A Pious Man

Pray not for aid to One who made
A set of never-changing laws
But in your need remember well
He gave you speed, or guile, or claws.
                                       - Saki (For the Duration of the War)

A Pious Man

He lived his whole life by the Book
The Lord commandeth, and he did,
If temptation ever came his way
From Satan’s path he hid

His friends, they were not evil
Merely boys having some fun
He would not follow, but sit and read
The tale of the Lord’s Son

If they did implore him to join
He would give them a scathing look
And warn them of the hellfire awaiting
As was written in the Holy Book

At a certain age, he began to feel
The temptations of the flesh
But he rid those thoughts, for in his mind
The Holy verses still ran fresh

He abstained  from material belongings
Except for necessities bare
For he knew this was the trap by which
Sin did man ensnare

Only one thought did consume his mind
That once he did feel Death’s kiss
He would leave this cruel and trying world
And sail off into heavenly bliss

He did deny himself of every
Pleasure that the world could offer
Thinking, “Every sin I avoid here,
In heaven will fill my coffer.”

All of sixty years he lived
A pious man as can be
Naïve man! He knew not
Of life’s great irony

For Death did come his way
And he breathed his last breath of air
But now his life is over
And heaven is to be found nowhere...

Why Does The Chicken Cross The Road?

She had searched all through her life
But no results had it showed
She still did ask one and all
“Why does the chicken cross the road?”

She asked her mother this question
But no answer could she goad
Her mother had no answer
“Why does the chicken cross the road?”

She asked her father in the hope
That he would relieve her of her load
For the question still burdened her mind
“Why does the chicken cross the road?”

Her father gave no answer
But her quest for truth was not slowed
She still asked the question
“Why does the chicken cross the road?”

She decided to find out herself
And across the path she strode
In her eternal quest to find out
“Why does the chicken cross the road?”

She reached the other side
But she could see no change
She saw nothing special
She saw nothing strange

And now, though she made
The other side her abode
She still knew not the answer
“Why does the chicken cross the road?”

Billu

A steed he was, noble and great

We knew him not, yet we knew him well

Fate had blessed us with his presence

Why we deserved him, none can tell

Majestic in every step he took

And not one foot did he ever put wrong

No man can describe his value

Through oratory or through song

Descended he must be from royal lines

Yet he would never let you know

But an aura he carried quietly with him

And your respect for him would only grow

Ancient and wise he grew to be

Yet never his strength diminished

He walked ever, strong and proud

Until his time on earth was finished

We rode on him, an honor it was

An experience to remember, that he ensured

To even the most unskilled rider

A smooth ride was assured

It mattered not who needed his help

It mattered not who held the reigns

He was in control, he guided you

While exhilaration coursed through your veins

A simple act of riding a horse

Made to feel like an act of nobility

For we were merely the passengers

Witness to his awe inspiring abilities

Age seemed to affect him not

As it affected a common man

Nor should it have for he was Billu

The greatest steed that ever ran

His hair grew long, flowing free

Rivaling tales of Rapunzel

When he flew, it flew with him

And with his light footfall, it also fell

He was considered the best

By young and old, by one and all

Blessed was considered the ground

Where his holy foot would fall

His own breed would fall in step

Not daring to disrespect his grace

Wherever he went, they followed suit

In the kingdom of steeds, they knew their place

From Zanskar, they say, his origins are

Yet I feel strangely in my heart

He came not from a place known to us

But a world from ours apart

For no equal in twenty years

Of strength and grace have I seen

He stood alone on a pedestal

Erect and proud, as he’s ever been

He must have tired of normalcy

For he has decided to move on

As a result, from our midst

His reassuring presence is now gone

We cannot follow, we don’t deserve to

We must be content with our life

And remember that for thirty years

He was here to ease our strife

I pay respect, meaningless though it may be

To the horse that we all love

Absent he is from this world

I’ll look for him when I go up above...

