Beneath The Big Dipper

Summer nights under the veil of stars

Worry an alien, its ship further from far

Melodies of heart captioning the lips

Jasmines breath honey inbetween sips

Seven stars and the accompanying one

Guide the polestar letting sagas spun 

A small story or two from miles across 

Absent sense, taking logic for a toss

But those were times when innocence ruled

Beneath the big dipper, naive hearts pooled

Called it a spoon and held its soup hostage 

Performed like none would, the smiles their stage

Dreams were voice of reason, the sky they owned

Beneath the big dipper, small memories spawned 

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Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Nothing New

The gloaming fire of purple haze

Embers simmering in a hearth of daze

Laces so soft, evenings embellished

Cherishing silken roots, clouds relished 

Nothing new in those seconds of time

No hour, no minute, dimensions a dime

Not a one, not a nothing, not a never ever

None knows whoever knew a new to sever

Yes it repeats, the big bang and dusts

Yare vessels sail still, waves or windy gusts

Yearning a course a heartbeat could change 

Youthful ways and a desire to arrange

Who would know when there's nothing to know

A glimmer in those embers hinting still to flow

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Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Long Lost Diary

Day 2

Numbers changed, tumbling things

Emotions roll, foggy shiny beings

Was it beginning of new?

What changed? Except for the date

That had never stayed same ever

Day 43

A month and barely some more

Winter was always a winged-creature

Perched on that skeleton mango tree

Licking the remnants of blossoms

Nearby tree had offered for taste courtesy

Day 74

Should I uncage the mutant mind?

Let it be freed into that uncanny dimension? 

Spring stared, hand in pocket, 

Vicious smirks, the cuckoo coma bound

Day 105

This is what New Years should learn

Yellow-lined parade march

Cab, a compressed chariot

Shiny gray red carpet, I am of my own

Mango, you can co-rule. 

Day 164

Sky landed on a steely blue UFO 

That painting smiled at me, did they notice? 

Intuition, my fickle friend, whispered again

Perhaps it was right,

The stars from that tower too pretty 

To notice anything. Postponed for vibes. 

Day 311

Golden feelings in a field of purple cosmos

You said... 

******

Day 3451

Found a diary, it claims to be mine

Long lost, complains I had it forgotten

Memory, you trickster, again at your game

Not a word has my voice, 

Not a thought... an owner of a valid address

Last entry half said, ever said, or never said? 

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: 201, 215

Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Airport Happenings

For the fourth time that night

I crossed the coffee counter 

Never to lend a single glance 

The air had too much caffeine 

For a night that long

To be spent on yet another

Sleepless airport lounge encounter

The better seats, all six of them

All housed with dwellers 

Who seemed nothing like each other

Nor a cent like me

Yet stuck in the same boat 

For the entire dusky night

Or for moments unknown

Sandy smelling breadsticks

Searching for a soup too withered

Food too unwelcomed

Not a single palate to revere it

Couches staring at 

Empty plates, buzzing hum,

Absence of noisy silence 

Let go of the need to hold upright

I finally chose one

That was to be 

My abode for the night

Gates flooded with shadows

Not with a day-like urgency 

Whispers whisper silence

Like the mourning of noise

Dimmed lights yet bright

Fluorescence river in a plight

Everything moved 

Without strides and runs

Airport on a snail diet

Two starless sweeps

Of hour hands later

The fuel began to jostle

Where play acted like pause once

Footsteps started to rustle

The caffeine was still in the air

The happenings hurried again

This time with a ghastly flair

And I... was still there.

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Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Eight Minutes

Eight minutes was all I needed

Too scared to ask 

For even eight milliseconds

Asking for anything, anything at all

Even the thought of asking 

Would break the facade that held tight

For who would know... And worse,

For she would know

What eight minutes meant

It was glass

Through which light would not pass

The light that shone bright

Was a mirage the sun built

That was necessary to brighten it up

To avoid any cracks

For the glass would break

Not with the thousand cracks

Nor shatter with the last

But with the one that was laid first

And that hollow cackle

Would be music still, chiming a lullaby 

To hearts that never bothered 

Eight minutes was all I needed

Eight universes built and destroyed 

And rebuilt upon ashes

That smelled of hope

And tasted of resilience 

Eight minutes of lights to blindside

Light too bright, no eye could see

Light too bright, for shadows to be blind

Supernova too exudes light

Lurking in the light

A unicorn danced to a musical mirage

Rainbows sparkled too bright

And the soul died

The suncatcher sang another song

Elated, in pomp and glow, 

Belated, the news of death

None would ever know

Eight minutes was all I needed.

