Gayathri's Prose and Poetry

 A Gift of Darkness My heart, my soul, my every breath- You once used to be a part of me. You were the one who filled my life with light, And then, all at once, you disappeared,  I felt myself falling into an infinite abyss- You left me in a box of darkness. Every ounce of happiness, I’d ever known, Seemed to fade away,  Away into oblivion. Suddenly, a realisation dawned upon me, The box of darkness was a gift, not a curse. I’d been blinded by your light all these years, The darkness had finally opened my eyes. ***

  A False Blossom of Joy After months of cold and unwelcoming days, When my whole world was enveloped by a shroud of darkness, I looked forward to the new month of April, The pretty flowers and their beautiful blooms. The magenta lilacs seemed to beckon me, I touched their delicate petals which seemed to heal my sore hands, For a moment, I felt a state of heavenly bliss, The nascent buds had finally given rise to blossoms of joy, Alas! My ecstasy was evanescent, I caught a waft of the fragrant lilacs, And suddenly I felt choked by the intoxicating scent, The soft blushing petals now looked a forbidding shade of red, Oh! How had I fallen prey to the devil in disguise! Mistakes and regrets of the past I’d tried to bury deep, Now swirled around my mind, Plunging me back into melancholia. Hark! April is a false blossom of joy, A false beacon of light, after a cruel winter. ***

  Soldiers- The Pride of Our Nation Their faces were etched with despair,  As the first rays of light woke them up; Another day of toiling ‘Neath the scorching sun, With hardly a proper meal,  And the Brits shouting mercilessly.  They’d go back home, To little, cramped rooms, With empty stomachs, Worn out hands and feet, Only to wake up the next morning, And go through the torment again.  Is this the life we are to forever live? Slaving away all day, Under the control of a foreign ruler,  Is there no hope in this cruel world?  Once, a soldier told another, About the miserable lives they led, Slowly, everyone voiced their concerns, And a little revolt broke out. The soldiers protested loudly, In groups of many a number, They were held down by the British guns, But had shaken the base of the foreign regime. Our voices have now been heard, They might try to silence us, But we have sown the seeds of revolution, And we shall rise again. Riots broke out thro...

  From Friends to Strangers I thought we’d be best friends forever, We used to talk for hours endlessly, We did almost everything together, Is all that just a distant memory?   We used to talk for hours endlessly, We’d gossip, laugh and share our deepest secrets, Is all that just a distant memory? Now we hardly talk for more than a few minutes.   We’d gossip, laugh, and share our deepest secrets, Now we’re like strangers, what happened, my friend? Now we hardly talk for a few minutes, Never did I imagine that this would all come to an end.   Now we’re like strangers, what happened, my friend? We did almost everything together, Never did I imagine that this would all come to an end; I thought we’d be best friends forever. ***** Poetry form: Pantoum 4-6 quatrains lines 2 and 4 of each stanza become lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza lines 1 and 3 of first stanza become lines 2 and 4 of last stanza, but reversed (3 becomes 2 and 1 becomes 4) rhyme scheme: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF...

  A Deepavali to Remember Karthik wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with his tired hands. He was a little boy, just a few weeks shy of ten.  He, along with other kids his age, had to wake up before five every morning, travel in a bus, and start making firecrackers as soon as they reached the factory. They had to work until six in the evening, in a dark, dingy room, with no protection from the dangerous chemicals.  It was 6 in the evening, and the sun had almost set, casting shadows on the already dimly lit factory.  “That’s it for today,” said a deep voice, who seemed to be in charge. Karthik got up, looking as though the entire life had drained out of him.  There seemed to be no ray of hope left in his life. He trudged slowly to the bus that would take him back home, where he’d sleep, only to wake up to the same fate, the next day.  Karthik sighed. In one week it would be Deepavali, but he wouldn’t be able to light lamps, burst firecrackers or eat a ...

  Trapped ‘Whoosh.’ The wind howled and Lucy could feel a shiver run down her spine as it blew fiercely. Lucy, who had decided to explore the woods behind her house, now found herself lost. Suddenly, she felt something wet on her head. She looked up and was greeted by a drop of water on her face. Within a few minutes, it started to rain. Lucy looked up and saw some light in a tree. She could make out a treehouse amongst the branches. A rope ladder emerged from the branches as if beckoning her to take shelter in the treehouse. Lucy caught hold of the ladder and started climbing up. She could feel the wind picking up, and the rain intensifying. She gripped the ladder firmly and tried to climb as fast as she could. As soon as she reached the entrance, she stepped inside and was surprised to find the treehouse empty. The door suddenly closed behind her and it became quiet. Lucy was surprised by the sudden change of atmosphere. From outside, the treehouse had looked as if ...

  Snow White- Rewritten “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who’s the fairest of all?” “Oh Queen, your face is brighter than the shining sun, I wish to say that you’re the fairest one, But that wouldn’t be completely true, For there’s a girl, whose fairer than you, With skin as white as snow, hair as black as ebony, Lips as red as a cherry, and with eyes as blue as the sea.” “Snow White!” the queen exclaimed, a disgusted look on her face, “In this kingdom, she shan’t have a place.” The Queen came up with a plan, She decided to get rid of her, and called her huntsman. The huntsman took Snow White far away from the daylight, Deep into the woods, where it was darker than night. “I cannot kill a poor, little girl,” he said, “The Queen will be furious if she knows you’re not dead, Run away as far as you can, m’lady, I pray for the stars to guide you to safety.”  And he left her in the middle of nowhere, Why was her life all of a sudden a nightmare? She could see menacing figures all arou...