Be a rock that fears no weather
It be sunny, hail or storm
Be a rock that stands no matter
It be wintry cold or warm
Wanna support Frank Solanki’s poems?
Category: Life
Unboxing
Who would have thought
After all these years
I would find myself
Inside a small box
When all along I was sure
That this is everything
The world has to offer
Or rather I have to offer to the world?
Who would have thought
That these very eyes
Would begin to see
Everyone in a fresh light
When all along I was sure
That I had my senses under control
When in fact the senses controlled me?
Who would have thought
That I would discover
Parts of me which I
Never knew existed
When all along I was sure
That I know everything
There is to know about my personality
Or rather everything there is to know about myself?
A Straight Road
I was walking a straight road
Illuminated by numerous
Lamp posts sprouting
On the sides
I was walking with a crowd
Dressed in similar fashion
Taking similar strides
For a similar goal
The path ahead was clear
We could see well into
The distance
Safely
The sides were uncharted
Unlit and aphotic
Left and right
Spelled risk
It was all going well
All safe and sound
Until someone
Turned left
We continued walking straight
But turned to look at him
Watched him explore
Unknown territory
He soon fell out of sight
As we marched on
With a seed sown
In our heads
I felt my heart beating faster
Almost as if it were asking
Me to unlimit my mind
And be brave
I looked right and looked left
Darkness stared back
But my feet urged me
To kiss it
I turned right
It didn’t feel cold at all
It felt strange
That’s it
New
A few others joined me
It was reassuring
Comforting
Warm
I had been inspired by someone
And now I had managed to
Inspire others to follow
Their hearts
As more and more people
Continued to carve their
Paths we left glowing
Footprints in the soil
What was earlier a straight road
With a secure passageway had
Turned into a blossoming
Fully-grown tree with
Branches spreading
In all directions
Little Lies Love Loathing Lovely Lives
Do not be at a liberty
To leave little lies lying and leaping about
Lock them up in a large lead box
Lest they light a fire in your lovely life because
Little lies love to loathe lovely lives
Little lies long to link to each other and
Form a large lump or a long line
Of lethal missile
To launch an onslaught of loneliness
Upon loving hearts and
Tear them apart
Like only little lies can do
Little lies lay low
Only for a little while
They get hungry pretty quickly
Limitlessly and
Demand to consume larger and larger
Chunks of your lively life
Once uttered, apologise
Let them not levitate
In front of your eyes
When they’re little they’re brittle
That’s when the damage done can be limited
Lose not the sight of
The long-term lugubriousness
That will not be lulled with a lullaby
Let this be a lesson for life
Never let your luscious lips
Lose their lustre to little lies because
Little lies love to loathe lovely lives
I Don’t Care What You Think Of Me
I Was Destined To Write This
I turn and reach for the phone
The light shocks the sleep out of my eyes
It’s 3:42 am and the world outside is as
Dark as dark could be
The phone tells me it’s Sunday already
But is it really?
It was dark when I went to sleep
On an ordinary Saturday night
And it is the same dark
Which surrounds me now
When did Saturday and Sunday change hands?
Do they have a defined process?
Is it documented and verified by cosmic powers?
Is it periodically checked and reviewed by superiors?
How does the transition work?
Does Saturday box all his
Baggage and hands over to Sunday?
Does Saturday switch off while
Sunday switches on?
Does Saturday serve his notice period?
Does Saturday say to Sunday — this
Is all the darkness I could
Handle, now it’s your problem; I’m outta here
I don’t know
It’s dark outside and my wife is snoring gently
Maybe my wife would have the answers
But she’s asleep
Peacefully, thankfully
If she were awake she
Would have asked me to
Go back to sleep
She says I think too much about work
And too little about myself
Do I?
I don’t know
It’s dark outside but some birds are busy chirping
I wonder if they saw the day change
I wonder if they saw something spectacular
And are now busy discussing the impact
It would have on the overall economy
I wonder if my eyes will ever see anything spectacular
Nothing spectacular has ever hit them
Nothing yet, but I am hopeful
If my wife were awake
She would have told me that
Everyone gets what they deserve
That what is meant to be will be
I wonder if darkness was meant to be
This darkness — this which envelops me
Like a ghastly blanket
Did it have a schedule handed out?
Is it merely following orders?
Did someone write this in its destiny?
I let out a yawn
Darkness has that effect on me
Maybe somebody wrote that yawn in my destiny
Somebody with powers enough
To establish and run the universe
Would have enough powers to
Dictate the lives of ordinary human beings
I feel like a dumb chatbot
Responsible for handling customer queries
And providing them with the best possible
Response based on pre-defined codes
An existential crisis hits me
Nothing spectacular though
Many such crises have hit me
At such odd hours
Maybe whoever wrote my destiny found it
Amusing to hit me with an existential crisis
At this time of the day when all is dark and quiet
While my head is ruptured with endless thoughts
Whoever he or she or it is
Must have had quite a chuckle when
It must have been written in my destiny that I will
Contemplate the creator’s existence at 3:49 am
On an ordinary Saturday night/Sunday morning
I wish he would have written something spectacular in my life
I don’t know what spectacular even means anymore
Maybe I already have experienced spectacular things but never bothered to see them as such
This life — the mere fact that I was born is spectacular, isn’t it?
