Skip to main content

WARPAINT

 

                            

                            WARPAINT 

Mirror,mirror crack'd on the wall…

I wore a chambray heart in a world so artificial, now I'm a shattered porcelain doll


You reflect all my fears and flaws beautiful and bold,

Your icy sheen casts me in a light  indifferent and cold


It's a bleak truth, but, in your million shards I'm whole

Sewn with gilded threads, I conceal scars and purple welts cruel


Shattered, splintered, fragmented yet I reign and rule!

Branched out lines, snapped spider webs of sheer silvery white shrapnel 


On an ornate goblet, a studded chalice soaking midwinter night

In equal measure float in droplets of rain and bleak sunlight 


Through the serrated and jagged edges of the crystalline pane

Looms a coastline of a faraway island empty and bare


The chaotic edges have seen ravages of time and season

Baked hot by the merciless sun and chilled by rime frozen


What do you see outside? What do you see within?---Tough roll of the dice, robust spirit once, now wafer-thin!

Wearing my weals like warpaint, I walk away like a lone wolf, immune to nightmare


Setting ablaze some memories, they're crisping in the flame

While I metamorphose into a Phoenix, rising from the ashes yet again!


Well! I'm long gone ! You only know my shadow, an exotic sarcophagi 

I'm now an artist who's mastered the craft of Kintsugi!

©️ Sangeetha Kamath 

Pic Courtesy: Pixabay 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CHAPTER 1: THE JADE SHAMBHALA

This post is Chapter 1 of short story series titled The Jade Shambhala. Tasseography is as old as time. The stories in the tea leaves will leave you in a spin, while the healing tea that precedes it anchors you like gripping oak roots. Every day for the next seven days, Xiu-Ying will welcome a new traveler seeking refuge from their heavy burdens, reading their futures in the settled leaves and guiding them toward peace as the seasons shift on the ridge. Welcome to The Jade Shambhala Tea House!                               CHAPTER 1                            EARLY SPRING  Ko-San Tê Bai Mudan (White Peony and Red Dates) The morning mist in the rolling hills of the 1980s Taiwanese countryside did not rise; it dissolved, burning away into thin silver threads under the persistent warmth of the early spring sun.  The Yun-Shan Ridge grew f...

FAIRY ROSE AND THE THREE WISHES (DAY 5, POST 2)

While there was no dearth of dispiriting news floating around during the pandemic, this was one unexpected blow! How deeply I was mourning the passing of my former school headmistress, even as I put one more chapter to rest in the confines of my treasured memories.  I was fortunate to have 'Sister' as my headmistress in primary school. Although I feared her greatly, I was also one of those lucky few who got to see her nurturing side. She had made it a point to give me company every evening while I waited for my father to pick me up from school, which would inevitably be long after dismissal time due to his work constraints.   We're talking of the '80s here when there were no after-school facilities in my beloved hometown. I would constantly be the lone student in the portico and it meant a lot to have an authoritarian figure looking out for my safety and well-being. I was one those painfully shy nerds who by default went into the good books of the teachers and was in th...

CHAPTER 5: THE JADE SHAMBHALA

                              CHAPTER 5                        TYPHOON OLEA The window shutters started swinging in the light breeze at first. Xiu Ying stopped eating for a heartbeat and listened intently. Down below where the garden path led to the valley roads, the trees were speaking. The wind was more intense there as it rocked the branches and she could hear faint noises of a couple of branches cracking and falling with a thud. She dropped her chopsticks and called out to Moon Glow in a panic.  "Sim bu bu! Moonie Boo! Where are you, paopei! Come to mama quick. Here girl...tch tch tch". She rattled her snack tin to get her attention even as her heart was beating outside of her chest.  Oh that idiot! where is she! Xiu was perspiring and a cold sweat ran down behind her neck.  MOON GLOW!  Out crawled a sleepy kitten from under the c...

CHIFFON STREAKS (DAY 3, POST 2)

The night was restless, silent and too long Excitedly waiting for a new dawn to arrive with her chirpy song Shedding the sable cloak off her shoulders Darkness rolls from the arms of the moon alabaster  Brave is the sky when the moon disappears  Vanishing from sight, the twinkling stars too coyly obscures Wriggling like a newborn from a fleece blanket The rays washes the frills of clouds in crimson and scarlet Gauzy shimmer appears on the horizon And I see a sliver of crest of the rising sun Gliding across the sky lazily, the tangerine fireball shimmers brightly Rising over treetops and bathing the rooftops nascently The air is perfumed as buds and blooms joyously unfurl The mild gusts of breeze ruffles the waves of my tousled curls The apricot sky breaks into splashes of colors, ribbons and streaks I watch the new day waltz in to paint all my dreams. ©️ Sangeetha Kamath Image by Calla Negra from Pixabay

'OWL'TASTIC

                        ' OWL' TASTIC He sits in solitude as the sun slips by Rousing from deep sleep as the moon rises high Now is his time to party and play  With a hoot of delight he's set out to catch his prey Swooping on rats and cubs of tiny critters His noiseless wings span the fields, woods and pastures Wise old owl is his title to this day Black, white or brown, they're endearing creatures so I say Keeping him as a pet is a hearts delight When they cuddle up to you in the blinding sunlight Turning his head all the way, he's powerful and elegant—an acrobat of the skies!  ©️ Sangeetha Kamath Pic Courtesy:Pixabay