Storms and Boats

By Ashwini Bhat

We hear about the storms,
Then, we talk about the boats.
How, not all our storms are the same,
But neither are our boats.
Then when Monday hits,
All is forgotten.
The philosophy of the storms, 
The analogy of the boats.
Lost in the rush-hour traffic,
In the windowless cubicles,
In the goal-less meetings,
In the soul-less monitors,
Buried in endless numbers, 
muffled by clever words.
We return home burning brighter,
Like incense sticks, like cigarette butts.
For the pleasure of others and our own,
Our needs and wants, our desires, our crown.
It takes a while to sink in, 
The physiology of these storms
The anatomy of these boats.
A lifetime more to realize,
All the raging storms are well within us, 
And we are nothing but human-shaped boats.

Dr. Ashwini Bhat is a physician of Indian origin and a mom to two lovely girls. She practices as an oncologist in a teaching hospital in central Texas. She has been an avid reader all her life who finds joy and purpose in writing as much as she does in her cancer-curing profession. She chooses to fill her precious spare time with poetry and pencil sketching. She is currently working on her debut novel, GUILTY OF LOVE.