Category: Poem Discussions

Quest of Life discussion

This post is about the discussion of the poem Quest of Life. I was asked to write something inspirational and the biggest inspiration for me is the very less hyped up topic of death. Is it slightly wrong to be infatuated by the concept of death? Or is it because of the mysteriousness that surrounds the whole being of it. Death I believe is the true birth and birth is the true death. So actually you are dead when you think you have been given life. The fact is we lose the energy of life once social conditioning enters our consciousness. Then the journey becomes one of finding ourselves, that energy of life once again. It is very hard to do and that is why I like Quest of Life, it is pure in terms of knowing what it wants. So let’s get down to the discussion of it.

The quest of life remains open to question,
Why is it asking a question creates hesitations?
Life is a quest for simple answers
A true genius remains a freelancer.

The fact is, do we know what the true quest to life is? Nobody knows but everybody knows. This is the paradox of it all. The quest of life is to simply live life. Then we are always told not to ask questions. You will hear your parents, teachers, Gurus, family, friends, work colleagues say ‘Don’t say this and that?’. ‘He is a learned person, so don’t question him!’ If we can’t question the so-called ‘learned’ person then what is the point of his existence. He might aswell be a mute. Never stop to question. Do not hesitate. If you don’t understand something, then question the layers of it. Even question me, I am willing to go to the dock of your court. Even if you are not satisfied with the answer, then say you are not. It is not stupid to an answer that is probably half-baked or even set out to confuse you. The answers must be simple, you must be able to feel them then you can accept them. It says that a ‘true genius remains a freelancer‘. This line can be taken to any level. A genius has no limits, has no boundaries, has no conditions, hence they are called a freelancer. They can do anything because they love what they do, they love the thrill. And that is what life should be, a thrill. We should wake up feeling as if we were just born. Free from anything that may restrict our thinking. This is why a genius is never controlled, instead they control. They may not control your life but they are further ahead than you will ever be. They have control over their own lives, their own individuality.

The soul of Yours and mine has to roam,
The quest goes from my home to Your Home.
My people do you feel down and out now,
 Is your heart feeling extremely low?

This verse talks about the soul. In the first line of this stanza, it is about God and one’s soul that has to roam. A pretty humble thought to put God on a humane level. The reason why I say that the soul of God should roam is because he is the one that grants us the life in death. Therefore, it leads to the next line, which sums up the previous line, that the quest of God and ours, is to find the home we want. God may be wanting my home, but I want to go to His home. The bottom line is that don’t think God is in one place, he is everywhere. Then the next two lines go to the humane level, it talks about emotions that tie us down, that limit us from being a genius, that limits our journey and our quest. You don’t have to believe in God, whatever you have faith in is great. Having faith in yourself is just as important as having faith in a God. Remember having faith in yourself and possessing an ego are different, one is humility and the other is arrogance.

The answer is to meditate on the Lord,
The Lord is your shield and your sword.
Meditate and grab your knowledge,
In adversity I’ll remember you and that’s my pledge.
This stanza deals with meditating on the Lord, or the energy that you want to believe in. Silence is a God. It has everything in there. Everything can drown in silence. Therefore, that becomes your protection (shield) and your weapon (sword). This does not mean you kill people. This means that you will kill your inner demons only. Then it goes on talking about grabbing your knowledge. People have stopped learning because they think they know everything. You know nothing and no matter how many theories, books you have read, documentaries you have seen and even the so-called ‘news’, it can never be enough. But the knowledge I am talking about here is the knowledge of knowing yourself. The knowledge of life in death. And when you are in your worst times then remember what you believe in and make that your pledge. Whatever gives us the essence to live, the energy to live, that is your God. Nothing else can be your God even if you tried. Only that what gives you the happiness in having the next breath. In your worst times, this energy will give you happiness. That is why I disagree with fearing God. How can you fear something that gives you happiness? You think that God really gives two damns about judging you? Get over yourself. He is judging what you do when you are spontaneous, not when you have calculated your response. Never fear God. When you fear God, you have lost moments in loving God. So don’t waste time in trying to be good and force to impress God. Just simply become good and leave an impression to God.

