bones." -Murakami in Kafka on the Shore

this poem must be shared with the world: "As If" by J. Allyn Rosser

As If

BY J. ALLYN ROSSER

How do you explain why elephants

appear to move their unwieldy hulks

with greater dignity than most humans do

in their finest moments,

as if they had evolved beyond wanting

anything but what they have?

Why does the field begin to ripple

before the wind arrives in whispers,

as if there were a communication,

as if the landscape were poorly dubbed,

and we weren’t expected to notice?

What butterfly does not dart away from us

as if it could sense our latent cruelties,

and yet return to check and double-check?

Has the night not gotten recently darker,

as if to insinuate that we have squandered

the light that was there?

Have we made too much of our own?

And did you notice afterward the dawn

opening up with a tentative eagerness

as if there were something crucial to illumine,

as if we would wake up early just to see it?

I imagine you reading this now

with an expression of quiet trouble

itself troubled by currents of hope,

as if you imagined me here with you,

as if I might be able to see your expression,

and at least answer it with mine.

Source: Poetry (November 2011).

I had to share this poem. How can one not be affected by its charm, how can one ignore the question he raises on humanity from a butterfly's point of view... and how can we ignore that sadly not so universal query, "Have we made too much of our own?" This poem is an introspection into what we are and hopefully, what we should be. Hope you'll share your views on it as well :) -adee

"किसे पता कि कहाँ कौन कब बिछुड़ जाये" -डा. कुँवर बेचैन