The lesson of the forest
Part 1
I walked alone into the forest,
Searching for peace, meaning; within me,
Hoping to find, a place to self-reflect, to rest
To ponder, what in me, is not letting me be; free.
Such difficulty to live, grow, in harmony
So much discord, such hatred among race
Such disparity, the 1 percent, the ones with no money
Swirling thoughts in my head space; no solace.
I reached a clearing in the woods, a place to think,
Cradling my weary head, against a tree trunk,
I took a breath, oxygen from this carbon sink
Mind screaming for a way out of this funk; to debunk.
Part 2
On the forest floor, lay, orange decomposing leaves
Time, slowly churning it into food, nutrients,
Tiny ferns, grasses, green, a new layer of relief,
The wet soil, brimming with scents; nascent.
Shifting my gaze off the ground, the brown bushes,
The first thicket, a growth of shrubs, slants,
Tiny leaves, shades of yellow, clumps, brushes,
In the understory, a story, of plants; enchants.
Above the shade, an umbrella, a screen,
Maturity, trees, protective, stand tall,
Some barren, deciduous, some verdant, evergreen
Open to sunlight, to snowfall, rainfall; above all.
Growing, supporting each other, in a common biome,
A diverse set of species, stringing together, life,
The resource hogs, with the bogs, in one home,
Unswirling, revealing, the answers to my strife; rife.
Part 3
Categories of people, labels, segments,
Created on purpose by masters, to control marionettes,
Chance playing a role in birthplace, skin color pigments,
Colored ideologies, shaped by regrets, debts; threats.
Our planet is a wondrous place, a beautiful world,
A spinning, oblate spheroid, energized only by the sun,
Undifferentiated beings in a spectrum, young and old,
Be it blue-eyed, dark-skinned, Trisonomy 21; everyone.
Like the forest, I will live and let live,
I will find my path, my purpose,
Take what I need, everything else I will give,
To all others, this ask I propose, in close; in prose.
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Through my diverse network of friends and family, I found out that today, March 21st, 2019 is a day of many holidays, celebrations and observances. Today is…
International Day of Forests by proclamation of the United Nations General Assembly
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
International Color Day
World Down Syndrome Day
World Puppetry Day
World Poetry Day
I have always loved forests, they bring me a sense of wonderment and peace when I walk through them, so today, I decided to use that to convey my thoughts on all the others, obviously in a poem.
Karthik Raja 