Monday, July 07, 2025

Poem: Happiness is...

Happiness is...

That feeling you get
After all your doubts and second thoughts,
As the scarlet-winged blackbird
Splashes in the birdbath
You hesitantly placed
Beside the lush wild pond,
Too deep for the little birds
Hesitating at the edge

That feeling you get
When the lavender stands tall
And wildflowers burst open
In a quiet, sunny corner
Of the manicured yard
You gently claimed as your own—
Where native seeds once scattered in hope
Now call the pollinators home.

That feeling you get
When the fox, driven back three times,
Snatches an adult bird—
But the goslings you befriended
Live to waddle another day,
And your guilty heart
Breathes a quiet relief
For the young yellow-eyed fox,
More afraid than curious and ever so hungry.

That feeling you get
When all you can offer
Is a listening ear—
And you're there for a friend
Who has all you long for
But no one to tell it to
And for a moment,
You are enough.

Fleeting though it is,
Often worry wears me down,
But I understand why my life
Draws such envy
This happiness I’ve brewed
With pieces I called into being
From nothing
Is a magic all my own.


(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Poem: Spider Spider

Spider spider

Little spider

Here we go again

Climb up

Squirming

Pushing, turning

Whoops! Back down again


You are a speck

In this big bad world

Just a tiny little mite

Why do you try

So hard, so steady

With all your gritty might


What’s up there

What will you find

Why not leave it be

Maybe it’s magic

Maybe it’s tragic

Will you live to see


Spider spider

Little spider

Oh you sweet wee thing

This world is mean

The people scary

They’ll never make you king


Will you be happy

Just climbing falling

All to start again

Will you have peace

If your wee heart stops

And you can never climb again


Girlie girlie

Big tall girlie

What else will you have me do

At least I’m moving

Winning or losing

Not stuck in place like you


My world is tiny

It’s people small

And we live within our walls

You can spread your wings

And do many things

But still you’re stuck is all


Girlie girlie

Big tall girlie

We both have our way

You in your prison

Me in mine

But where will we go today




(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Monday, October 12, 2020

Poem: Mine

She’s mine

I tell you

All mine


His, only because

He’s allowed

Inside

My realm

As spouse


Theirs, only because

I say

It’s okay

The world needs her more

Anyway


If they claim

A right 

Greater than

My generosity allows

Remember

You heard it here first

She. Is. Mine.


Of my blood

My sacrifice

My love

My choice

She. Is. Mine.


(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Monday, March 04, 2019

My Father's Daughter


What lies ahead I do not know
But the ages past crooked my brow
Beneath it peers my father's eye
Above it lies the wave of his hair
I am nothing like him and yet I am
His spirit personified

(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Magic kingdom

I clean
She sings
Of mundane things

I cook
She talks
Of imagined walks

I listen
She chimes
And makes up rhymes

I scribble
She sketches
Destroys evil witches

I smile
She kisses
Away all my hits and misses

I'm blessed
She's here
Living her wonder years

This is no ordinary life
It's our magic kingdom

(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Patient and lonely

My eldest
The soul of this Enterprise
Lies all alone in the darkness
Away from all she loves
She and I await
The judgement yet to be passed

I'm ashamed and ridden with guilt
That it took me so much time
To sense her pain
As her stoic little heart
Withstood the agony of neglect
Wordlessly, and smiling

The more I try to be that person
The less of a Mother am I
Women can truly have it all
Just never at the same time

And yet what I want outside of Motherhood
Has forever eluded me
The title, the wages
Nothing but child's play to most
Are a forever-out-of-reach carrot
To this donkey

I've no patience left
Patience is what brought me here
In the first place
Put my head down and work they said
Apparently that only applies to women
And immigrants
While the Trumps of this world
Shall leave a lasting legacy behind
Gloating over us lesser mortals
With hard-won degrees and
Award-worthy patience

Time with her is what makes me
Her love is what saves me
She is all alone in the darkness
How am I the lonely one?

(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Poem: Frozen in Time

Here I go again
Waiting for the Big Thaw
Watching a hive of activity
Beyond these walls of ice

Isn't a freeze
Meant to preserve?
Instead
Every passing moment
Adds a new line to this wizened face

Isn't a frost
Meant to be a balm against all feeling?
Instead 
It deepens the sting
Like an acupuncture-gone-wrong

Shouldn't the ice
Conceal my heart?
Instead
It reveals to the world
Its every flaw

Here I go again
Defrosting slowly
Painfully
As the universe softly burns
Beyond these walls of ice


(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)

Sunday, July 09, 2017

Poem: My Forever Best Friend

In my lonely life
You were my North Star 
When all hope wandered away 
I'd call 
And you answered
Well, mostly

You never had the right words 
Nor what I needed momentarily 
Yet you stood steadfast blinking 
But never looking away, 
Never shrinking 

I walked away many a times 
Frustrated, defeated, not knowing 
How to be someone 
That you might need 
Yet you never faded
Were never gone too long

You were not what I needed 
Nor I someone who could ever fit in 
Your world
But you were so much more
You were my only friend

You're not here now
And I'll cope
I'm like that
Disloyal, frivolous
Painfully sensitive
Ardently caring

But you win
You've forced 
Your charming way
Into being
My forever (and only!)
Best friend

#jessisnomore #lifeafterjess

(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)