I continue to dream and Other Poems

By Vanaja Malathy

I continue to dream

As a little girl I dreamt
                       my play to all day last,
As an adolescent I dreamt
                        of growing up fast,
As a girl in teens I daydreamed
               a world of fantasy, damsel dreams
               of love and adventure you can’t see
As a woman in my middle age
                     I dreamt of my children and their future.
Now I am an old woman 
                                      Alone, 
                 losing my dear companion of life
                      What do I dream of now?

Well, a woman has a huge heart and a mind for dreams.
                     My feeble and withered palms 
                   join every morning and with honesty
                     my thin and parched lips utter
                                  my dream
                    “Peace be in my family, oh God!”

Inner dialogue

Words fail me when
I am amidst downy pillows and soft blankets,
Cushioned life lulls me to sleep.

Words fail me when
I satisfy my hunger
and thirst.
contentment dulls my energy.

Words fail me when
I by hillside reside,
The loftiness dwarfs my thoughts into insignificance.

Words fail me when I
by lakeside stroll,
let go my thoughts
as I wander in awe of its stillness.

Words fail me when
I go countryside,
the untouched beauty
distracts my inner dialogues.

As a detached observer of the outside world,
I practice  to play my inner music,
I hold the key to my inner being,
The first word of my effort flows on the paper.

HOLD ON…

Several decades in my life have passed by… 
Unbelievable!!!
But Some moments are 
Unforgettable and
I have the reins of those colourful memories in my tight fist, 
And I would never let them go for a fortune
Those happy carefree girly days, little girls were all my treasured pals
My embarrassment over fights with siblings for a silly possession of a broken shell, a copper cent, and a glittering stone
The love from my parents that didn’t have a lid to close
The elated feeling when my little nieces and nephews surrounded me for a story
The bitterness to leave school and enter into an unknown realm of a college
First time when I draped a saree in giggles,
Oh that crush! that painted ordinary humans into superhumans, I truly floated on cloud nine!
The window shopping for the most cheapest jewelry,
The excitement of shaping my own family
Those inexpressible thoughts on holding my babies, my dreams
The thrill of inviting the sweethearts my daughters chose…

Today whenever sleep slips out of my tired old eyes, 
confusion about future shakes me up
I pull the reins of my memories towards me
And they appear so near and so close
so soothing and so cleansing my heart
and the unpleasant ones …they just fade into oblivion!!!

Folks, this is the formula of life
Treasure the beauty of nostalgia 
Turn your life an ageless one
HOLD on to those streaks of colourful memories

A doctorate in English and an educator for decades. A smooth drift from academic writing to Poetry; Vanaja Malathy considers poetry as her fabric of existence, poems to breathe and as a vent to her emotions. She also loves to paint, sew and read.

Her poems have appeared recently in The Nightingale Poetry Journal, The New-England Monthly Poetry Digest, The Poet’s Showcase, Poetrynation.com, The New International Poetry Digest, and The Literary Yard