Places to Visit

a poem by Aparna Ramnath

The sky is the limit we can’t reach up to,
The horizon a fallacy we can never visit,
The ocean a depth where we cannot live,
The earth below unexplored for a home.
The source of rain is not visible to the eye,
Neither is the heat of the glowing flame,
The chill of the breeze we can’t absorb,
The crackling logs we can’t put our hand to.
A sojourn to the moon is a treat to only a few,
The sun a ball that we can’t hold onto,
The stars are but jewels inaccessible in the sky,
The path of the rainbow we can’t tread upon.

We can visit places far and remote,
Across the oceans and along the seas,
Places of interest, some of history,
Places of beauty and of mystery.

The homes of people we can visit,
But not their hearts or their thoughts,
The abode of the divine we can’t imagine,
Neither can we, the true forms of the Gods.
All this being the same across our world,
Then what makes places differ?
It is the people, their ideas, their traditions,
Their dreams and above all nature’s immeasurable bounty.
Each place is endowed with treasures so precious,
So unique and infinitely sublime,
But true splendour is unveiled by the people,
Who make these differences so beautiful indeed.