Sunday, 23 March 2014

Looking through the doorway

When I look into my eyes
And try to see
Through the doorway
That leads to my soul

I see a woman staring back
Who doesn't seem quite right
A hazy picture, slightly tilted,
Somehow complete yet not totally whole

I sense she has a message
A story straight from my psyche
About who I really am
Versus what the world perceives

She reaches out her hand
To place upon my heart
To deliver a message
I am unable to believe

This paranormal manifestation
Shows a monstrous creation
A thing of beauty and awe

Yet one so fearful
Strange and unusual
The oddest thing and then some more

She shows me confusion
An insightful intrusion

A blissful creature
With a playful nature

A human
A woman

Imperfect
yet so perfect


~Shamshaad~

Morbid contemplations

These hopeless moments
Make the burdens on your shoulders
Feel heavier than ever before

You can’t decide
Whether you must laugh or cry
Or whether you must end it all

There seems to be no end
Except for that bitter one
And then comes…nothing more…

You are down on your knees
At your weakest point
Unable to move or crawl

There lies a gun
Here is a knife
And some pills on which to overdose

Can you end it all?
How far have you sunk?
Is the end drawing close?

Can you leave it all behind?
The problems and the grief
And this bag of overwhelming sorrow?

Can you cause the pain
And end your life
Instead of facing tomorrow?



~Shamshaad~

PANIC!

Trapped!
Unable to break free!
My skin feels too tight
I need to escape
Clawing at myself
Seeking some relief
I feel constricted
I can’t breathe
My pulse races
The walls
They are moving closer
They will crush me
Someone help me
Let me out
Let me breathe
Please
Don’t let me die
In this concrete grave
Locked in my mind
Let me out

Please……….


~Shamshaad~

Secret thoughts

This loss
Deep within me
Is an empty space
Within my soul
I don’t know how
I will cope
Without you
By my side
Reachable
Touchable
Secretly mine
There’s an ache
Inside my heart
And each beat
Cries out for you
This emptiness
Is now my only essence
And it weeps silently
With a longing
To be filled once again
With your sweet laugh
And kind words
It needs your gentle smile
And warm embrace
Yet
How do I mourn your loss?
You should never have been
A part of my life
Yet
How do I not?
When your memories linger

In my every thought

~Shamshaad~

Incomplete

A seductive caress
Of icy fingers
Tantalizing
The hairs
At the back of my neck
A gentle fear
Creeping up on me
Building my trust
And luring me closer
I see only darkness
Yet I yearn for light
The seduction changes
Into a looming horror
That overtakes my senses
And breaches the sanctity
Of my sanity
The flames are fanned
And the inferno spreads
How will I save myself
From burning down to ash
In this fire
Of my own creation
Let in
By my own negligence
Oh how I was deceived
By that cool outward appearance
Not knowing
Not caring
That in its depths
Lay my destruction
Engulfed
In icy embers
So hot
So cold
So final
So incomplete

 ~Shamshaad~

Walking Away

My breath catches
There is a tightness within my chest
A lump in my throat
And heat flames
Behind the curtains of my closed eyes
As the tears threaten to fall
I clench my fist
Tighter and tighter
Holding on as best I can
To the last shreds of strength
Within me
I feel my shield
Slipping away
The tighter I hold
The faster it falls
Like trying to hold on to
A handful of water
My senses seem heightened
Everything looks clearer now
The colours are brighter
And the sounds are crystal clear
An eerie glow surrounds everything
I see much more now
Than I did before
Out of the darkness
I see a figure emerge
Slowly he draws nearer
And I gradually begin to realize
It is another me
In another time
And I am now a mere observer
I see myself
Meeting you
You reach out for me
I walk away
With no hesitation
I see myself alone
Losing the only love I know
I hear your heart breaking
I feel your soul shatter
Yet I do not turn back
I am frozen
I am selfish
The me that I am now
Weeps for the me that I was then
I long for the me that was cherished
By the you that I had denied myself
The me that I am now
Is helpless
Drifting down
Memory lane
~Shamshaad~

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Who are you when nobody else is looking?