We seem to take that for granted
I have taken it for granted all my life
I have gotten wet in the rain
I have felt the summer rays hit my skin and warm my soul
I have seen what autumn does to leaves
I have watched the snow turn the world white
I have fallen in love
I have got married
I have seen ants scurry around my feet
I have found a job after going through the horrible ordeal of an interview
I have been promoted
I have moved countries
I have spoken languages
I have had dreams
I have had nightmares
I have stayed awake all night
I have contemplated the creator on a Saturday night/Sunday morning
Whether or not he or she or it is real
Is not within my comprehension
It’s 3:52 am and
I am in the dark
Be Curious
Though he is inherently curious
A man is limited by his body and his senses
He may put in years of effort and
Become an expert in one niche field
Or maybe two or three
But he can never come close to
Understanding all that there is to understand
And it’s okay
It really is okay to not know everything
It is what keeps us curious and hungry
It is okay to not have all
The answers at the click of a button
It is okay to be unaware
What is not okay, however
Is to have no questions at all
It is far better to have one question and zero knowledge
Than it is to have expertise with brash certainty
Be curious
Be thirsty
But never ever believe that you or
Somebody else has all the answers
Be inquisitive
Be a doubting Thomas
Because doubts are exercises for the mind
The more you exercise
The stronger your mental muscles will become
It will hurt a little initially
Growth is never smooth or easy
One must struggle through pain and barriers
To reach new heights
But rest assured
You will be stronger
Wiser for it
A doubt will enrich you
More than an answer ever could
Why Foxes Are Not Very Popular In A Circus
Outside of the jungle
A circus is where you’ll find
An assortment of animals
From pigeons and rabbits
To snakes and lions
From dogs and parrots
To dolphins and elephants
All of them are well-equipped
To perform one trick or another
The more tricks they do
The better the revenue
Even the mighty lion can be tamed
And made to dance like a puppet
Nobody can escape the clutches of a circus
Nobody but a fox
A fox? Yes a fox
A fox does no tricks
Do you want to know why?
Because he is not an entertainer
He’s no good in a circus
His bushy tail cannot make you laugh
His orange skin is unappealing to children
He is a lousy animal
Lousy, and sly
It’s not that he doesn’t know any tricks
It’s just that he doesn’t want to show ‘em
He knows what the animals go through
He knows the price of freedom
They get free food, he’s been told
Ha, nothing in life is free
The animals give up their freedom
In exchange for free food
They live in captivity
In exchange for their fifteen seconds of fame
They are willing to be ruled by masters
In exchange for free food
A fox knows better
A fox stays away from the fanfare
He leads a quiet and content life
Happy to forge his own path
And hunt for food in his own way
He may not always have enough food
He may never get his spotlight
He may not be cheered on
But he gets to see his family
And he gets to give them love
And he gets to receive their love
And that is a far better way of living
Than tied up in chains
The other animals know this too
They can break the chains, if they want to
They can overpower their masters
They can set themselves free
They are strong enough
But they don’t
Hunger is a terrible master
Change is an unattractive mistress
Free food is a mighty temptation
Once the drip has started
They never let it stop
Even if they want to
They make their warm home around those cold chains
Difference Between A Hero And A Villain
A villain can be a villain
All by itself
It doesn’t need a hero
For validation
A hero, on the other hand,
Needs a villain
More than anything else
More than a comrade
More than a superpower
More than a lover
It can be an arch enemy or
A force of nature or
Simply someone with contrasting goals
Hell, the villain can be the hero itself
Its own dark spirit
Its own struggle and turmoil within itself
A villain can exist by itself
A hero can’t
It’s the villain who makes a hero
Employees are Planets: Do You Identify As Earth?
In every organisation
There is a Goldilocks zone
It’s the management level
Where you are neither
Overburdened with work
Nor underpaid
In short it is the ideal job
Where work and pay
Combine to create the
Ultimate equilibrium in
This universe: worklife balance
That’s where Earth is —
In the goldilocks zone
At a perfect equilibrium
Allowing water to form
Allowing life to be born
Isn’t that the whole point really?
You can be as beautiful as Saturn
You can be as bright as Mercury and Venus
You can be as huge as Jupiter
But none of it counts if you have no life
That’s who Earths are: they have a life
They have a life outside of the organisation
They are not confined by the laws of the solar system
They do their work
They take their pay
They then go home and spend time with their loved ones
They have hobbies
They do what they like
They have time to do what they like
They are not caught up in making money
Their world doesn’t just revolve around a single star
Their world is rich, diverse and lush
Filled with stories, songs and seasons
Filled with exciting, epic experiences
Filled with lots of love and lots of life
Are you an Earth?
Frank Solanki 