Life Cycle

a poem by Godavari

A calm serene lake, I was, very carefree.
A Happy contended soul – that was me.
My mornings were greeted with chirpy birds
My evenings ended hearing the songbirds.

Life changed a bit when rains poured,
My mission was to try the roads unexplored.
My dreams and aspirations grew bigger and bigger,
Soon I became a river.

I worked hard, merged with streams,
Sometimes, I even went downstream!
I walked on every path whether good or bad
Every terrain I had flown on was my launch pad.

The power in me, made me greedy,
I even invaded the lands of the needy!
Those rumbling waves within me,
Drove me to merge all the rivers, and,
I became a sea.

A rough restless sea that roars,
Slashing lashing and gushing to reach the shore.
The big boulders tried to tame me, to slow me
In vain they could not tame a relentless defiant me.

In the end, it was the sun that evaporated me.
As my soul ebbed out of my body,
My pride, my ego, my form was washed away.
My imprints on earth was so destructive
It was so incoherent and repulsive.

Perhaps another life, another lake,
Would teach me how keep my soul and morals awake.