Why do we take life so seriously?

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Why do we take life so seriously?

Do I have to be so serious?

That I forget the first time,

when my child enfolded his small fingers around my pinky,

It was all muscles and ligaments and no bone had shaped;

His smile churned my stomach;

His eyes met my eyes and they twitched in glory;

His baby step covered miles in distance, in life and in memory;

He threw his hands in air believing in security I never promised;

I laughed so hard when I bled with the prick from his first tooth;

Now I strain to live those days in my head.

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Memories fade or get replaced,

Then he grew to be a toddler,

It was all sermon and lessons;

I was the superman and Godly for him;

He could be on top of the world, flying high on my feet;

A kiss could heal the worst of pain;

Lullaby and bedtime stories were concocted to convenience,

But they brought merry and exuberance all around;

He could sleep on my shoulder all evening,

And it never ached;

The giggle over the pranks still reverberates.

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How did I forget?

The teenage was rebellious;

Generation gap was counted and resounded;

For him my techno skill always wanted an update;

Questions asked by me were offshoot of conservatism;

To sound liberal and up to the mark,

Compromises I made were in hundreds;

I lost my originality to showoff being original;

His teenage was my forties,

Forty was naughty or teenage more tense,

I kept guessing all the while though it made no sense.

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Gradually life became more and more serious,

And the life became more and more forgetful;

It Intrigues me time and again,

When is it that I am living life for myself?

I have lost the smile on my face,

Easily overlook the smile on others,

and have become the reason to destroy smile of many;

Work sucked everything that was personal,

profession was to dance to the tune of bosses’ music,

passion took a backseat and instructions drove actions;

A cost that I have to pay for taking life seriously.

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I Walk on the street mindlessly;

Fail to greet people crossing by;

Miss out on the excitement of kids playing in the vicinity,

and rallying of the pets in the park;

Never remember how many steps I walk,

as life is governed by different gadgets;

Relations are built and survived on screen;

That touch and warmth is difficult for me to recall,

For everything is played in the mind,

reality has been taken over by virtual world;

How do I undo all the misses I am experiencing?

Perhaps a cost for taking life seriously.

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I so often miss now the fragrance of the flower in the park,

and buzzing of the bees, during my morning and evening stroll;

I have turned deaf to chirping of the birds,

and blind to their hop from one branch to another;

I forget to enjoy the vision of clouds embracing,

taking all shapes of imagination;

The budding of new leaves in different plants,

with a bouquet full of hues of green;

Butterflies and dragon fly hovering over,

and the wasp hives clinging on the corner of the wall;

How each year I let everything pass unnoticed,

a cost for taking life seriously.

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All time is consumed planning for future,

and ruminating about the past,

neglecting the present moment,

and living in a land of unknown,

mercilessly brutal to bliss and love,

Where togetherness is synonymous to loneliness,

Solitude is a word for depression,

Where in a crowd I find myself alone,

For none care for me but for themselves,

An ecosphere alien to one and all,

For that is the cost paid for taking life seriously.

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Suddenly it triggered a thought process,

If life had been equally serious with me,

then my wishes would ride over the wings,

take my dreams to culmination,

aspirations would blossom into petals of red rose,

and become envy of every other flower;

ambition would be a cakewalk,

and spite of others blow away as dust in the storm;

I would love and be loved meaningfully;

When I would laugh tears would meander on the cheeks;

No expression would be shackled,

under the burden of who would think what;

It would be freedom all around,

As life would be just life,

A beautiful life as it is,

A gifted time to everyone,

Packed in surprises, all worthy to explore,

right from the childhood.

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But, alas!

I don’t know how to not take life seriously;

For seriousness is what I have been taught,

Since I was born in this beautifully distorted world;

For what I see is what I have not to see,

And what I don’t see is what I have to believe;

For the eyes are mine, but the vision is someone else’s,

For I paint but the colours are decided by others;

Every drop of blood running in the veins,

Is directed and controlled remotely,

They get confused and lose the purpose,

And the body starts harbouring inexplicable ailments;

A cost so dearly paid for taking life seriously;

It would end with the smoke emanating,

from burning of skin and flesh,

with evaporation of blood and cracking of bones,

to be honest it would go now only with me;

I still yearn to find a learned to guide,

who can make me realize,

to take this beautiful life the way it is,

A gifted time to everyone,

Packed in surprises, all worthy to explore;

OM SHANTI!