You have to figure what upsets you,
Most likely the findings will be true.
Where is my life going to end?
Or is death simply a new bend?

What is the biggest upset in the world, that humans find a reason to be upset. Any tiny little reason. ‘I can’t find love.’ Start loving yourself then maybe someone else can love you. ‘Can’t find decent guys or girls!’ Well, start making decent and well thought out decisions. ‘We can’t be friends because it can’t work out.’ Nothing in your life will work out. Why do we limit ourselves to ‘No’s’ ‘maybe’s’! What happened to the word ‘Yes.’ When can we look in the mirror and say you know what, I am at fault. The fact is when you figure out what upsets you, you will find that it is your own mind, heart and soul that upsets you. Then you start wondering where is my life going to end? What can you do to make sure you die a happy person. But then, the more you look into the life, the more you will realise that death is simply something that is mysterious and must be accepted that way. Just like God. Just simply see life as another bend that somehow will showcase a paradise in front of you. Paradise is not in terms of a visual accept. For me, paradise is pure darkness, pure emptiness.

I am worried about leaving this world,
But can I face death when it finally calls?
Is death as cold as I imagine it to be?
Or is it simply sitting by a wishing tree?

The biggest worry in life is death. What would happen to the world that is in front of us. Will it all disappear? Well, think about it, do you think about you great-great grandparents? No. You probably don’t give a damn about them. Don’t think you are popular because you have like 500 or more friends on facebook. Most of them will not even give a damn that you are dead or alive. There are only a few people that are genuine and that is honesty. I only care about 15-20 friends on my facebook, the rest is purely there for inspiration for a script! So what would happen when I die. Please just let those 15-20 friends be there. I don’t care if death calls. In fact, I don’t care about my funeral because I will not be attending it. Just burn me and put me in a river. But let me die first! I deliberately mentioned ‘fire’ and death is not cold. It is the warmest feeling. You are free from your problems. No money issues, family issues, friend issues, court cases or work-related issues. No problems and that is freedom. The best thing to do is be free right now. Don’t give a damn about anything but care about it. Love everything and everything will love you. It isn’t optimism, it is what gets me through the days where there is ultimate sorrow in my heart. Death could be us sitting by a wishing tree, similar like to the one they show in Avatar. What a lovely experience that would be. Just wishing away and in fact, once you are dead, I don’t think you will have any wishes. I think you will be free from the social bonds. The wish when you are dead will only be that you remain dead.

My questions have no answer today,
For death is my soul’s only way.
What happens after death is no issue,
But God shut me down without a cue.

The answers will not be given today, it is simple. Unless you die today, there will be no way. Your soul has to move on from being trapped or attached to the cage of your body. When you die, only then will you find the answers to everything. After death, like I said before that you will have no issues. You will have no care in the world. But my prayer is that if I die, I just want to burn out like a candle. I just want to go. I don’t want it to be slow. I don’t care about the pain. I just want to go. Lights out. I want no cue, no little clue. This is a body, it has to go so who am I to need a cue. ‘Shut me down’ sounds as if the body is a machine, well, if you are dying a slow death in hospital, you will most likely be on a life-support machine.

Having embraced the worst possibility,
Being in Your Presence will be my reality.
The dream is a reality and the reality is a dream,
The Lord and myself will one day become a team.

Today, the worst possibility is death but when you have embraced it. When you are in love with the concept then God comes to you. It may not be God, it may be pure love, the true love. In fact, if you have a partner who is like that then you are in for the most amazing time in your life. They can never disappoint you as lovers. Their presence of love that they have embraced, simply rubs off unto you. That is amazing. It is not death that you truly embrace, it is the Pure Love or God that you make your reality. In human terms, you are a dead man. But it is the best for anybody to be made of that Pure Love. The third line here is my favourite because there is no dream and there is no reality. Everything is a simple ILLUSION. The ILLUSION of DENIAL. Once you accept love, then that is the only existence. And the final line is about becoming a team with Love or the Lord. One day, it can happen. It is about belief. But if you have somebody that has embraced this Pure Love, stay near them. They will show you positivity, they will see positivity in everything. There is no limits to the possibilities and they will show you this. They may get down and may be upset for a day but they rise much quicker than us normal beings. Become the Pure Love and watch the world change around you. Don’t expect people to change but expect a change from within you and without you.

 

Lots of love and God bless,

Rahul N Singh

 

Returning Destroyed – In Depth

Here is the first in-depth discussion of a poem. This is my first and most favourite poem so far. I give a few points on each verse and what it makes me feel. Please feel free to add to any points. I love to discuss what it meant to you.

Mysteries eating within me

Breaking bonds, setting me free

I travel to broaden my ignorant mind

The corrupted teach me to be ‘kind’

God is a mysterious force, whether he exists or not, there cannot be a denial that the Entity plays a huge part in our lives. Life is a mystery hence I always associate life with God, we never know what will happen in the next second. Mysteries for me tends to be poverty, famine, economic depression, damaged shelter etc. Therefore, as I become known to these mysteries, I don’t see the world the way it is. I am not associated to society at all. I am sure we all have heard the saying ‘travelling broadens the mind’ as much as that could be debatable, it does allow us to see the horrible aspects of a particular place we visit, even if we are sitting in our five-star hotels. As responsible citizens, we are told to donate money to charities (religious or otherwise), and most likely the money will not even touch the hands of those that are in need of it, instead the money is feeding the charities’ greed.

Town to town, country to country

I contemplate on their ancient histories

Artefacts kept by the rich for the rich

It has my broad mind in a twitch

As the character continues his journey by travelling through each town, city and country, he think about their heritage. We all know how much countries are trying to preserve their heritage, some in liberal ways and some in their own fascist ways. Artefacts can be anything that shows how ‘great’ and ‘regal’ their history is. However, is it really for the country? Do the people of the country have any share in the artefacts? Instead, it is invested into the Governments’ pockets, which supposedly is invested back into the economy to help us survive and not pay for their ‘meaningful’ expenses. This has always confused me, why is the poor staying poor but the rich are staying rich, especially those with power.

My feet set me upon a land of war

People so poor, Oh God my heart tore

Feeling bountiful in knowledge and pocket

Forcing myself to destroy my return ticket

As our countries are all engaging in some sort of war, even war within our own communties. It is the people who are suffering, not those that are rich and powerful. Not those in their secure buildings, those that actually started this war and brought danger to mankind. My heart breaks knowing that due to these unnecessary wars, innocent lives are being lost and less sympathy is given and only enemies and hatred is created. Even if the character has the most expansive knowledge, the fact is that he cannot do anything to help the people who are being destroyed, his riches cannot stop the war, no matter how unjust it is. It would give anyone a moment to think, do I help those that are hurt and in pain? Do I help those recover with my knowledge and money, and give it directly into the hands of the ones in need?

I sleep on this tough and dusty desert

My head crushing with this hurt

I walked slowly up to a child, so pure

Fear in her eyes, thinking more torture

Imagine sleeping in a war-torn country as one of the natives. Sleeping on the hard floor because their homes have been blasted by the hate of the opposition. The pain from it would crush not only the head physically but will also hurt our ego and our comfort. Imagine walking upto a child and all she is thinking that, you are a foreigner and you will bring her pain? Would you be able to cope with that associated fear? Yet, without mercy, we shoot them with our imported bullets and disastrous explosives. Thanks to politics increasing threats of war, we have the future generation living in fear in every country. No country is safe.

