Rebirth

I was walking along a road.
Without an end in sight, I strode.
I was looking for a place to rest.
A tree of love to build my nest.

And then,

One day, I took a fateful turn.
A path of roses and fresh fern,
into a beautiful land of dreams,
of scented breeze and gentle streams.

I danced to the song of a thrush,
my face etched with a perennial blush.
"I have found my tree of love",
I cried, from the topmost bough.

I revelled in its sights; its smells and sounds,
like a child's mind which knows no bounds.
So smitten was I b'yond reason or sense,
for in it I saw the meaning of my existence.

And then,

One day, after much gleeful play,
tired and spent, into slumber, I slipped away.
The paradise was engraved so in my mind,
I could see it even though i was blind.

I woke up to get back to my life so sweet,
but found no one but shock and sorrow to greet.
No sign of thrushes; the streams gone dry.
From Elysium to a wilderness dotted with cacti.

I tore across the desert like a crazed man,
searching for my garden on the sandy span.
In despair I closed my eyes in a silent plea,
and lo! I found my paradise staring back at me.

So attached was I to this mental oasis,
that I closed my eyes and settled into a stasis.
A born martyr, I happily embraced this malady,
to find solace in my mind from the bitter reality.

Burnt and broken by the elements, bit by bit,
I held on, trying to escape the truth of it.
For a love unanswered, unrealized and vain,
I set out looking for pleasure in pure pain.

And then,

Slowly, I started losing my picture in a mist,
like grains of sand slipping through a tight fist.
Now, my canvas is clean. As white as lime,
for what is mind? A slate in the hands of a child called Time.

It is time to open my eyes to the world outside,
to face the facts and to stop trying to hide.
The moment has come to moult and mould,
to pave a new path, to find a new foothold.

-Moosi