Lost Forever contd...

My thoughts dwell upon you night and day,
Tormenting me so much that sleep keeps away.

Every sense itches to possess you,make you mine,
My pride struggles against their overwhelming sway.

For long I have been buffeted by passionate waves
And despite my efforts I am now lost and cast away.

This is in continuation to my earlier post, but I would not like to add it there. Every post is not just the content of thoughts, but also a timestamp. It was what one thought at a particular point of time. I would not wish to disturb that record.

I dont know whether the above lines are preamble or epilogue to my earlier post. They are just ramblings of thought and feelings, which do not necessarily have a chronology. Many a times its like a chicken and egg story as one doesnt know and wonders what gave rise to what...

Lost forever

Staring at the spectacle
Of you with someone else
And the realisation that
You are lost to me forever

Yet I cant rid my mind
Persistently thinking of you
And reminiscing the countless hours
We talked lost to each other

Were those heady days
A fantasy of my fertile mind
Were the feelings that rose
But a deception by my heart

For the ashes of his fathers...

In Frederick Forsyth's "The Afghan",to describe a context in which the lead character faces a situation of Do or Die, he quotes a few lines from a poem by Thomas Macaulay's (much reviled by many Indians) "Lays of Ancient Rome"
which in turn is the English translation of heroic ballads of Ancient Rome. These also find mention in the regular works of Roman historians like Livy and Polybius.

Horatius was "Captain of the Gate" of the city of Rome. Once Etruscans fell upon Rome with a very huge army and had rapidly reached the environs of the city. The only thing that separated the city from their invasion was the bridge across the Tiber river. As the legend goes, no soldier was willing to stand up and defend. As the Consul of Rome lamented the situation, Horatius came forward boldly and said that he will stand on the other end of the bridge against the Etruscans and while he fought against them, let the bridge be broken so that the city is saved. He but asked two more men to stand by him and two of his lieutenants were readily willing. He turned to the Consul and said, the brave words which were recorded in the Roman ballads and translated by Macaulay in the 19th century

Then spake out brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late,
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods"

In another page in the last few pages of "The Afghan", when again the lead character faces a choice, Forsyth quotes the great Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Masood - Lion of the Panjshir, and a great guerilla fighter of the last century - "We are all sentenced to die. But only a warrior blessed of Allah may be allowed to choose how."

Can't have no hope at all

"Sometimes you have an instinct...

You don’t even know if its for real

You are looking for it so bad

Can’t have no hope at all"

A few lines that the character Joe Gould addresses to Mae Braddock in the film Cinderella Man. The movie based on a real story - a true, inspiring story, as real as one could get. Gould is boxer Jim Braddock's manager, Mae is Braddock's wife. Braddock had gone on hard times during Depression and had just got a second chance in the boxing ring. Gould wants him to get back, but Mae is afraid that her husband will get badly hurt and berates Gould for encouraging him. Thats the context in which Gould says the above lines...even Gould has fallen on bad times and has sold his last piece of furniture for Jim's training.

Sometimes something that you see or hear resonates strongly with what you are facing in life, or have experienced earlier...the contexts may be different...but isnt that the beauty of words. Each of us would have once upon a time read a self help book - Dale Carnegie, Norman Vincent Peale or somebody else...the book is the same, the words are the same and yet many a times they have given strength and hope to people facing totally different situations or problems in life.

There's one more film dialogue which like sticks in my mind, whenever I am beset with doubts, things are not going my way and I seek inspiration.

Film - The Last Samurai
Dialgoue between Katsumoto (Ken Wattanbe) and Cap. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise)

Algren is talking of how their heavily outnumbered traditional Samurai force with its medieval weapons can engage in battle against the well trained Imperial Japanese Army equipped with modern weapons. And he suggests a plausible strategy. Katsumoto who had resigned himself to an honorable death on battlefield is unable to believe that Algren is seriously planning an attempt to turn tables over.

Katsumoto - You think ..a man can change his Destiny?
Algren (after some thought) - Yeah.. a man does what he can until his Destiny is revealed

A Serendipitous Yearning

I believe I am not much of a poet because I always seek to express my thoughts in a straightforward manner with the intention to aid in understanding it as best as possible. I guess I write for myself as much as for others and I only understand the matter if it is expressed in a straightforward manner. So the following is more an expression of my thoughts regarding something/somebody which however I found it more comfortable to put across in a versified manner, though I make no claims to be a poet

Sometimes good things in life do not come in the form you wish
Sometimes accept the good things in whichever form they would come

Sometimes do not struggle in vain against life's buffeting waves
Sometimes be a li'll adventorous an' allow them to carry you away

Sometimes there's no point waiting at the shores, kicking sea shells
Sometimes trust yourself to a passing ship, sail for wherever it may

Sometimes you get lost looking out for your dreams to come true,And
Meanwhile miss the beautiful truth that stares at you right in your face