A Geometric Dream

Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to do & die, 
Into the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred. 

-      Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1809-1892

A Geometric dream

It was war

War it was, that drove him on all his life

War it was that finally drove him over the edge

He remember only war and the destruction that it wrought

He remembered not that he spake to his country a pledge

Blood, gore, madness had filled his head for years

He saw things which man could never dream

It was bound to happen sooner or later

It happened one night, he woke up with a scream

His soldiers knew not why,

They were too afraid to ask

But from that night on, their leader, it seemed

Had torn off his humane  mask

No longer would he pretend to have ideals

No longer would he pretend to care

He had no humanity left in him

Let any test that theory if they dare

He was in a war to kill

That’s what he’d been trained to do

He would do it, and do it well,

He was his enemy’s worst fear come true

He fought hard and dirty

Wreaked havoc of massive scale

None reported his doings

For none lived to tell the tale

But fate caught up at last

His time on earth was through

For his acts of maddened killing

He now had to pay his due

He slept that night soundly

Clear as crystals was his vision

It arrived in his mind unbidden

But with eagle eyed precision

A geometric dream it is called

A concept not known to all

It can spur man to great deeds

Or it can lead to his downfall

In one night’s sleep he saw

The very essence of the world

He saw where he was headed

He saw how his life unfurled

It was not his creation

It could not have been his own

But now that it was there it could not be forgotten

The seeds of hell had been sown

He awoke, all knowing, all seeing

His mind knew only one path

It led him inevitably down the road

And all in the way felt his wrath

He was a general, a leader elect

He commanded a troop of six hundred men

They were ready to lay down their lives

He only had to tell them when

They trusted him more than themselves

For he had never led them astray

He wielded now this power he had

They had no choice but to obey

He was told by his superior

To make sure his men hold their ranks

Just long enough till the time was right

Then attack from either flank

He cared no longer for orders

He now served a higher cause

There would be no life for men tomorrow

In his march there would be no pause

He knew humanity was doomed

He knew this fact full well

When man reached what he considered heaven

He would pray he’d gone to hell

He wished death upon himself

And on those he valued most

And of every living being on earth

His men always came foremost

And so it was decided by him

He would not die alone

He would take the life of the very men

Of whom so fond he’d grown

But a cowards death would not do

His men did not deserve deceit

Their honor could not be compromised

Even when their end they meet

He rallied his troops, onward they went

He filled in them a passion unmatched

Now six hundred rode to fulfill

A plan that in his sleep was hatched

They rode straight into the heart of the enemy

None knew what awaited them that day

None but him, their maddened chief

All they could do was pray

And then in one dreadful moment they saw

That their preparation had been in vain

So great was the sea of men before them

They’d never live to see the sun rise again

But so great was their faith

So dear to them their honor

They wavered not by their chief’s side

Even when confronted by this horror

They hacked, they sawed

They cut, they clawed

They fought like none had fought before

But look where they might

Everywhere in sight

For each dead man, there were ten more

Valiant men in their prime

Whose bravery was unmatched

Had fallen victim to their general’s crime

And been ruthlessly dispatched

Not many were left to see the view

For most were already dead

But the extraordinary few, who made it through

Saw only visions of red

Their compatriots, their mates

Their brothers, their sons

Lay dead to the world

Deformed by guns

Some were maddened in these last moments

Their hearts could not bear the dread

Others accepted death with honor

And smiled at the man who severed their head

But no smile could rival his

The man who was the cause of it all

He stood convinced that into place

Every piece in his plan would fall

He feared no more the concept of death

Fear to him was a thing of the past

It could be this very fearlessness

That helped him survive to the last

At last he looked upon the fields

And saw each of his men had perished

None were left of the six hundred

Of whose so many memories he cherished

His job was done, his time had come

And none would go as peacefully as him

He gazed one last time upon the world

And in that moment, his face was grim

He saw his enemy, remembered his friends

To one and all he bade goodbye

He jumped into the midst of chaos

And thus, on his own terms, did he die

Men don’t know this story

They knew not what had transpired

For all had perished on that day

Long before the last shot was fired

So they did what all men do

They made up a heroic tale to tell

For man always concocts a legend

To hide a concept he doesn’t understand well

And so it happened that this man

By whose hand six hundred had died

Was made a hero by clueless men

And all told his tale with pride.

