From Shore to Shore

In the tender night,

With a tender sigh,

Should I now try to begin?

Come from endless plights,

Caught in endless fights,

Where should I even begin?

Born into a world

with its history laid forth,

Sentient then conscious,

Taking steps in caution,

Yearning as a yearling

to know more than what’s put forth.

And I am wondering where to go,

Maybe things will just follow.

Traversing between borders,

Peers and changing orders,

And now I think I see.

Now do I really see?

Kids and suburban frolics,

School for the sake of school,

Misguided dreams in rockets,

Always in the shallow pool.

And they think everything’s just fine,

Suspend the act of growing up

To play in a world so cruel.

And my heart, and my eyes, and my mind,

They all wake up without my body catching up.

Maybe because the world’s too cruel,

Though maybe too quickly in a world so cruel,

Has made me the only real fool.

And then I end up with them,

And I too glorify STEM.

School for the sake of school,

Idle in the shallow pool.

And I keep wondering where to go,

Hoping peace might soon follow.

Oh, how I lost myself,

And in the beginning

Was it always me who was lost?

And from this reckoning,

Was it from ineptness I felt crossed?

Oh, how it’s cost myself.

So I glance upon my hands and feet,

My eyes sweep across these once known streets.

Fingertips and senses, the smell of paper, sheets,

With hands clenched, deep breaths, & urges, I urge my heart to beat.

I look up on a stage,

My eyes are locked in their glistening.

I vie for a place on stage,

Where my heart has been left stranded.

From right to left, east, west, I cannot leave this shallow pool.

So many surround me; I might never ever leave this pool.

I shall loiter atop the water waves,

Sway to and fro like kelps behave.

I shall stay beneath where waves will break

To rid at last the need to pray.

Or perhaps there’s an even better way:

To simply dream and ne’er awake.

And I’m wondering where to go,

Thinking that Naught might now follow.

***

He said, strength is shown in weakness,

Hope can spring from bleakness.

I shall set aside my meekness

From desperation’s calling.

Being picked up after falling

Even when languished till I’m crawling

My ventures shall be ceaseless…

I stepped out of the pool,

Left all the senseless rules.

My toes kiss the saltwater

Feeling grand and miniscule.

The surrounding’s lit with golden fire.

My feet and head they have been drier,

But warmth from my chest makes the load seem lighter.

I say good-bye to the sunsets,

And fix my gaze on a sunrise.

There will be no regrets, now

Where the ocean meets the skies.

From shore to shore I make my way.

My feet have journeyed near and far,

My heart has gone a further way.

Should I say now that things have changed?

I am still the same, only different.

I am still wondering, “Where to go?”

Hoping that hope might soon follow.