Fourlinegraphia

  The sun is weight I cannot bear alone, Beneath a tree that offers me no shade, The noon falls down like some unspoken law, And burns away the mercy from the day. ****** Dust clings to me like days that will not fade, My saree hangs in threads of worn-out time, My child lies pressed against my hollow chest, Her ribs rise faint like songs that cannot form. ****** Too young for tears, too starved to even cry, I hum a tune to quiet hunger’s call, A fragile sound beneath a breaking breath, While death and living blur inside my bones. ****** The footsteps pass, but none will ever stop, A thousand lives move past and never see, The city speaks in noise without a soul, Yet leaves the likes of me to fade unseen. ****** What worth is pride when hunger takes its hold? Who writes the rules for those with empty hands? Does shame belong to bodies starved this thin, Or only live in well-fed, distant lives? ****** Hunger burns slow, a pale unending fire, A quiet thief that steals what hope remai...

I came to life beneath a quiet sky, A restless heart enclosed within my chest, I walked through crowds of unfamiliar eyes, Yet none would stay, nor offer warmth to me. **** I reached for love like branches seek the sun, But every hand withdrew before my touch, I knocked on doors that echoed back as stone, And silence answered all I tried to give. **** I cursed the world for being cold and still, For hearts that would not open when I came, Yet never once did I unbind my own, Nor let my guarded soul be truly seen. **** I gave in parts, but always held the rest, Each kindness weighed against a hidden need, No word was free from want or secret claim, No act of love escaped my careful grasp. **** And so the fields lay barren where I walked, No bloom would rise from seeds I would not free, For love, like rain, will never fall for those Who beg the sky yet will not loose their hands. **** One day I stood beside a withered tree, Its branches bare, yet reaching all the same, It asked for nothin...

  From a silent shell I lay confined, In shadows deep, away from time. No light to guide, no sky to see, Just quiet days surrounding me. ***** Beneath a leaf I softly stayed, While unseen change within me played. The winds would sway, yet I held tight, Through patient days and hidden nights. ***** Long were the days so still and slow, With silent dreams I’d never show. No sign of change for eyes to see, Yet life was growing deep in me. ***** Until one dawn, the sun shone bright, And filled my world with golden light. My fragile shell began to break, A new and wondrous form to wake. ***** With trembling wings I rose anew, Into a world of sky and blue. Each gentle breeze would call my name, And nothing ever felt the same. ***** From bloom to bloom I danced with grace, Through open skies and endless space. On petals soft with drops of dew, I found a life so fresh and true. ***** No longer bound to dark and small, I soared beyond my fragile wall. The world once far was mine to see, A p...

The seeds lay still beneath the earth, In silent dreams, they held their worth. No voice they gave, no sound they made, Yet futures in their depths were laid. *** And I was one among them there, In heavy dark, in hidden air. The soil pressed close, the weight was deep, A restless, endless kind of sleep. *** They never spoke of coming storms, of thirst, of shadow, of breaking ground- yet deep in dark, a promise stirred, a silent vow without a sound. *** No word of storms that tore me thin, No cry for drought that burned within. The shadows stayed, they did not part, They settled slowly in my heart. *** Yet down below, the roots would grow, And whisper truths I’d come to know. Through stone and silence, far and wide, They stretched with patience as their guide. *** I learned to reach without a sound, To seek for strength in barren ground. Each fragile inch was hard to claim, Each moment touched by doubt and strain. *** Still something deep refused to end, A quiet force I could not bend. ...

  Beneath my skin, the earth still softly speaks, In roots that knew their bond before all words. It threads my veins with memory of soil- but do you hear, or only hear yourself? *** You named my shade before you knew my name, And built a scale where light was crowned as worth. What hand declared your brightness truth alone? And who am I within the lines you drew? *** My skin bears not the measure of my soul- can you not see beyond what sight has taught? Does color hold the weight of what I am, Or must I live confined within your gaze? *** The same sun casts its fire on both our forms- why must I learn to question how I shine, While you stand certain in a borrowed light? Am I the shadow, or the truth you fear? *** The forests speak in tones I’ve always known- have you not paused to listen to their calm? The mountains stand, unbending, whole and still- must strength be loud for you to call it real? *** The rivers move unruled toward their own source- why must I ask for space to simp...

I ran behind my thoughts all day, They came and quickly went away. I felt desire, anger too, But none of them were really true. *** I said, “This body, this is me,” But it keeps changing constantly. My feelings rise, then fall apart- So who am I, deep in my heart? *** I stopped and sat in silence there, And looked inside with simple care. I saw my thoughts just come and go, Like clouds that drift, then leave the sky slow. *** Then I asked, “Who sees all this?” In quiet calm, in gentle peace. No word came back, no shape, no name- Just silent light, always the same. *** Now I feel still, I feel free, I am not what appears to be. Beyond all change, calm and bright- I am the one who sees the light.

  I am in all, and all in me, A boundless pulse of mystery. No edge, no end, no fixed design, The breath of worlds is also mine. *** I am the creator, vast and free, Weaving time’s deep voyager-me, Across the tides of what will be, I sail through all eternity. *** I am the spark that births the dawn, The force by which all forms are drawn, The dream from which all things arise, The fire behind uncounted skies. *** Yet in the same unbounded breath, You call me death-yes, I am death. I am the silence, calm and still, The turning tide, the bending will. *** I am the destructor, shadowed flame, The end that whispers every name, The fall of stars, the closing seam, The dark that cradles every dream. *** I am both kindness, soft and bright, A healing touch, a guiding light- And I am cruel, a sharpened edge, A storm that stands on reason’s ledge. *** I make the heavens, wide and high, Where silent hopes and angels lie, I shape the hells of fire and fear, Where shadows gather, drawing near...