I wrote the poem Tentacles of Thoughts almost 8 years ago back when I was fighting a war with my own mind. It was brutal to see it through. I could have never imagined how my life would be in the next 8 years. The mind is like that double edged sword that it cuts everywhere it touches. Specially us when we don’t know what it is capable of. Yet in the hands of a skilled samurai, that katana is legendary. That comes from the will and discipline acting from that samurai towards the sword. Just like it, I have cut myself many thousand times over to wield this katana. And this poem is the katana writing about it’s journey:

 

The war was waged in a different light,

Fought the warriors of explosive might.

Wails and tears, and blood and bone,

Smell of death followed the empty throne.

 

Tired these warriors turned to sea,

Shackled by tentacles, yet, wanting to be free.

Tentacles followed them everywhere they went,

Some cut their limbs, while others felt faint.

 

    For those who survived and fled to the ocean, the ocean whispered:

 

Beneath the vast essence of sea,

Lay chests of treasure and coins.

Down on that ocean floor,

Hidden,

Forgotten,

Clogged by your tentacles yet again.

 

The shallow sea you warriors see,

No nectar, no flower for them lazy bee.

The oyster surfaces every full moon,

Only for the diver, who doesn’t give up soon.

 

No up, no down, no left, no right,

Neither is it dark down, nor is it bright.

Only for the diver who’s willing to fight,

I’ll catch you and show you this ocean’s might.

 

No stories, no tales, no right or wrong,

No sound, no silence, its far beyond.

No horror, no darkness, no hard, no pain

No cold, no peace, here only that remains.

 

Moved by your valor, let me show you the way

Teach you to dive deep, and see the eternal play.

There was no box, no ground, no death

All rising and falling in sync with your breath.

 

The warrior breathed deeply and watched the ocean.
After years, he finally understood and spoke back to the ocean:

 

I see you up, down, left and right,

Sound or silence, dark or bright,

Life or death, fight or flight,

I see you,

I adore you,

In all your glory, might and bright.

Adorned by my tentacles, oh’ what a sight,

I woke up as the ocean witnessing the fight.