I laugh; I cannot do otherwise!

I see people running fast
Everywhere I see a terrible haste
Running to where no one knows
Laughing at everyone who does not run
They have to get something important done
And they think that all that they do
Is something unique and completely new!

They think
That they are making a difference
That their existence is really important
That what they achieve will remain forever
That death is not something that can be own
That as long as one lives one must go on
Go on doing what is very important
Important to humankind
Important to society
Important to culture
Important to planet
Important to universe
But important in what way no one knows!

They believe
That one who doesn’t run is an escapist
That one who doesn’t do what is important
Is a coward and is lazy
Is a traitor and is foolish
Doesn’t understand the importance!

But I see
That they were not and they will be not
There have been many like them who are not
And so,
I laugh back at them
I cannot do otherwise!

--Rishiraj

VOYAGE (My tribute to Paul Michael)

Don’t know where to look for you

Don’t know which number to call

Don’t know where you have gone

I don’t know about you anything at all

My conversations lost in the wind

My sighs get wasted in this desert

When I see you it’s a shimmering mirage

The whole existence seems inert

My letters for you are never answered

You never respond when I call your name

I wonder what has caused this change

I do not know now whom to blame

I understand that it is death...

But what is death I don’t understand

Is death the end of life?

Or life is the beginning of this end?

The only thing that gives me peace

Is that I am to join you soon

If it is a chance to see you again

I believe death to be a boon

In the ocean of the unknown we are lost

With only fragments that seem familiar

We don’t know what's exactly the case

And that is the sole reason of fear

You inspire me to tread this path

To go on whatever it might be

You make me believe that each moment

Is a voyage on an uncharted sea.

--Rishiraj for Paul Michael