GOODNESS

The sea was silent,

The sun was sinking down the horizon,

The sky a crimson, tinged with violet,

As I walked along kicking a stone.

 

A strange numbness seemed to accompany

Everything around me;

“Was it just my imagination?

Or was it Nature empathizing with me?”

 

I stopped by, looking at the sea,

My rippled reflection crookedly smiled back at me;

Ah, yes...

Yet again I harboured an unanswered question!

 

The walk was long,

My path unknown;

But I continued forward,

Fighting those thoughts.

 

Is goodness a virtue

That shines within you?

Or is it a vice

That always troubles you?

 

The immediate answer

That came from within,

Called it a light shining within

That makes you love and feel and hope...

 

An instant later,

This beautiful thought

Was marred by a scar;

A second voice mockingly said,

 

"Ah, goodness...is a pain

That exists only in beautiful words;

In words that preach,

In words that seem,

In reality, goodness is just...another pain."

 

I could feel my head pounding,

As these words sifted through it;

I could not accept it,

Against all odds, I would not accept it.

 

I argued back with vehement response,

"Goodness is a pain that is beautiful,

which lives in the spirit of sacrifice

which lives in the spirit of love

which lights up the world with a feeling of hope,

Goodness is a light that shines within every person

who steps on this earth,

Goodness is hope,

Goodness is the chord that...connects us to God."

 

The moon was showering

Its milky light upon me,

The velvety sky had engulfed the horizon

I found myself crouching down on my knees

...My face wet with tears.

 

~Nupur~

11-04-06

(Dedicated to Daminee, my best friend)