Hope And Despair Poem by chandra Mohan Bhandari

Torn apart -
Myriad shattering bifurcations
And multiple reflections –
Each reflecting the cosmos –
Of everyday life and living.

As part of it I witness
The sea of humanity
Encompassing all that is desirable
As also that’s not so;
An ocean from which life arose
An abode of all rivers
And of all sewers too,
Even though beaches are full
Of life, frolic and fun.

This, the ocean of life -
A great provider,
A great absorber,
A great tormentor,
A great healer,
And an unparalleled equalizer
It absorbs all praise, all insult
The ultimate abode where everything returns
To be born again – like the monsoon rain
I inhale that oceanic existence
Of common human life,
Symbolized by – the common man.
Common it’ been -
Yet the effort will continue
To strive for acts uncommon
From among the commonest of being
Raising the level of conscious understanding
That defines the distinct
Self-conscious man, who may
Breathe easy, effortless
Only in the transpersonal zone.