The Desert

The Desert

A desolate vision of shrublands 

Filled with dry stones and sands

Interspersed with tumbleweeds

In the arid landscape bland.

A man would want cold mead

I'd want ice filled brew indeed

Even the rattler seeks a rock

To hide from the sore sado-sun,

Whose vicious heat rays mock

And kill water down like a gun.

Dry gas exhausts man insane.

As he dreams of western rain.

-Wren

Another random speedsketch - Wren

Double Decades

Double Decades

Two decades already I lived.

Don't feel too different.

Still too much of childly mind.

And too much of a cynic heart.

Guess I haven't learnt my part.

I hope to live a full century.

And I've already lived its fifth.

No Olympic gold medals for me 

Or a doctoral degree.

Guess I haven't done my part.

Take my next twenty years

And do something new with it

Learn hard, live hard, play hard.

More sweat, more blood, more tears.

I'll see myself again. 

Two decades later.

From now.

Goodbye.

-Wren

Random line-sketches by Wren

Butterflies

Butterflies

When I talk to you
My neurons fire slow
Butterflies from my gut
Travel upstream
Through my brain stem
Following a path like so.
They flutter in my Thalamus
Hitting many switches
Causing my palms to sweat
While pores open to kisses
Then they travel to the front
And nestle in the pre-frontal cortex
I bat my lashes, but they wouldn’t leave
Instead they secrete a poison
A love juice to paralyze me
So that I couldn’t see
Blind and giddy, I’ve fallen in love
Intoxicated without choice
But with the distinction
Of butterflies, not doves.

-Rani

Break the Ice

Break the Ice

I know the solution
The solution to our hesitation
To our awkwardness
To the wall we’ve built
The wall of stones,
Bricks,
Silver,
And Titanium.
Of Carbon in graphite
And awkward roses and thorns.
I know we built this wall to protect
Protect the shame
And evade rejection
But a wall built so strong
Cannot be brought down
With ease
The colloquial --
Please forgive me
The wall still remains
As you are my first,
And I, you.
But don’t fret my love
Because I have a solution.
The wall can only be defeated with Touch
Only then will the ice be broken

-Rani

Bitter Leaves

Bitter Leaves

Somewhere, 
Sometime during my childhood,
A bitter seed 
Had been planted inside of me.
Now,
I’ve grown
And my leaves are stained 
With black
Patches 
That have crusted my beauty.

-Rani

One Question

One Question 

Because some things are inevitable,
Because the mode of life is unfair
Because equilibrium does not comply with the human heart
Because empathy is not a force that fills empty space
Because Destiny made it so
Because the textbook told me I should feel this way
Because my mother does not see that it pains me
Because my brother is better deserving
Because he was the first born
Because he is better bred
Because he is more extraordinary than I
Because it seems like I don’t need it
But it pains me every time I think about it.
I will get my mother’s love
But only the conditional, not un-

-Rani