By Kartheik Iyer
Its reflection. His eyes. His face. Stubble. A tear. Salty to taste. The sea. The waves. Little boat on the horizon. Bobbing.
The breeze. The smell of fish. The taste of salt. Of memories. Bygones. Possibilities.
The seagulls. Fly. Glide. Circle. Fish. Dip. Miss. Dip. Catch. Eat.
Rocks. Vein-encrusted. Tidebreakers. Sturdy. Stolid. Weathered. Worn.
Clouds. Contrast. Shapes. Of wishes. Of dreams. Drift away.
‘I want to...’
Thoughts. Fragmented. Splintered. Incoherent. Looking. Searching. Lost trains.
Life. Meaning. None. Journey. Pointless. Goal. Unattainable. Game. Whose? Mine. Yours. His? Whose? Somebody. Nobody.
Beautiful? No.
Interesting? Yes.
Spectacles. Opaque. Coulombic. Not inverse. Mundane. Nontrivial. Together. Simple. Lies. Random. Words. Strung. Together. A theory. An explanation. A fact. Contrast. A rationalization. Expectations. Reality.
He sat and thought. For a way to put his thoughts into words. Of any form, in any language. Words. Powerful. Meaningless. Powerless. Wise. Such...., such that it allowed his wandering, traipsing mind to express all kinds of eloquent trivialities, but fell short when he wanted to speak of what mattered.
But what mattered? Initiate cycle. Success? Meaningless. Company? Temporary. Love? No, not that. Freedom? Self imposed. Self declared. Semantics. Life? Not being dead? Achievements? Individual. Meaningless. History? Stories. Depend on the storyteller. Peace? Wishful thinking. Happiness? Too hard. Satisfaction? To whom. Self. How? Success? Full circle. No answers.
He sat and watched the sun set, a reflected fire burning in his hollowed eyes as the incandescent ball ducked below the skyline with deceptive quickness, the lights in his eyes flickering with the stormy sea before they, too, went out altogether, leaving the burnt out husk of what once had possibly been a great man. Softly, he sang to the wind, as they carried the quiet words away,
‘Don’t take away my shine, my shine is all I have...’
