Lost in the Sands: A 'Layered' Poem

 Lost in the Sands: A 'Layered' Poem

Below, is a poem, fancily called a 'layered' one to hint at its fabricated nature. Sounds overwhelming? Basically, the poem lacks a single theme and is therefore, open to varied interpretation. It is an essence of rich but perhaps, also vague ideas that comprise its 'fabric'. It's a free verse and therein lies its appeal. The contradictions in it (spoiler alert) are worth spending some time upon, in pensive thought. 

Walking alone in the desert,

Scorching sands that sizzle to shake.

The essence of time I experience,

A manifestation of perpetuity it is.

I do revel in the pleasure of a warm feet burn.

Sweet pain is pleasure?

Unsettling, isn't it?

Walking alone in the warmth,

Woe to the warm desert dwellers,

The spiteful winds that vengeful blow.

I do inhale the air

scented dry and barren.

Yet, thriving with life,

The miracle of life.

Unsettling, isn't it?

Walking alone under the Sun,

A constant gaze He keeps on me.

He tracks my scuttling steps,

Like a human curious

to admire the antics of an ant.

Yet, I believe I walk 'alone'

unwatched.

Unsettling, isn't it?

Walking alone all lost,

In the vastness of the shimmering sand.

An unsteady climb I undertake

on mounts of the burnt meadows.

Pushed along the sand-veiled paths

by seemingly 'directionless' winds.

Yet, a force forces me to call

these, the winds of my destiny.

Am I truly lost?

No, for I believe in serendipity,

The magic of life's spontaneity.

The workings of destiny.

Unsettling, isn't it?

These winds shall carry me

to my coveted destination,

An appealing abode more comforting

than these infertile sands.

Or, what if they don't?

Is this rugged journey also my destination?

My life?

Unsettling.

Gaurav Chandra Tuli