The good news is that my reports came back negative for cancer. Whew!!!! My son has been a wonderful support all through my terrible scary journey of going through the treatment and wait for the reports. My daughter was worried and needed him by her side. The surgery has taken its toll and I am still unable to spend more time typing my blogs, so I am sharing something which I had posted earlier.
I know it is such a torture to read lengthy poetry work,
but this is something very close to my heart, and today I feel like sharing it with you people once again. I usually write something very short but one day this
just came out of blue when I heard my brother-in-law was getting remarried
after he lost my sister to breast cancer.
I asked myself the
questions,
Is all the love and care
people show for us true?
How
would people react to death if no one was looking over?
How
long do we pine for those we know are never going to come back?
There
were hoards of questions flooding through my mind and as an answer I went on
scribbling something on the notebook I had in my hands. When I read it, I was
shocked to see I had come out with a story poem which touched my heart…
Hidden Human Nature
Once upon a time, there lived
a kind and just king
Everyone loved him; his
praise they would sing
With his two sons and his
beautiful wife
He was very happy and
content with life
One morning, while riding
his horse, a tragedy struck
He fell from his horse and
was dead by sheer bad luck
The angels took away his
soul as written in the record
To decide about his future
they presented him before the Lord
With one glance at his pure
heart the Almighty could tell
He belonged to the heaven
and not to the hell
Yet drops and drops of tears
rolled down from the king's eyes
God realized though good,
the king was not wise
"My son, you weep
because, you are not smart
Don't weep, very unreliable
is human heart
Try to forget the past days,
try to push the memories away
In this heaven where you
don't die, you can forever happily stay"
Slowly the king whispered
"I know my Lord, what I lack.
Where I am loved by
everyone; there, I want to go back
My brave commander, wisest
of all men my minister
They are all dutiful;
nothing in my life is sinister
Everyone loves me dearly. In
turn I love them all
My sons are obedient and are
always at my beck and call
My queens fidelity my Lord,
could surpass that of Penelope
More happiness than this to
find, I can never even hope
I need no heaven now or
anytime hereafter
Happy I am in my kingdom,
whatever is the matter
‘O' Father, send me there
where everyone loves me
If not, I assure you broken
my heart would be"
God did not wish to break
his heart, for good hearts are rare
Yet by his own rules he
couldn't send him back there
Said God, "Once dead no
one can go back dear son,
Yet I will send you back,
though now you can't be seen or heard by anyone
Because you will receive
your body only after three days
Till then you will be hiding
and watching how everyone behaves
But if you fill find out
sadly that people are selfish
You can come back to me
anytime with your mere wish."
Two angels brought back to
earth the now smiling King
There he had to watch, over
his funeral his dear ones mourning
"Don't weep
darlings," he said "this death is just illusion
Wait for just three days and
there will be no more confusion"
No one could hear nor see
their beloved King
They sobbed bitterly over
the most tragic happening
Each and everyone was only
talking about the King's death
They hated to be alive and
cursed their every breath
One look at their face and
even the silliest could tell
Since morning no one had
gulped even a single morsel
The King's heart was touched
deeply seeing all the love
He strongly decided once
again, I will not go to heaven above
Thinking of his friendly
minister the King came to where he lived
The ghastly sight that met
his eyes had to be seen to be believed
His dear friend held tightly
in his hand a very sharp knife
His bodyguards were putting
in every effort to save his life
"Don't kill
yourself," cried the King "O my dearest friend.
This is just a passing
phase, believe me this is not the end."
The minister who was
exhausted just slumped down
His children wept and his
wife sat there fanning him with tip of her gown
‘What is my commander
doing?' questioned the King in wonder
When he found sobbing and
weeping his brave strong commander
Pointing towards sky the
brave one let out a loud cry
"If you had to take a
life our King's life ..... WHY?
In his place could you not
push me into the grave?"
He banged his head and wept.
He was no more ‘The Brave’.
The King's burning soul now
cried for some solace
So he decided it was time to
visit his palace
All the servants there stood
still, all of them were silent
Not a sound could be heard,
save a sigh and a lament
His two children were crying
in the their own chambers
All consoling and cajoling
only fuelled the embers
As tears trickled down they
did not bother to wipe it either
Just under their breath they
whispered, "Father! Dear father!"
It was too much for the King
to suffer without being heard or seen
He wanted to find some
consolation in his dear beloved queen
He found her laying still
and shocked, on the cozy bed
Two faithful maidens stood
wiping tears from the eyes ruby red
Looking at his queen's state
the King bitterly cried
"Why are your luscious
lips now parched and dried?
O dear! My beloved, like
dead why do you sleep?
Why is your perfect hair
disheveled and why your breaths so deep?
O my dearest, I am here.
Only I cannot be seen."
He tried to talk but failed
to console his beloved queen.
