I was just reading through some of the wonderful work on the Literary India website when I happened across this fantastic poem by Anjali Ranu, entitled “The Sky Isn’t Always Blue“.
It’s a deeply soul-searching piece in which Ranu demonstrates her understanding of the nature of life and the fragility of the human spirit; indicating that the river of life will not always flow smoothly and that the effects the travails of our existence may have upon our busy daily routines may prove to be too much for us, as mere individuals, to handle:
The sky isn’t always blue
The sun doesn’t always shine
Equally, however, she permits that understanding to filter down to us, her readers, enabling us to share her knowledge and empower ourselves, recognising that in the face of the difficulties which test our spirit, on occasion, a temporary retreat is not something to be feared:
It’s alright to fall apart, sometimes
A sentiment which she cements thus:
The heart isn’t always true
And I am not always fine
We all have an angry heart, sometimes
It’s powerful stuff, bringing with it the message that no-one is impermeable to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and the disclaimer that there should be no shame in submitting to these onslaughts every now and again.
Ranu ends on the positive thought that support from another entity may carry us forward through these difficulties; that there is a light at the end of the tunnel when we work together, and that the sum of the parts may be greater than the whole, that unity is the solution:
Look how far we have come
One and one still is one
One moon, one star
I love the one we are
A sentiment which brings with it echoes of Robert Miles & Maria Nayler back in 1996:
Much of the rest of Ranu’s work can be found in the motivational statements of various Indian spiritual gurus (compare this with this) and better known poets (this versus this), but “Sky” is the only work I can find which has been… er… “inspired” by an Italian DJ and record producer.