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: 208

Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

When The Seasons Talk

Autumn whites calming lines

Kash flowers swaying in their glory

The heart for the clear sky pines

But the air dries sooner, whites melting

The dew drops shine against the leaves felting

Sun-glow in the silver pre-winters in them shelting

The silvers speak to the winter grey

Asks it of the shy blooms lazing around

And the chilling layers letting grass fray

But the grey lets the way as the koels soon sing

The pretty spring in pink weaves lores in string

Trees smile letting flowery plumes in lawns swing

They smile at the summer's yellow

Telling the dreams of the sweetest fruits

Of lychees and mangoes, that never let a day be mellow

Slowly but surely, they lead to the days of rain

The green monsoons with the petrichor and sizzling corns reign

Clouds and sun play hide and seek,until it all repeats again 

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: 146

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My Reflection Sang

My reflection sang

An airy pop song I once used to sing

The lyrics to which my heart had once known

I left it somewhere, now the distance has grown

I tried to recall the scent of it

It had smelled of camphor and stained notes

And of one wax-sealed envelope

Lost of its sender, the hazed address gloats

I tried to remember the words again

Had felt of breezy linen, deep velvet then

A few hums, lines far-fetched for the sky

Perhaps of a bird too, that flew far and high

I tried to bring back the melody and tunes

That once tasted of cinnamon and a buttered June

A stamped secret ancient runes would never utter

It had my lips serenade and my heart stutter 

My reflection smirked,

An expression I had long forgotten 

There were traces of a stranger now

Built on the ruins of a jovial vow

A face surfaced, reflecting on my eyes

A voice murmuring there, an ode in disguise 

A broken smile wearing a chiming mask 

Like a cup of ginger tea pouring from a flask 

An etching of the stranger, I kept in my heart

Pulsed a rhythm, a beat for the board of dart

A nightingale melody, from my own beloved track 

To my reflection, I nodded and sang back 

(My reflection smiled back

Though my breath stumbled, 

And my voice cracked.)

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When the Sun Dances

A dawn chorus serenades the day to be

With koels, robins, and sparrows' song in glee

Crepuscular rays coyly wake up the sky

With pearl-scented purple clouds smiling shy

Scintillating rays of calmness seek the trees

Wisdom of liquid gold weaving with ease

Ripples of gold and gray linger and dissolve

Ensouls komorebi with rooted resolve

A day's worth of prayers, moments of gifted grace

The sun glides by, leaving Venus' rosy trace

Night in binds, it glissades in waves of greens and reds

With an airy ballon, charm of aurora spreads

Power of grace and calm of depth intertwine,

Life breathes when the sun dances divine.

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Sunflower Shadows

Who knows where the sun is

In the lawns of the sky,

Deep in those distances,

Imperceptible miles away.

Look closer, as the sunflowers steer,

I lie near the roots, sinfully near.

There's a promise of love's warmth,

But the test of longing stands true.

I, the slender Shadows*, notice the miles dissolve,

Even when the mood's bright or blue.

Let there be dream, let it be real,

For the Love that the flowers hold.

I bear witness to the sun's existence,

Let that savory truth be told.

I am the darkness that you will never face,

Left behind, near the nut-scented dust.

What was, is past, never leaving a trace,

Rested to embrace the green earth's crust.

On days when the clouds lurk,

Or the sun has journeyed to the other side,

I will still be there, faint, or along with night,

Letting peace find you, in Life's every stride. 

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* "Shadows" is a collective term for the shadows of all the sunflowers. It is used as a persona here, as a singular entity.

Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved