"Purity"

A Return to Light
The Third Eye of Insight
Blinded by Those
Who Carry Black Hearts
With a Crack Inside
The Light Seeps Through
And a Subtle Energy Pours Into You
A Cloak of Healing that Was Always You
Innocence Once Again
Is Restored And New
Deep Vast Eyes that Sparkle
Radiant and Alive
They Smile For You...

"A Texan Voyage"

Large Portions
Chunks of Barbeque
A Spoonful of Gumbo
A Bite of Pork Ribs

A Stroll through Faith
At Lakewood Church
A Celebration of Second Cousins
Reuniting with a Dear Uncle
After the Tolling of a Decade

A Journey through Texan History
With a Poignant "X"
Marking The JFK Assassination in Dallas

Face to Face with NASA Mission Control
Atop a Vast Houston Skyline
I See Tall Buildings Amidst a Warm Hazy Breeze

Late Night Cups of Chai and Chit-Chat
In the Land of Sugar
The Texan Experience of
"Big, Warm, and Friendly,"
Comes to a Close
Until My Return...

"Autumn in November"

A Shy Smile
And then a Lingering Tear
Shimmering High in Pink
In the Royal Spotlight on Stage
And then Crushed Down
By the Loss of a Grandma
Traveling to a City of Lights, Cameras, and Babies
Longing for the Protective Voice
Of an Older Brother
Making those Timely Payments
On the Brink of a New Business
And the Passion of a Romantic Adventure
An Autumn in Boston
From a Freezing Girl
With Ankle Booties
Struggling to Feel Whole

"A Ma to Remember"

From the time when dowries and domestic work
Were your ticket to life
Your love for something deeper
Sprouted a Samaj of sisters

They toiled in the streets
Without the basic amenities of sanitation
They walked in the gulleys
Clad in soiled saris
Lives of submission
Barefoot and unknown

Yet through the marches of sisters
You led them along Boring Road
With the branded scars of their husbands
The female voices of Mahila Samaj
Collectively echoed from the streets of Bihar

And when you were behind bars
For a worldwide mission
You began a Pachamba House tradition

And in your heart
You buried within
The key to empower
Your sisters
To sing.

-In honor of my loving grandmother, Urmila Prasad, who among her many roles, was a dedicated social activist and President of Mahila Samaj, a women's rights activist group in Bihar.

Reflections on An American Dream

What Really is a Dream?
A Floating Fantasy?
A Static Goal that Must Materialize?
Is it Just 1 Wish that Must Come True
Or Many that Can Evolve as We Grow?
Aren't We Dynamic Beings with a Zest for Something Greater than Attaining Just One Thing
With a Yearning to Reach for Something
More than Ourselves?

Are the Shackles that Confine us Really Real?
The Stuffiness of Prestige, an Image,
The Reputation Assembled by Our Careers,
Is it Talent, Trust, and Heart
Or Creative Craftiness, Savviness,
And Being a Clever Game Player
That Really Makes Us What We Are
Can We Really Stand Tall at the Gates of Morality
And Say We Are Totally Responsible
For Helping Another
Or Is the Credit to Go to the One Who Truly Suffered and Toiled through that Existence?

Is Politics just Something that Happens in Elections
Or Is it the Poison
That Runs through the Veins of Business Executives
Of Corporations and So-Called Nonprofits
Dependent on the For-Profits
The Fuel that Funds Foundations
Which Kowtow to Influential Donors,
And Compels Families
To Want to be Linked with Wealthier Ones

What Is It that Drives Us?
Have We Ever Asked Ourselves this Question?
Is this the Life that We Want?
Have We Not a Choice?
And if We Do Not Give Ourselves that Choice
Are We to Bootstrap Our Children from Making Theirs?
And What of Their Children Who Are Yet to Be Born?
In This Land of Opportunity
The Land of the Free
And the Home of the Brave

When it Seems to Me
All We Have Done is Lost Our Way
So Far that We No Longer Know the Land
In Which We Live So Freely
Nor Do We Know Our Own Home
And What It Really Means to Be Brave.

