I have been nominated by the poetess Ellora Mohanty to participate in the poetic marathon #PeetMeNotLeave. For eight consecutive days, I will be publishing one of my poems along with a photo.

I have been quite late in participating in this contest but nonetheless, I wanted to give it a try for the sheer joy of being able to create some poetic landscapes. I hope you like my attempt and in some way, enjoy the journey. I welcome you all on this fun ride!!

I have chosen Fire/light as my inspiration and I hope I do justice to the theme through my poems.

The third poem is captioned as The Fire Within.

My eyes foraged everywhere

For help when I had the

Feeling of getting submerged in a

In a limitless pond of despair

But alas I found none.

The meaningless patches in the road of life

Kept occurring now and then

Questioning my very existence

Creating illusions of my purpose in this realm.

The paths were filled with thorns

And I did bleed every time I stepped on a prickly one

A cry escaped from the deep corners of my lungs

sometimes loud & at times as whispering screams.

My dreams waved while walking past me

so did many faces who once promised to

walk along through thick & thin.

A hollowness engulfed me

and I kept falling into the abyss speedily

with no sign of slowing down.

I, in my weakest moments

Did cogitate many times to end the

The very essence of life , to nip the bud of ache.

But at crucial moments , I then

Experienced a reverberation

That resonated with my soul’s vibration.

A voice echoed in the echelons of my conscience

Of what a grave sin I was about to commit.

The fire that was within got rekindled

may be with prayers or blessings

Specifics of which I could never trace.

The warmth that emanated from

Within acted as a tranquilizer to the

Pain, suffering and the never ending chaos.

The realms of gloom vanished

When the flames of my inner fire

Stared getting fierce with a promise

To keep burning and strengthen

The zeal, the spirit , the courage

To withstand the pain ,

To tolerate the suffering,

To rise from the puddle of rejection,

To fight every voice that tries to judge ,

To resolve to get up after every fall,

To look into the eyes of the fear,

To enable me to keep my head high above my shoulder.

The fire within me rages & continues ,

Steadily burning my past,

And with it destroying a part of my innocence ,

Teaching me lessons to survive in ,

This not -so- kind world.

The fire within now reinforces,

The belief in goodness & positivity,

The conviction to spread happiness,

The inquisitiveness to discover hidden meanings ,

The reason to live life with a smile yet again.

Love,

Chinmayee