What Is Meant To Be (A Dramatic Monologue) Poem by ashok jadhav

(The stage is bare. A single spotlight. The speaker stands still, as though waiting for something that has already arrived.)
I used to run from the word destiny—
as if naming it
would make it stronger.
I told myself
that choice was absolute,
that every turn was mine,
that the future waited politely
for my permission.
How comforting that belief was.
How fragile.
(Pause.)
Because life has a way
of arriving unannounced,
of standing in your path
with no regard
for your arguments.
(He takes a step forward.)
I tried to outrun what was meant to be.
I changed routes.
I delayed decisions.
I told myself, Not now.
Not this.
Not me.
But destiny does not chase.
It waits.
And when it meets you—
it feels less like surprise
and more like recognition.
(Pause.)
What is meant to be
does not ask for approval.
It does not negotiate with fear.
It unfolds—
patient, precise, unavoidable.
I fought it once.
With reason.
With effort.
With denial dressed as courage.
I thought resistance was strength.
I thought avoidance was freedom.
But destiny does not break
under pressure.
It bends you toward it.
(His voice lowers.)
Every step away
was only a longer path back.
Every closed door
quietly guided my hands
to the one that would open.
Every loss
felt cruel—
until it made room
for what had always been coming.
(Pause.)
You don't recognize destiny
in comfort.
You recognize it
when struggle refuses to leave.
When the same truth returns
wearing different faces.
When life repeats itself
until you finally listen.
(He looks upward.)
Why resist what insists?
Why fear what remains?
What is meant to be
carries its own gravity.
You may drift—
but you will fall toward it.
(Pause.)
There is a strange peace
in accepting inevitability.
Not the peace of passivity—
but the peace of alignment.
The peace of knowing
that your detours
were not mistakes,
but preparations.
(He breathes in.)
Destiny does not steal choice.
It gives choice meaning.
It allows you to decide
how you arrive—
not whether you will.
(Pause.)
I see it now—
how every moment
was arranging itself.
How even my resistance
was part of the design.
I was never lost.
I was being led
by roads I did not understand.
(He steps into the light.)
What is meant to be
cannot be avoided—
but it can be met
with grace
or with fear.
Today, I choose grace.
Not because I understand everything—
but because I trust the pattern
revealed only in hindsight.
(Long pause.)
I stop running.
I stop bargaining.
I stop pretending
that fate can be fooled.
I stand where I am meant to stand—
not defeated,
but ready.
Because what is meant to be
has already found me.
(Lights fade. Silence.)