Who are you when nobody else is looking?

Personally, that is a very difficult question to answer.  I am still on a quest to find myself.  However, when I am left alone with myself, I find that I am often afraid of what I am faced with.  It is rather disappointing that I seem to make a better super villain than super hero.

Life has been a roller-coaster ride recently…a roller-coaster with a few loose nuts and in dire need of oiling.  I seem to be falling into an endless abyss of darkness…more downs than ups…

In this search for myself, I seem to be losing a lot more than I am gaining.  Perhaps my method of pursuit is incorrect…perhaps my map has been wrongly drawn.  I haven’t a clue as to what I should do next or how to read the guiding signs.

I find myself staring into space, trying to make sense of what I see.  And then I realise, I am on the outside, looking down into this snow-globe called Earth…

A shake here, and this bit is covered with snow, a shake there and that portion is left without water…it is a game and I am the clueless fan sitting on the stands and trying to make sense of the rules.  Sadly, my rule-book is for a different game.

There is this darkness within me that I am afraid to unleash.  What if it is a force beyond my control? 

Sometimes I wonder, if I pass myself on the street, what would I think of me?  Sometimes I wonder…why am I wondering at all? It isn't as if anyone cares really…

I don’t know if I am losing my mind.  How would I know if I were crazy?  Surely the world would still seem normal to me?  It’s just the people around me who would realise my strangeness…

I often fantasize about meeting myself.  Would I find myself at the bottom of the ocean trying to drown my sorrows?  Or perhaps at the highest peak of Mt Everest, having overcome all of my trials and tribulations…?

I do know that, right at this moment, I am floating in a sensory deprivation tank…I do not know what is happening around me… I’m operating on autopilot.  Every task is so meaningless to me.  As a teenager, I was very much an introvert.  Always with my nose in a book, I never took much notice of the world around me.  But…and a very big but it is…I was never boring.  Hobbies have a way of keeping you grounded.  A dog, a book, music, embroidery, baking, sport… okay…not so much of sport but still…

These days, if someone asks me, “So, what do you do for fun?” I am totally stumped for an answer. I've now decided to make some time for myself.  I've decided to become a little bit selfish.  I have begun practicing to say no when I cannot cope with an extra project and to finally do the things that make me happy.

This decision has been long overdue.  There is so much to be accomplished on a daily basis.  There just aren't enough hours in a day to do them all.  I guess prioritizing  is the key to success.  Complete the most important tasks first, then start with the most difficult of the non-essential tasks, leaving out the ones that can wait.

I need to redefine myself.  To find an identity that I am comfortable with.  Somewhere along this road of life, I really have lost myself.  The short temper, the sarcasm, the total lack of niceness within me…this seems to be the true me.

Was I ever a nice person? Was I ever in the least bit like-able?  I look at this monster that I have become and I wonder, what went wrong?? Was anything ever right?

Stress is a pathetic excuse for being a nasty human being.  My lot in life may not be perfect, but, by far, it is a lot better than many others’.  Surely I need to be more grateful for all that I have been given?  It’s all well and good to utter the words, practice is far more difficult.

I wonder how much of effort it will take to be a good person, as this descent into depravity hardly took any time at all.

They say the first step toward finding a cure is admitting to yourself that you have a problem in the first place.  So, this is me…taking my first step into developing a better me…


Forward; MARCH!

~Shamshaad~

A State of Imprisonment...

These walls seem higher today
These bars seem closer
The invisible barrier
Tightens around me
This self-made cell
From which there is no escape
I push against this wall
A wall that I have built around myself
Willingly sentencing myself
To a lifetime in prison
They cannot be seen
Yet they have grown so strong
That even I, their creator
Cannot bring them down anymore

I look around me
For a means of escape
Only to realize
It’s just a curve in the wall
A bend, a corner
Around which
There lies nothing…
Nothing but another room
An empty space
An add-on to my cell
A mirage
An idea of freedom
Just another form
Of confinement

Changing the shape
Of the prison
Doesn’t set one free
All it does is
Simply create
An illusion
Of variety
In the mundanity
Of this hopeless life
~Shamshaad~

Oblivion...