A Little Information

 'Tis not an easy thing

To write a morbid line

The human heart, by nature

Does happiness pine

Yet strangely as always

I find my heart does sit

In relation to normal beings

Firmly opposite

By darkness and misery

And all things scary

My mind is fascinated

When it should feel the contrary

Blood and gore I appreciate

My bloodlust, violence alone can sate

Pray tell, what’s wrong with me

For I let out a contented sigh

When all in the world goes awry

And I witness a killing spree

 Now shall be told the story behind

The warped nature of my mind

I shall tell all who wish to know

Why my mind is twisted so

The beginning of this morbid tale

Lies in the midst of the Kashmir vale

Where a man’s eye can at once feast

On both, the beauty and the beast

I walked alone on that fateful day

Unwittingly my feet did stray

I ended up tired and worn

In an unknown place, deserted and forlorn

But even on that deserted road

An evil did my heart forebode

For a foul stench filled my nose

From that cursed ground it arose

It mattered not as much to me

As did my curiosity

For at once I felt the urge to know

What evil lurked in the ground below

Digging with a fervent hand

I dug deeper into the land

Blood and sweat from my body did run

Until at last my task was done

I pulled it out onto the ground

But it made not a single sound

Nor should it have, for it was dead

It was a child’s severed head

Horror smote my very core

Hate poured out of my every pore

Who could do such a heartless thing

On an innocent soul, such torture bring?

It seemed not to me at least

The work of a crazed wild beast

Nay, this bore signs of a cold blooded plan

This was done by none other than man

What manner of ungodly pain

Had molded and shaped his brain

That he began to contemplate

Such unthinkable acts to perpetrate?

While I lay there, in shock, reeling

Suddenly I got the feeling

I was not, as I’d thought, alone

There was someone hiding behind the stone

I ran at once to investigate

And not a single moment too late

For there, in the undergrowth, lay hid

The man who had this evil did

He lay there grinning in the dirt

Still wearing his blood soaked shirt

How low could this man’s soul get?

For he showed not an ounce of regret

He seemed, in fact, in total bliss

As if nothing on earth were amiss

He proudly showed to me the knife

With which he’d took the poor child’s life

I set upon him with all my might

He didn’t seem to put up a fight

By the time all my energy was spent

Limb from limb, his body I’d rent

When his last limb did I tear

I heard a cry of despair

A lady, in obvious strife

Was attempting to take her own life

I ran to her, held her arm

Till she could do no bodily harm

I asked her, “pray ma'am, tell me

What is it that so troubles thee?”

She looked at me with pity and sorrow

For her, she said, there was no tomorrow

For the man I’d sent to the lord above

Was her husband, her one true love

I had robbed her of the one thing

That happiness in her life did bring

“why, oh, why”, she accosted me

Why did I wreak such misery

“but lady”, I said, quite astonished

For I hadn’t expected to be admonished

“he cut the child’s head to the bone

And buried him beneath that stone”