Peace.XO.
~M

"An HSP"

I Feel I am Finding My Own Home
It Rests Within Myself

A Highly Sensitive Person
Is A Different Breed
With Feelings So Deep
That We Cannot Speak
In A Touch, In A Word, In A Tone
That Sings to Us Or Breaks Us
But Does Not Leave Us Weak

A Caution that Takes Everything In
With A Wrench that Twists with Depth
And a Wand That Sparks Magic Inside

We Laugh
We Cry
We Long for a Truth
Someone Who Can Understand
What We Are Going Through

I Have Come to See
And To Tell All of You
That A Highly Sensitive Being
Like You Like Me
Is Certainly Not A Shame
But Truly A Blessing to Be

"My Heart"

You Were Always With Me
Never Far Away
But One Day I Said Goodbye to You
And Locked You Up For Decades

Like a Treasure Lost at Sea
You Were Only Meant to Be Found
You Cried Out To Be Heard
But Harsh Waves of Life
And Crashing Tides of Fear
Multiplied All Your Tears
And I Could No Longer Come Near

The Damp Clumps of Sand
Weighed Heavily On My Feet
And the Coarse Texture of its Grains
Crept in Between My Toes
And Kept Shouting At Me "No!No!No!"
And I Was Washed Ashore

But Somewhere Somehow I Still Heard You
In the Quietness of a Seashell
And Felt You Through
The Calm Light of the Moon
This Led Me to Dive Head First Into An Ocean
Of Cool Midnight Blue

Dark and Scared
I Felt I Was So Alone
But Just Once
I Looked Up Above
To Plea To Something Greater Than Me

When Lightly Touching My Tender Feet
I Felt A Sparkling Ruby
A Radiant Jewel
So Fiery and Bright
And I Knew It Was You This Time

Patiently Waiting
Always Present There Beneath My Feet
Yet The Only Thing
That Stood Between You and Me
Was The Way That I Had Seen.

"A Momentary Revolution"

Did You Know That Mama Shaq
Is A Remarkable Woman
Who Encourages Us All to Walk with Purpose?

Do You Realize You Have the Power to Renew Your Mind
And Can Tap Dance Your Way to Inner Freedom?

There is a Current in our Cultural Waters
A Movement that Yearns for a Life Beyond Material Gain
When a Six-Month Old Baby
Reaches for You with Wide Open Arms
And Strangers Can Smile at You on the Train

Did You Know that Musicians of Yesterday and Today
Could Feel this Too
And the Famous Tunes of U2 Had Biblical Roots
Where John Lennon Was Not The Only Dreamer
And Frank Sinatra Said We Could Live 'Our Way?'

Did You Know That Annie Really Meant It When She Said
'The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow'
And That 'We Are The World' Was A Call
For Us To Awaken
And Be More Than We Thought We Could Be?

Did You Know That Professors of Psychology
Are Studying the Power of Presence
And Teenagers Learn Yoga in School
And That There is Real Value
In Just This Moment
Between Me and You?

"A Living Dream"

She Sits Quietly On a Pew
Right Outside the Judge's Courtroom
With Small-Framed Glasses and Little Endearing Curls
Checking her Iphone and Peering Below the Rail
For a Client at Family Court in Need

I Come Upon Her with a Smile
A Memory of this Cheerful Being
With a Vision to Lawyer on Her Own Terms
To Help and To Empower
The Voiceless with a Voice
To Restore a Family with a Child
To Help a Woman Secure her Freedom
To Give a Grandmother her Grandchild Back

This Petite Young Woman
In a Business Suit
Sparkles with Joy
Ignites Me with Hope

She is a Little Bulb of Bright Light
A Luminary of the Law
Awakening me to See
A Piece of Me
In Her Too
And Now I Know
My Dream Will Come True

~Inspired by a 'run-in' with a little lawyer/friend in the Suffolk County Probate&Family Court last week.

"A Light in the Cafe"

A Precious Baby
With a Golden Hue
A Purple Onesie
And a Bib with Purple Polka Dots too

A Little Tongue with an Open Mouth
Looking for the Nourishment of Sweet Milk
The Elixir of Life
Contained in a Baby Bottle
As her Papa Cradles her in his Arms

Her Chubby Thighs and Plump Cheeks
Those Dented Elbows and Miniature Feet
Wiggle Around in a New World

She Begins to Gnaw on her Little Fingers
And Her Big Deep Black Eyes
Look Up as they Sparkle
And Light Up All Around

-Inspired by a little baby in a purple jumpsuit, having her lunch @ Au Bon Pain in the middle of Harvard Square...

