Two Lives

One life in the hustle and bustle of the city,

Busy roads, crowded street.

Billboards dazzling, bright and pretty,

Air conditioners to beat the heat.

One life in a townlet, 

Far from the buzzing mob,

Where peace dawns, erasing any fret,

Where leisure is not stolen by one's job.

By compromise, veiled with choice,

One life in an alliance, decided on a whim,

Amidst celebrations and rejoice,

I was wed to him.

One life I had known,

Of an educator, a scholar,

Where riches I did not own,

Yet I did not bother.

I walked on the needles, but hid my pain,

It was as if destiny threw me in the flames,

It took me immense power to contain, 

But I focused on bigger aims.

One life of more practicality,

Somewhere serene, far from fame.

One life of more simplicity,

Where nothing remained the same.

But then the only constant in life,

They say is change.

When I find myself in a strife,

I know, my thoughts I must rearrange.

I write to heal, I write to feel,

It dawns on me, I have two lives.

If fate, was, but a wheel,

A second life magically arrives.

                                                                                                                          Niharika Prasad

Why do I love you so much?

Why do I love you so much?

Is it because you accept me as such?

The way I am, what I was,

Without any condition or clause.

 

Remember when I sat beside you,

Hurting you with my toenail,

You would not give me the slightest clue,

As you playfully covered my art with a watery veil.

 

You shook me with a mighty tide,

As you towered over me, so tall!

It never once hurt your pride,

When through you, I would splash and crawl.

 

Do you think I love you for our similarities?

At times I rise like a giant wave,

Do you sense some familiarities?

As my ego ebbed away, I fell and forgave.

 

Is it that despite our fluctuant natures,

We are each other’s, constant love.

We never brand each other as traitors,

As fidelity for us is so very tough.

 

So sometimes I let you glimmer in the soft sun,

Caressing somebody else’s feet.

I would feign joy, as you had your fun,

Without you my heart ached, I was incomplete.

 

I would wait for you as long as I had to,

I would think of you night and day,

Every shore I would pursue,

Even if you pushed me away.

                                                                                                    Niharika Prasad