Why, u should feel naught but relief

This harbinger of evil and grief

Has finally met his end

His soul to hell did I send

A little information is dangerous

This from my elders I’d always heard

But even in my wildest dreams

The answer I got would be absurd

Yet it strangely did ring true

And suddenly it all made sense

My mind reeled with dread when I

Envisaged the consequence

For she proceeded to tell the tale

Of the child’s murder in Kashmir vale

Her voice was numb when she spoke

For her spirit I had broke

She told me fate had played with us

A game most perilous

For who I deemed the enemy

Was in fact the savior of humanity

The man I’d killed was a priest

Violence he liked the least

But he had danced the devils dance

For it was humanity’s only chance

The child who had so touched my heart

Who lay from me, not ten feet apart

Was in fact a lifeless empty soul

Whose body did the devil control

He was the devil, come from hell

To put mankind under his evil spell

But his secret disguise had been found out

By the priest, god’s loyal scout

The priest took upon himself the task

Though for any man, t’was a tough ask

To send the devil back down the road

To hell, his only true abode

It was indeed an almighty fight

One never seen before by mortal sight

Yet the man who had thus succeeded

Now lay dead, while his heart bleeded

The devil may have been sent away

But he’d be back another day

Her husband, on the other hand

Had forever left this sacred land

A moment after she’d told me this

I felt the death angel’s kiss

For the noble priest’s widowed wife

Had in that moment taken her life

I lay there my mind in tumult

I knew not what to do

I had killed my savior

And now his wife too

The guilt was too much to bear

I could take it no longer

For me to survive this ordeal

My will had to be much stronger

But it wasn't as fate would have it

My will was frail and weak

I slit my throat, then and there

Never again did I speak.

An Overreaction

I have been angry but thrice
Two of those were justified
Three moments where, over all emotion
Solely anger did override

The first, was a fight of passion
Fought in the name of love
The second was to defend the name
Of the man I worship above

The third was an interesting one
Neither love nor emotion provoked it
A dictator had in me awoken a fire
And a fool’s words had stoked it

I have been angry but thrice
Two of those were justified
Two men got a beating they deserved
The third, of course, died…

A Romantic Conversation

Said I to my wife, “let’s go to bed
“I had a bad day, need to clear my head”
My wife didn’t move, nor made no reply,
“Oh, God”, thought I, “I wish she would die”

Said I to my wife, “what’s the matter now?
“I have done no wrong, why the furrowed brow?”
My wife once again ignored my plea
“Satan”, thought I, “please take my wife with thee.”

Said I to my wife, “have I a rule broken?
“Is this the reason that you haven’t yet spoken?”
Still my wife turned not her gaze from the wall
“Egads,” thought I, “this woman has some gall.”

Said I to my wife, “all right, that’s enough!
If you behave this way, things will get rough”
My wife made no move, my head all in a tangle
I decided, my wife I had to strangle

As I moved to throttle the life out of her
A most strange incident indeed, did occur
For my wife, I discovered, as I grabbed her head
Lay motionless because she was already dead...

Mr. Terrence

He had a job he loved
He raved of it all day
“Oh, how lucky I am.”
Mr. Terrence used to say

He had plenty of money
He said to everyone
“I can buy everything
under God’s glorious sun.”

He had a lovely woman
Unrivalled in her looks
“The likes of her I have only seen
In fairy tale books”

He had wonderful children
Two girls and a boy
“When I see their faces
I am filled with pure joy”

All were mighty jealous
Of Mr. Terrence’s life
They yearned for his money,
They coveted his wife.

But nowadays, people ask,
“If he was as happy as he said
Then why did Mr. Terrence
Put a bullet through his head?”

A Child

A child, oh, how sweet he was
With chubby, rosy cheeks
Singing and dancing all day long
Even as his runny nose leaks

A cuter sight there never was
In all of gods green land
But woe is me, it had to be
His behavior got out of hand

It bewildered me that such beauty
Could such evil perpetrate
Neither love, nor fear could restrain him
Alas it was too late

His misbehavior knew no bounds
Rumors of his evil did the rounds
He knew not where to draw the line
And worst of all, this child  was mine

I had to put an end to it,
This could go on no longer
If I didn’t deal with the child now
He would get only stronger

I tied him to the lamppost
Laid him out flat
And then, with my ample body
Right on him I sat

Sure enough the life drained out
His shudders confirmed as much
I may have had momentary depression
But no real guilt as such…