In the beginning it may appear dark
The wise say, fear not
As the witness within isn’t blind
Who sees by light of another kind
And is patience personified
Whose existence is sadly denied
There’s no getting around this gatekeeper
Who outlives even the grim reaper
The knot hardens, as if tendered by hot glue
As we relentlessly pass through
Stations of existence
With growing ignorance
Distance is bearable at first
As there is no real thirst
Happy with their sun fired lot
Why would the deep unknown be sought?
The mouth of desire is never parched
A forest of them waits to be scorched
There isn’t enough room to bury them all
Before the day is overcome by nightfall
Chained to a swing, destined for ups and downs
Always on the lookout for new playgrounds
Enamoured by the dream machine
There’s never a parting of the screen
If only one would, just a little
It would break, the connection that’s so brittle
Yet seemingly unbreakable
In the deep inner void, that relationship is untraceable
It is a crucible where everything melts
And there remains nothing else
But a piercing silence
That cuts like a diamond
To the very core of question
Of what life is, without digression
Isn’t that what we want?
It is not found in our frequent haunt
The mind, a small speck in the grand equation
It is blessed with immense powers of persuasion
To make us see the world on its terms
We patiently wait for endless thoughts to take turns
The mind has become a giant roadblock
It is the creator, but pretends to absorb every shock
Never the one to give up its tools
That enable it to forge rigid rules
We can suppress the mind all we want
It remains nonchalant
Until the chinks are exposed
Offering a clue on how it may be deposed
The end of the mind is a new beginning
That will unravel life’s very meaning
It isn’t a cliff that’s impossible to scale
Especially with silent inward travail
Every little step in the dark
Brings one closer to that static spark
Frozen beyond the reach of time
When everything’s dropped, it is a straight line
To that beginning, which has no end
The senses cannot comprehend
It’s best to lay down arms
Instead fight the mind with our charms
Without giving away the ploy
One must surreptitiously deploy
The seeds of the mind’s end
As we court and befriend
The witness that patiently waits
At the locked gates
To the heavens within
They don’t unlock only in a coffin
When the inner mountain has been ascended
Fear of descent will be transcended
For the mind will then be a flatland
Where it loses it’s upperhand
No more the chessboard it once was
Taking advantage of probabilities, and its myriad laws
Blending the past and the future
Twisting the present into happiness or torture
The end, of darkness
Is a new beginning, of brightness
On that road less traveled
Much may happen
That’s a mystery for another time
It is cast in a different paradigm
Which words cannot express
And does not conform to what one may expect
- N. Seshadri
