peace ---

Peace

You cannot run like an avid sportsman   kicking   ball

from foot to pillar wiping your flowing sweat fondly

touching your shirt-wet with your skin hot hot.

Running after Peace, in marketplace of wear and tear,

amidst jostling crowd, do you see or  grab it?

Is it a sari decked on the super model

or  is it   spicy  birthday cake to be displayed

on  a Tanjore   plate of ancient carve of exquisite     

tradition criss cross overwhelming all our eyes of taste?

At the end of the day, go home searching

In the eyes of cute kids welcoming with smile

Cherubic and serene, sipping juice in tasty buds ooze;

Peace!  Can it be bought like a peanut  butter

for a momentary gulping with a coke or sprite:

spreading like a  banana jam on  whole wheat bread;

or brushing aside hundred lies for  one momentary survival

in fast moving like concord taking our breaths away.

Wheeling and wheeling leading us nowhere.

Peace! Peace! Under the bodhi tree in the past,

Now in closed corner, away from din and bustle.

Love towards have-nots - (human values)

Walking on the footpath

Walking on footpath, goggles on your eyes,

 your   decorated   eyeliner and sophistication

with foreign umbrella tilting   and exotic perfume

all around you, colorful handbag gentle 

on hand tucking away your silk  sari away lest

it should reach the beggar   with a touch

 of itch , you careful on the path, but least

caring for his dented vessel  for alms, to suffice

his hunger and day and night with his kids

in tattered rags dependent on him ;

you throw away  a  coin-   not out

of your urge for   fellow feeling or

concern for his precarious situation,

but your eight-year-old should not

chide you for ignoring and callousness.

The sensible bends down to remove the

half hearted coin; instead gently puts

below ten rupees note in his hands.

A  mockery for his  father and like minded.

A life bereft of gentle and understanding no use.