An ode to the seashore

I stand at the seashore,

as my feet sink in the sand, 

being tickled by the lapping water;

I stand in wonderment,

How can one thing be everything and nothing?

I breathe in the salty air,

which announces the sea’s presence from far away;

and I wonder, how can one thing be both, salty and refreshing?

I gaze at the stillness beyond the waves,

and as a I remember the tales of mermaids,

I wonder how one thing can be so still and yet be filled with life?

As the waves play with my feet, 

I look across at all the rocks, which have been marked by the sea;

I wonder how one thing can be both endearing and scary?

I stand at the sea shore,

as my feet sink in the sand,

being tickled by the lapping water;

I close my eyes

and feel the wind pass me by,

at once, ferocious and playful;

and feel the sound of the sea

resonate with my being.

Engulfed in the wonderment,

I feel the stillness of time amongst all the motion;

I realize that even time stops

to pay homage to the sea,

The Sea, which is everything and nothing.

~Rishika Sudhir Dhody

Non Omnis Moriar

There was nothing about the scene that wasn’t picturesque; the blue sky, the regal peak, the crisp air, the disturbing stillness. He stood there alone, scanning the mountain from the foot, right up until the peak. Trying to find a crevice, that would fit him perfectly; For surely, he thought, that is what the mountain was meant for, to find that sweet spot.

He looked at each rise and fall of the mountain and tried to calculate the spot with the least probability of being affected by a landslide. He then brought out a pen and paper and estimated the height of every tree on the mountain. He used geometry to then find the nook and crannies with the most sunlight. As day turned to night, he worked assiduously by the moonlight, just standing by the mountain. Trying to find his place in the mountain.

As he started losing count of the variables and equations and his fingers grew stiff around his pencil, he grew frustrated with every stirring of the wind. Finally, frustrated he shouted into infinity, “Have you no mercy?! How savage is it to throw a child of the Earth into this complexity, just to find his crevice!”.

As he sat freezing in his defeat, recounting his convoluted calculations, a steady voice replied back, “Oh child of the Earth, there is no crevice for you, neither here nor in any corner of the infinite universe. And in that is the greatest mercy bestowed upon you. For the majestic mountain and it’s crevices will crumble in the face of the gale. But you, the child of the Earth, are not born to be destroyed, your soul walks hand in hand with infinity. There is no crevice which can contain you.”

~Rishika Sudhir Dhody

The Night

It rises slowly and silently

            to the muted beat of the moon rise,

                        with the stars twinkling in applause,

                                    Lo and Behold, the Night has risen.

The glimmering waters dance with the force of the moon.

            The wandering mind locks its gaze with the audaciously mellow night,

                        then it relives the laughs of the day and quietly sheds tears for pain

                                    Lo and Behold, the Night has risen.

There are no rainbows to light a pathway in the infinite sky,

            Nor any chirping birds to fill the air with their mellifluous sounds.

                        In their absence, unadorned, the charm of the changeling dusk grows.

                                    As the need to decorate slips away the mind meets the soul,                                         undone.

                                                Lo and Behold, the Night has risen.

The twinkling stars hold steady from one moment to the next,

            the twinkling stars move across leagues, even in their perceived stillness.

                        From one moment to the next the night changes the world,

                                    then again, nothing changes at all, magic breeds reality.

                                                Lo and Behold, the Night has risen.

Little by little, the air becomes still, with every step,

            the footsteps get lighter and quieter.

                        In reverence to the passing of another day,

                                    heavy with the memories of every breath,

                                                the eyes close to the world.

                                                            Lo and Behold, the Night has fallen.

~Rishika Sudhir Dhody