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Srishti-2022   >>  Poem - English   >>  Confessions of a Travelholic

Visakh Soman

QBURST TECHNOLOGIES

Confessions of a Travelholic

Yonder it shines the never-ending horizon of my newer choice

Where flowers bloom and rivers flow, full many a moment to rejoice.

Plunged into wanderlust, I woke up to behold those mighty rays

Glimmering over the bland remnants of foregone days.

 

 

 

Thirty years it took to crack the glossy cocoon and come to light

Better it’s late, and before fake merriness hits life’s twilight.

I geared up to see the world, smothering the sleeping kid in me

A far cry from my archaic self it was, for kith and kin to see.

 

 

 

Into the woods and up the hills, I walked like an innocent child

Mesmerized by nature’s hues and bewildered by the pristine wild.

Free concerts by hidden cascades that lengthened to several streams,

All my emotions spread out more vividly than in lucid dreams.

 

 

 

Spring and Autumn I saw, the beauty of green and yellow leaves

Followed by snow, the summer rain, and the petrichor it leaves.

Rodents ran their errands, so do the ants and bonny rabbits

Over the wet morning mosses, spread like green velvet carpets.

 

 

 

Summoned by serene beaches, where crabs take their lazy crawl

And waves steadily do their job, sank my feet on white sand as I stroll.

Breaking waves and among coral reefs, I swam into the nether world

Around me in colorful patterns anchovies and sardines whirled.

 

 

 

Amidst those towers and well-lit skyscrapers rushed the pricey car

Through its glass window I gazed, with no worries, biting a chocolate bar.

Stories of toil and torture they said, the alien city and its walls...

Pompous ladies walked the shining floors of posh shopping malls.

 

 

 

Busy walking streets, filled with careless footprints of the night

Flesh wrapped in flawless skin put on sale, enhanced by red red light.

In museums are paintings of damsels; ornate gowns they wore

Like queens they lived, knew not the woes of a hapless whore

 

 

 

Away from the city lies deceiving mirages and vast sand dunes

Camels took me where feast is served and violins play Arabic tunes.

Bare bellies on chiseled pelves danced and men put their skin on fire

Exotic wines on brass goblets were served and meat cooked on raw fire.

 

 

 

Vast is the Earth and short is my life, I have “miles to go” as well

Lands, waters, and skies left to uncover, there rings the bell.

Like the American poet, on birches “toward heaven” I long to swing

Or from the real world for good, let a lonely albatross take me on the wing.