Suddenly…National Poetry Month

Dear friends,

This week, this humanities gal is taking a detour from Vedanta and travel writing to head to my home turf of literature and poetry. April is National Poetry Month and I want to share a few poems this week that are dear to me.

I’ll start with this imperfectly perfect poem—or rather a poetic epiphany—I wrote several years back when my mother lived with us after the birth of our son. Like a lot of mom and daughter relationships, ours was complex too—we would talk as much as we’d argue, often driving ourselves to tears. One night, after my (then) toddler finally fell asleep, I tiptoed down the stairs toward the living room to make sure mom was OK—we must have argued about something trivial or monumental. She was sitting on the sofa watching some game show to keep herself entertained and seeing her comfortingly plump silhouette wrapped in the familiar maroon woolen shawl over her soft cotton sari, I saw an eternally strong and iron-willed, yet vulnerable widow displaced from her native land into this life of isolation in America, and her contentious behavior fell into place in my mind.

The writing below helped me make sense of my mom and life at that moment. However, it’s really what we all aspire to in life—to be loved and accepted, and not face the dusk of our life alone.

Suddenly…
By ©Anu Prabhala, 2010

Suddenly, it was all clear to me:

the road, the direction, the wish—

the Heart’s Desire.

It’s to be loved

and not be lonely

in Age and Maturity.

In those gray years

when the sun is setting

but it’s not dark, yet.

When the dusk

colors the horizon

a dark pink

in hues of Hope

that the light of the moon

will flush it again, bright

For that lonely soul

wandering the night

not wanting to be alone

but to be loved for Eternity.

How do you cope with feeling alone or lonely, recognizing there’s a difference between the two? Sometimes, you can feel content all alone and then, you could feel lonely in a room full of people. For me, the study of the Self through the Vedanta philosophy has helped enjoy moments of self-discovery that can mostly only happen in solitude and peace. So I embrace solitude now much more than ever before in life. Do share your thoughts.

Meaningfully yours,
Anu