It’s crippling, it’s suffocating
It’s not a fever
I look fine on the outside
Nobody can tell if something’s off
But something is off
Sometimes it feels that everything is off
Everything is a trap
Everyone is against me
Mocking me, tricking me, ridiculing me
They want to harass me because I am different
Because I am not like them
I am inferior, or made to feel so
I am happy with myself but that isn’t enough
I am expected to be a rat
Smell and find cheese, and bring it back to the lair
Cheese doesn’t excite me
I cannot even smell that well
I cannot be a rat
I am happy being a worm
Crawling slowly towards my destiny
Edging closer and closer to my goals
I can be crushed easily
Or I can wriggle my way out of trouble
I guess all worms feel that way in a rat’s world
It’s not fever though
I cannot take a sick leave for this

He dreamed more than he should have dreamt
He lived in a world of his own
He never knew the aches of loneliness
Though he lived and died alone

Come here, Darkness; sit with me
Show me what I cannot see
Tell me tales of a faraway land
Where you float from end to end
Touch me with your lifeless hand
Sit with me and be my friend
Nothing is what it appears to be
In your void I breathe endlessly

Time is passing by me
I am standing still
The glorious years of my youth
Fade against my will
How quickly they passed me by
In the blink of an eye
What has gone can never return
Anyone can testify
My old age I welcome
Have I another choice?
I fake a smile and proclaim —
Rejoice! Rejoice!

If I could peek into your brain
And you could read my mind
So many unsettling things
We are sure to find
There’s only so much trash
That I can take of yours
If you take some of mine
Enjoy the double chaos

Don’t go to work now it’s a trap
Don’t put up with that kind of crap
Why hog and slog just like a dog
When you can sleep well like a log

To all the misters and the ma’ams
Don’t get married now it’s a scam
It’s over-rated and just no good
You’re better off living in the woods

Avoid school at all costs
Run from college no matter what
Go instead to a library my friend
Read and read for hours on end

Now I’ll tell you what’s really wrong
What I’ve been meaning all along
Don’t be born now be really smart
That’s when all the troubles start

Look around you my friends
Look to your left, look to your right
Do you not see shards everywhere?
Human beings broken from the inside
Very little though shows on the surface
Pain beautifully disguised with smiles
It’s a gift I tell you
And we’re blessed with many more
We are the ones who carry hope in their souls
We are the ones who carry love in our hearts
Some of us even carry all the worries in their pockets
No other animal can claim such dignity
Can a turtle claim to carry affection in his shell?
Can a fox claim to carry anxiety in his tail?
Or can a butterfly claim to carry promise in her wings?
Nah, we are the pinnacle of evolution
We are bestowed with gifts that no bug, bird or beast can even dream of
But these gifts have come at a cost
We pay a heavy price for them
These gifts are so delicate and fragile that they tend to become a burden
Oh what a fine burden it is!
So carefully we must protect our hearts from breaking
Such great lengths we must go to to keep our hopes from fading away
Yet our hearts breaks
Yet our hopes fade away
When the heart breaks, the human breaks
When hope fades away, we feel robbed
We shatter like a piece of glass
Our fragments lie scattered on the floor
What good is a broken glass? Not much
But we, we pick ourselves up and carry on
Look around you carefully
Not one human will find intact
We’re all broken
We’re all shattered
We’re all shards
Smiling, trying rebuilding
Carrying on with what is left
What a magnificent structure a human is!
What a magnificent structure we all are!

Wish and aim for an easy life
One without struggle or any strife
Honour and glory are sought in vain
Drop no sweat and feel no pain
Laze around and keep no plan
Procastinate the best you can
Flex no muscle, don’t strain your voice
Being born was not your choice
Keep all work for tomorrow
Close your heart to all sorrow
Close your heart to love too
Very little can now break you
Life is fickle and time is short
To Death we are a mere sport
Nothing lasts so don’t pretend
Everyone must die in the end

This lonely train takes me to a lonely place
The lonely place is a lonely town
The lonely town’s full of empty space
And I am going down

Dust and pests and desert sand
Will greet me when I reach
No familiar face or helping hand
I’ll lie lonely on the beach

The worst is yet to come they say
A ball of fire in the sky
If I ever turn to walk away
No one would ask me why

This lonely train goes chugh chugh chugh
It’s the only noise I hear
No laughing child or crooked thug
No Dad, no dog, no deer

I must set down my pen alright
That’s all that I can write
This lonely train leaves behind the light
Towards the dark of night

How I wish this sunny weather
Could change my dispirited mood
Nature’s out in its fullest glory
I can do nothing but brood
Trees swinging in a discotheque
Little birds hunting for food
Flowers calling out the bees
Or maybe I misunderstood

There’s chirping and chattering all around
Folks laughing as they go
My spirit has a cold demeanor
Despite no sign of snow
Children jumping about carelessly
Smiles make their faces glow
I suppose there is nothing today
To pull me out of my woe

Sky burning with a golden ball
Cloudy thoughts fill my mind
Bright sunlight lift the night’s veil
To shadows I am confined
The gentle winds blow aromatically
My senses become a-blind
Why should I be the only one
That Somberness should find?