The West poisoned their moral idealism

With the nefarious nature of capitalism

The child, she ran but with a warning

The West’s back on their spree of stealing

Once we set foot on an unknown country, we have this mentality that we know what life is about and we impose it on those who seem ‘lower’ than us. We call them backwards and show them the riches, that actually depress us. Do we really want to give them happiness or are we really luring them into depression?Now a child, if she knows of our past, our empires stealing their riches and taking it back, while we grant them ‘freedom’ do you think she is going to be ignorant towards it? She is free from the conformity of the State, that has invaded her freedom. She knows she will not be rich anymore and freedom is not going to be granted. Independence is a sham.

Within a flashed moment, I felt so profane

Their precious land destroyed by my cranes

My dignity freezing me in this damaged place

Empty pockets not funding my feeble escape

A flashed moment is an air strike and suddenly, the character feels that all the knowledge and wisdom gained from the religious texts mean nothing. What is holy or religious about killing innocent people? What is religious about invading land that is not ours? Suddenly, we are digging their grounds for our riches and pleasure. However, the character in this poem, who is telling us the story, we can see has given his money to the poor and in a moment of seeing destruction, he feels a moment of weakness and wants to leave. However, he has enough dignity and respect for the people, he has befriended, to stay with them. It keeps him locked there.

I live with the people, within this war

Till one day, I couldn’t believe what I saw

The dropping missile of silence, exploding

My body in a box, is the way I’m returning

The last verse shows how the character is living with the people, he is a part of their culture and their ways. He has not imposed his beliefs on them. If he was a threat, he wouldn’t be welcomed. This shows us that maybe we shouldn’t be so intolerant in seeing ‘different’ human beings around us. Then with upgraded technology making its tests, a missile hits the town in which he is living in and that is it. He is destroyed. A young man, who came as a regular traveller, got trapped in a sudden war and now is dead due to these very bombs which could be of his own country. Despite being good and siding with the people, he suffered the price of the corrupted politicians and their idiocy. Despite his body in the box returning to the country, we see that in this unknown country, he found his freedom from society. He gained knowledge into the truth.

This is the horror of today’s reality, people and their prophecies of a damaged future is killing us. People claiming the end of the human race is killing us. If we collectively wanted to make a change, instead of talking about how the world is going to be destroyed, maybe we should save the world from this. It is easy to sit down and claim the world is going to end but just remember, your life will end with it. So put a stop to it. Atleast try, and atleast if you die helping those in need, you died with a cause. You die as a true martyr.

Rahul N Singh

Welcome

Welcome to the personal website of Rahul N Singh.

What is to be expected? Poetry to unravel the topics that reach deep inside our souls. Thoughts that reveal themselves in our minds and make us wonder of our identity. The process in where my poems start is to unravel a mystery that resides within me. Also, it is more of a journal of my thoughts. With each poem I will write and have written, it may have important links with my personality and the world that surrounds me.

Lets see it like this. I will post a poem for you and you can read it. Give it some thought, gather and groom some perspectives. Yes, I want something thought-provoking. Something that will not make me and you think but a whole community to think.

After a couple of days, I will offer my points to form a discussion on the poem I wrote. The thought process starts with what each line means to me and relate it to the world around us. Any topic can be related to it, this is where every thought can be full of energy.

I believe that many of us keep in so many thoughts and sometimes we need a platform to release those thoughts. Especially writers, we are told to write a diary everyday and to release all those unnecessary thoughts for more refined ones to appear. For this process, the need for Microsoft Word is no longer needed because Twitter has changed all that. Where anything can be written and accepted and I believe a writer’s job has been made easier that way.

Creativity has no limits. The time it is given a limit then you can assure yourself that the creative spark in you will not illumine the light it used to. The fact is, offensive words are offensive for those who conform to similar thought processes. If you like political incorrectness and like the freedom of thought then do follow me on Twitter. Life is not about being serious, in fact we should laugh about life. Use different platforms for different aspects of your personality. Showcase yourself to the world, so the world can embrace the beauty of your thoughts.

I will see you in a few days with a poem I have written before and then we shall start!

Take care and lots of love

Rahul