Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Eternal Question

My mind oscillates.
The imaginary pendulum swings....

Should I go the well travelled roads that the world
assures me are the safest ?
or
Should I brave it through the storm armed with nothing but
my intuition and guts to guide me ?

The well travelled roads have nothing to offer
but safety and mediocrity.
It shall bring me no fame or name.
But if I go its ways I may not be happy.
Neither will the world be.
But it shall rejoice that it has stilled yet another rebel.

But if I take the unknown ways...
I shall have only myself to blame
and face the risk of shame.
New and untried adventures shall assail me,
I shall wrestle with my wits,
and my courage will be tested,
as at each stage the world would watch
with bated breath,
to rejoice at my failures.
I may come out of it all,
glorious in my victory ,
masterful and strong .
And I may be supremely happy
as the world mourns my success.

But the choice is left to me.
My mind oscillates.
Should I risk it ?

- Srividya Srinivasan May 1994

4 comments:

arvindiyer said...

Ahhhhh welcome to the crazy world:) Black magic sure is my all time fav poem of yours.
Eternal question, I know what is in my head!!!

Alpha said...

lovely and completely in tune with what I feel today! Risk it- is what i would say...hopefully since 1994, you have risked much more.

UL said...

oh yes, risk is what keeps us moving, it makes life colorful, often I have to be pushed into taking a risk, but then I surround myself with people who do so :)

Nice space you have going here, landed from Laksh's site. Esp. liked the 'Intimate Strangers' post.

Anonymous said...

Very confessional. But with a difference. Usually confessional poetry has a sense of hopelessness attached to it. But this is miles away.
The paradox lies in how the rebel actually has such a positive outlook on deviation, when it actually springs from a rejection of the familiar. You've challenged binaries itself.

The idea that there are only two modes to choose from is idealistic. But all the same true. Maybe the only ideal that is real.