General

When it all comes down to it, we don’t have a lot of say in what might be written about us or what might be inscribed on our tombstone, if we have one.

I remember asking my dad if there was anything he particularly wanted on his headstone and his reply was, “Well no, you can decide that, after all, I think I’ll have other things to think about.”

I’m sure when the time comes my children will think of something to say about me. They are good at recall, they often sit around the table at family dinners have a wonderful time remembering me as a father and how they ‘suffered’ having me as their dad.

Thankfully it is all in good fun.

Then again, I don’t intend to be buried. I’ve told them to cremate me and then find somewhere appropriate to spread my ashes, for example down…

इश्क़ का मैंने ज़हर पिया था
दवा नहीं थी किसी के पास।

हिज्र में बीती सारी रातें
समय नहीं था तेरे पास।

तेरी यादें भी दफना दी
मैंने अपनी कब्र के पास।

In response to:Reena’s Exploration Challenge #Week 43

Several things are certain in life and among them are death and taxes.  I worked at a funeral parlor, doing odd things like greeting guests, cleaning up and helping the mortician lift the dead bodies into the caskets.  Everybody deals with depressing things in different ways and for some people, it helps to laugh and in this place morbid jokes were always present.  Most of my coworkers resembled the Grim Reaper, as they never really said all that much, they were always pleasant and they seemed to have this constant grin on their faces.  None of them actually went around wearing a long, dark, black hooded cloak with a hood covering their face, wielding a scythe, but they all seemed to be a bit on the creepy side.

We would get together from time to time after a long day at work and have drinks at the place across the…

Reena’s Exploration Challenge

THE CHALLENGE

Edit only if you think something has slipped below generally acceptable levels of decency.

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Wild-

Wild is the way wind and the rain sculpt her out of insubstantial to substantial, bringing the flash and rumble of winter storms into the limitless depths of his heart. It is the echo of raptor’s screams as she nears, harrowing storm clouds like mythic Huntsmistresses of old.

No one had ever known wild as he has known wild. Bucking bronco across the rim of the canyon, swimming whitewater, drowning into the depths of dark and deep and mystery vaster than the far reaches of outer space. Smaller than the careless pinprick of his fingertip, dripping blood across fungi laced and lying deep, connecting the world from below, demons fingers in the dark.

Reena’s Exploration Challenge #Week 42 

Time

the most  intriguing part of life

the mute spectator

still being held for 

whatever happens to us.

time is running slow

time is flying by

time is bad

time is good

time to born 

time to die

time, the poor fellow is

always held responsible 

ups and downs

in one’s life

but the beauty of time lies not in

giving too much of your time, or

giving less of your time

but

making a balance

on how you divide, manage and balance your time

otherwise

it can

can make or break your life

Challenge

The challenge sits in front of me, daunting in its literal form.

I can see it requires me to step away from my comfort zone, explore the dark patches of my psyche.

I put pen to paper knowing there is an unknown, an area I will either embrace or shy from.

The words flow as I find myself cringing in the expectation of discovery, of a revelation I am not sure I want to make known.

Then a voice says, you can do it, after all, for the most part, you are anonymous, those who read it will only know your words, not your true self.

But I reply that is the issue; my words are my true self.

Then a calming voice whispers in my ear, you are who you are, don’t be afraid, those who know you, love you, nothing can change that.

So I take on…

No one likes things that are highly unpleasant or distasteful, but life requires compromises, so you may be required to play second fiddle, or be the third wheel, or you may even be asked to play out in left field.  Good and evil forces exist within every individual, but once the dark, sinister, malevolent being started sucking the life force out of all of those poor souls who it enslaved, something had to be done before death came to all of them that were locked in the depths of despair.  I found his tattoo covered body beyond disturbing and his implausible penchant for murder was definitely frightening.  I looked for clues, to solve this unsettling puzzle, as I had to escape before I met my demise.  I wandered down so many halls and struggled to open so many doors, but they all looked the same and I remained stuck inside…