"Corner Store Wisdom"

Wisdom can be just around the corner. I went to my favorite local convenient store in my neighborhood of Brighton, 'The Father & Son Market.' The owner who manages the store has rather chubby cheeks and cheerful eyes. He has a jovial demeanor which is useful in brightening the days of the customers who come in with harried and glum expressions, suggesting they are leading miserable or mundane lives as they buy large quantities of ice cream drumsticks, complain about their husbands, and purchase lottery tickets with a cynical mind, and openly state how they know they will lose. The customers continue to flow in and out of the store as the door chime rings, signaling the entry and exit of each new cusomter. After a few minutes, the friendly store owner, whom I call, 'uncle' begins to share a story with me about 'Shakti' after I mentioned to him I just came back from a yoga retreat, and felt rejuvenated and bright. He tells me that many people in his store spend their days cramming their minds with thoughts and then try to find their blessings in junk food, lottery tickets, and beer after feeling abnormally tired after only one day of work. He eagerly summons me to listem to him. He had a story to share. So he starts to tell me the story of two men. Here it goes:

One peaceful man sat beneath a tree. An angry man came to him shouting an onslaught of horrific words to him for three straight hours. Surprised that the peaceful man remained quiet and did not flinch or become reactive, the angry man questions him saying,"How is it that after all of the insults I have slung at you, you are not angry with me and never replied back to me?" To this, the peaceful man says, "Sir, if you gave me $1 as a gift and I did not want it, then surely I would return it back to you, right?" The angry man, reples, "Yes." Then the man of peace says, "Well, your three hours of angry words was a gift I did not want. So, instead of receiving it, it has been returned back to you. You may keep your anger." And with that, the peaceful man left the puzzled angry man and his anger, behind.

The store uncle had told this story in his own language (in Hindi). With an animated facial expression of both joy and wisdom, and with one hand gesturing in the air, in Hindi, he continues to say, "I only shared this story with you because you mentioned, yoga..." Thankful for the wise words, I expressed my gratitude and left the store with my cup of coffee in one hand and my grocery bag in the other, thinking, maybe one day, the customers too, will awaken to what the uncle is saying.

"Angels of the Universe"

A Little Girl On Her Path
Tiptoes and Whispers
Like A Child Lost in Fear

A Delicate Newborn
Pure and Pliable
With Tiny Hands and Little Toes
A Toothless Smile
And a Tender Heart
Is Born into a Coarse World
With Harsh Tongues
And Rough Edges

Open to Love but Gripped by Fear
Seeking with Wide and Innocent Eyes
Until Comes the Humble Embrace
Of A Brazilian Angel and A Yogi from Uzbekistan
The Understanding Voice of A Master from Maine
And An Indian Valley Girl of Law
The Light-Hearted but Powerful Humor
Of An African-American Girl of Chicago
And the Reflection of Herself
In a Petite Blond Professor of Art from Santa Cruz

All Ready to Awaken Her Eyes
And Open Her Arms to Love and Light

"Blessings in Boston"

I Came to You Seeking
With a Troubled Soul
Wide Eyes and a Shameful Heart

A Studio on Commonwealth Ave
My Humble Abode
The Church of Trinity
And One of Unity
Open Doors of Light in Copley Square
Friends from Many Moons Ago Emerged
A Priest with an Open Heart
And an Eternal Mother
Always Loving and Ready to Forgive

A City Abundant with Pride
A Train that Brings all Colors Together
An Everlasting Care from Lifelong Family Friends
I Thank You for the Blessing
From A Girl with a Lawful Heart
Ready to Serve.

From Boston to You

A Girl Wanders on Tremont Street in Black Rain Boots with Checkered Ribbons
The Purring Sound of the T Pulls the Crowd of Subway Commuters Closer Together,
Boston Commons is Alive with Homeless Men, Law School Students,
Scientists, Barristas, and Policemen too,
Strangers of the City Sitting Side by Side along the Park Benches
Bright Rays of Light Come Down and A Crisp Breeze Cuts Through the Day
Tourists Take Pictures of City Hall which Looks Rather Underwhelming than Stately,
Starbucks Fills Up with Customers for Caffeine
Taxachusetts is Vibrant
Brimming with Faces from All Over the World
Bundled together on a Cool Spring Day...

"From Boots to Chuppuls"

A Purse from Patna's Disneyland
Rests on the Chair of Starbucks in Cupertino
A Digital Camera clicks through Delhi, Mumbai, and Patna
Capturing the faces of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandmothers
Nieces, Nephews, Babies, Streetchildren, and Domestic workers
Two Floral Suitcases Circled the Globe,
Traveled Continents,
Books of Eastern Philosophy were Read from India to the U.S.
Jewels from Janpat
Incense from Delhi
Chuppuls from Huthua Market Landed on my Feet,
I Have Returned Home
Loved and Stronger
With a Heart more Open and Feet more Grounded.
Thank you.