Drifting away
Into the unknown
An the current
Of long-ago memories
The abyss of emotions
In a maze of thoughts
A well-guarded secret
In a hidden heart
I search for the key
That will unlock the mystery
To reveal the treasure
Within its many folds
To find out
That which I
Have hidden from myself

The me that I am now
Wishes to meet
The me that I was then
When you made me soar
Above the highest clouds
With hope and passion
Before I turned to
The other side of the coin

The sunshine after the rain
A walk down that road

Leading to sweet oblivion…
~Shamshaad~

Tears...

They chase each other
In a race to the end
These mischief tears
Running down these swollen cheeks
Falling from widened eyes
Wrung out from an aching heart
They haven’t a care in the world
As they reach the finish line
At the edge of quivering lips
Leaping over the barrier
To quench the thirst

Of a needy pillow…

~Shamshaad~

Free...

There’s a fear within me
A tightness within my throat
It’s strangling me with intensity
This strange knot I cannot dispose of
It wants to break free
It needs a release
I lower my head
The heat erupts behind my closed eyelids
An uncontrollable waterfall
An inferno of tears
Drip…drip…drip
Tinged pink with blood
Flowing from my bitten lip
As I try to stem the gush
That pours forth from my soul
The pink turns to red
As it mingles with my life force
Freely running down my arm
To puddle beneath my icy feet
Slowly the world begins to sway
Gently my eyes close
And I fall
Unfeeling
To the hard cold ground
Finally
I feel…

Wanted…
~Shamshaad~

The Voices within the Noises

When the fear within
Seeps through the cracks
Of a tainted mind
And gives rise to the chaos
You begin to hear
The voices within the noises

When the shadows grow
And the darkness thickens,
The static world surrounding you
Hums to life
You begin to decipher
The voices within the noises

When the silence looms
And engulfs your soul
The pressure beats incessantly
Against your fragile core
You begin to seek
The voices within the noises

They whisper sweetly
Gently coaxing
Pushing you to the edge
Till you feel yourself falling
Finally you become
One of the voices within the noises…


~Shamshaad~

Darkness

I fear the darkness sometimes...

Yet, somehow, I welcome the chance to hide within the confines of its shadows...  It nourishes the darkness within my soul and kills the pain that stems from being in the light for too long...

There is a place within me, a secret place where my fears are housed.  There is an intruder...someone who has learnt my secrets..someone who knows how to unlock the fear...someone who wishes for the darkness to be unleashed.

It is a fearful thing, this darkness.  It is a living entity with a mind of its own.  Once it has been set free, it is near impossible to re-tether.  My fear is that this darkness will spread to all the good in my past and darken the doorstep of my future.   It is a hungry creature...ever willing to engulf all that crosses its path

I cannot fathom the whens and whys of this unleashing...and I have no solution to reign it back in.  Perhaps, instead of running from the darkness, I should embrace this alternate life...?  Perhaps the time has come to permanently turn off the lights and be at one with the shadows....

Whether you conform or not, society will always criticise.  Why not embrace that which brings you "PEACE".  Peace is maybe not the appropriate word.  Sensory deprivation seems more apt.  That is the offer that this darkness makes, no more feelings, no bad words, no hurtful sights...complete and total darkness...silence...like a caterpillar within a cocoon, awaiting rebirth, a new life...new beginnings..

But first...


EMBRACE THE DARKNESS...

~Shamshaad~

Monsters

When the monsters
Become real
Where do we hide?
Who do we run to?
When we find
Within ourselves
The lurking darkness
Who do we turn to for light?
That which we see
When passing a mirror
Out of the corner
Of our eyes
That sly glint
Of potential evil
That lets us know
They are real
They no longer reside
Within our closets
Or under our beds
They live within us
Waiting
Watching
Biding for time
For the perfect opportunity
To shatter the bonds
And take over
To taste the freedom

Of being king
~Shamshaad~