How Does A Lotus Bloom? Poem by Bipin Patsani

When a poet is in anguish and agony
Expressing his displeasure at home
And disapproval of things around,
People in the neighborhood make fun of him
Little knowing the seriousness of the process,
His restlessness, his creative reticence,
This business of breeding and brooding
And the meaning and purpose of the pang
When something is in the making.
People respond to a finished product
According to their sense and sensibility.
But they don't care to know how much pain
And strain lay buried in its making.
Little do they understand how words fight,
That for a good work of art
Pleasure and pain are equally important,
Since suffering makes the making intense
And out of the mud comes up a bud to unfold slowly into
A blooming lotus.
Anything that strikes breaks ice and becomes a boon;
The work in the mind gets set to flow in a stream after a chain
Reaction.