Suddenly the queen moved and
she got up with a start
And let out a heart rending
cry clasping her heart
"My beloved! MY love!
My King! Where are you?
They say you are dead. How
can this be true?
Life without you is worse
than death, how can I bear this pain!"
Uttering those words she
wept bitterly and fainted again.
Her maids discussed that it
was the routine since morning
Anxiety rose in them and
soon the doctor was called in
Absent minded the doctor
gave some medicine which would help
The doctor like usual was
not his jovial self
The King never had known,
his queen loved him so much
He caressed her head though
she did not feel his touch
Unable to move from her side
he sat beside her on the bed
Cruel it was he couldn't
console anyone by showing he was not dead
After a long time the queen
slowly started stirring
"I want to be alone
with the memories and thoughts of my King".
Saying so she sent away the
maids and closed the door
Then she sat, biting her
lips and her toe scratching the floor
The King feared there may be
some danger to his beloved wife
He thought she was planning
of putting an end to her worthless life
No one was around in the
room or anywhere nearby on the cold, silent and dark night
When suddenly through the
secret door of the chamber there arrived a light
Holding lamp in its hands
slowly and steadily a shadow rocked
Peering at it the King saw
his minister and he was totally shocked
‘What is he doing here?'
thought the king ‘at this time of night'
Suddenly the queen rushed
past the wondering King shouting with delight
She embraced and kissed the
lips of her lover her dear minister
They whispered lovingly not
knowing they had a visitor
"At last after many
years, now we have become free'.
The King could neither weep
nor laugh at this sadistic mockery
He was aghast seeing the
naked form of love and friendship
His heart was burning as
though it was scorched by thorny whip
He heard the queen planning
of marrying as she could not be alone
‘Soon' she said the king of
her heart would sit on the throne
This infidelity, this
licentious treachery, the king could bear no more
He ran towards his son's
chamber with a heart bitter and sore
There he was amazed to find
their tongues and swords on full swing
They were fighting to
decide, who would be the future king
Their faces were fierce. Of
sorrow there was now no trace
The heart broken king had an
urge to get out of that horrid palace
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He realized in a hard way
there is no value for human relation
For his burning soul he did
not know where to find some consolation
On his way out he heard some
low whispering sound
He followed it and all his
servants discussing he found
They were discussing on his
death rites what would be their share
The king heard them and
moved ahead without much care
His commander-in-chief with
army officials sat around a table
And announced "As the
King is dead, the government is not stable
This is the proper time for coup;
soon I will grab the power
When the crown is mine, on
all of you, wealth I will shower".
Thus found the king his
commander and his men of troupe
Not mourning anymore but
scheming and planning for a coup
The King left that place
even sadder than before
He thought to himself ‘why
men are so rotten to the core?'
‘Yet everything is not lost'
said to himself the poor King
‘My subjects still love me,
my praises they still sing'
More sorrows awaited him as
he observed them one by one
True love for him he could
find in the heart of none
He then saw the beloved
subjects who were now muttering and grumbling
And for the trouble caused
they were even cursing the King
Now inside their homes
making sure no one could hear them they said
"Is it our fault? Is it
our problem that the king is dead?
We had to be starved and
famished since today morning
If not others would accuse
us of not loving our king
Everyone losing a day’s
happiness was burning in anger
In the cover of darkness
they were busy killing pangs of hunger
The King saw the bitter
truth. Everyone in his life was a fraud
Losing his battle in a
single day he sadly returned to God
"No more my
Father", said the king, "I will suffer in this turmoil,
I thank you heartily for
freeing me from this terrible mortal coil
Until now I thought everyone
to me were duty bound
I am amazed and sad by the
truth which today I found
No one cares for others
vicissitudes nor are their actions just
All men and women are busy
consoling their burning lust
Children need parents when
are to be cared and fed
They care not a fig for
parents when they learn they are dead
Everyone there My Lord I
found so greedy and selfish
I wished to go back to them?
I am very foolish
What I now realize is that
all the love I felt back on earth
Was just a great drama
without any real worth?
The world down there is very
unkind and cruel
Happy I will be in heaven or
even in a Hell
But never will I go back to
my kingdom again
One meeting with the naked
truth has given me enough pain".
Saying thus with shame the
King hung his head down
The ever smiling God looked
at him with a deep frown
"I created Man with
great care and perfected his every part
But somehow I feel I went
wrong when creating his heart
Its feelings were so selfish
I had to hide it in his chest
Of all the gifts I have
given to man this is the best
I had to give them power to
lie, pretend and act
To lessen their selfish
hearts acidic impact
To live with naked truth Man
has not enough power
So the true faces I have hid
behind a pleasant cover
Yet, you hate none, dear
son; you are truly brave and strong
I should be ashamed for it
is my children who have done wrong".
To take the King to heaven for
angels God sent call
And sat there alone
wondering ‘WHY I created man after all…..'
By
Farida Rizwan
