I know the taste of rain
and how bitter herbs cut
in my tongue – everything edible
tasted and destructively processed
into a garden of memories

with paths of love to beds
of friendship and borders of vice
stakes of anger, ponds of sadness
and a smelly compost heap
of failures and wilted ideals

it sounds more orderly than the maze
it is, the web in which I got lost
of which the threads have become thin
and matte, breaking easily
in the merciless sun

that has evaporated
the glittering drops of dew
of the sky-blue illusions from my youth
and everyone calls it wisdom
that comes with age

to detach people
from their desires and last
physical discomforts
but I discovered
it's a secret

I once was on an endless journey
Of turning left and right,
There was bramble all around me, only
Nothing not alike.

Though none were up above me
I could not see the sky,
All except my inner strength,
I had been left alone to die.

Deserted by the moon and stars,
I was even without light,
But desperate to be free again,
I braved the endless night.

Time escaped me, also
I traveled a day, a week, a year,
But my body never weakened,
Nor hunger did I fear.

Even if I neared the end
I had no way to be sure,
So, I promised myself it was close ahead,
Just one more set of turns.

But the exit never greeted me
And disappointment, it grew strong
I had broken so many promises,
My credibility was gone.

I could no longer reassure my mind,
So I faced the truth instead,
I prepared myself for eternity –
And an endless path ahead.

There's so many fake passageways
In this medieval maze of mine
Monsters keep popping out of walls
And leading me in circles
To abandon me at dead ends
Of which there are too few
All these walls have twists and turns
That always end
In the same blank rock face
No matter which path I choose
I know where I'll go
I'll always end up dead
At each fairytale end

A broken maze hides inside my mind;
Revelers rambling round never find
The end - lacking signposts or guides,
They tread eternities while the exit hides

From echoing clatter to blinding roar,
From gentle pitter-patter to take no more,
Crowds mill through in groups and pairs;
The walls vibrate, as do I downstairs

Food trucks ply their bountiful snacks
Feeding frenzy, launching scent attacks;
The noxious steam combines to rise,
Waft out, confound and desensitize

Enclosed in walls impossible to climb
Trapped all together in layered time
The revelers begin to sway and swerve
Blundering on networks of frayed nerve

With no path to success or even escape
The horde begins to push and scrape
The walls - tremble, creak, quiver, quake;
The maze, my mind, my universe - break

NCL August 2019

running into the ancient stone,
going straight with every curves.
obfuscating thy own desired path,
look straight forward—
there’s no going back.

blinded by the beddazling darkness,
as it striked my body and soul,
no escape, just let it go!

trapped.
tangled.
emmeshed.

and the traffic in your life is terrible,
drive forth.

When the sleepless nights come,
and whiskey cannot inebriate the feels,
nor Tom Waits lull you home,
and your mind goes dark and deep.

When you find yourself feeling sad
and can't locate the epicenter of life,
when all is gone,
take a minute,
2 minutes,
6+(n-1) when n > 9,
and vent your feelings.

Let the real you out to play
and find meaning in the insomnia.
I too got lost in a maze -
retrace, map, and conquer - not sure where I'm headed
but I can see the sunrise.


                 .

When the world feels
like one big maze
full of twists and turns
and mostly dead ends,
I take  time-out
to do philosophy
which clarifies
my emotions and thoughts
and progresses my mind
towards the wisdom
I need to improve my situation
to increase my joy and happiness.

there are days
when i sit in daze
in my mind, on repeat
a phrase
is it a phase
or is it the start
of a maze?
i look for ways
to get out unscathed
it doesn’t work, not always