Custom Search

The Quiet Voice

by Viveka Sah
(Mumbai,India)

softly treading over fallen leaves
Crunch beneath your broken feet
Guides you past the broken trees
She holds your hand, tightly.
Finger on her rosebud lips
Your fingers melting in her grip
Luscious eyes; take a sip
Flow down endlessly.
*

‘Listen to the quiet voice’,
She says.
‘Truth be told, we must rejoice
The calm is louder than the noise
We are children of the night.’
You close your eyes and listen
Blackened mind; you see hers glisten
She sings of a beloved system
The music is in you now.
‘I see!’ You cry with utmost joy
‘I know the world is but a toy
In the hands of something greater
Something that will never die.’
*

No.
She shakes her head in sync
With the thrumming of the forest green.
‘I fear you did not listen, friend
You only heard what you had seen
And you saw something you thought could never die
But that power will collapse, I tell you
No matter how hard you try
To defend it.’
*

Your hand shakes as you take a step back
‘I can’t deal with this!
There’s too much to process! I lack
The imagination.’
Again, no.
‘What you lack is not your head
But the voice in your heart that puts to bed
The fear and the massive dread.
That is the quiet voice.
The one that lulls you to sleep.
It kisses you when you weep.
It does not talk about eternal things
But of soft hugs and delicate springs.
Listen to the quiet voice, my friend.’
So saying, she touches your cheek
And disappears into the blowing breeze.
You are alone now.
*

Fateful visions pass before your eyes
Frozen sunsets in the skies
Delightful little lullabies
Broken hearts are now mended.
But something grows inside your skull
An answer going from sharp to dull
To sharp again.
How was it that you’d never seen it before?