Schism

(Artwork inspired by Tool – Schism)

What really made me sketch this? Maybe I liked the song. Maybe I just connected with the lyrics and sketched the first idea that came to my mind. I really don’t know. In my opinion. the song talks about how gaps in communication disrupt relationships. Isn’t that the case with most relationships today? Lack of communication helps only in distancing oneself from each other.

Yes I’ll agree on the fact that a certain distance is required. A person needs time to themselves. A person needs silence but sometimes we let that silence continue for so long that we forget what other people sound like. When we cease to communicate, we cease to exist. If we do not communicate our problems, then how will they be solved? Mutual disagreements will still exist creating a strange dissonance which can never be fixed. Soon enough, familiar faces become unfamiliar, strangers remain strangers and the picture of a family on the wall cracks and falls to pieces. To avoid conflict, to solve problems and to share our opinions, we must communicate!

As the song quite rightly says – “Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion between supposed lovers; between supposed brothers!”

PS: I know the pieces fit!

Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhjG47gtMCo 

With Love 2: How I Feel

The love I feel for you is hard to contain. It’s hard to keep within me. It’s hard to say the things I want to… to tell you how I feel because it scares me. It scares me that if I speak my mind you’ll run away from me. It scares me that we may never speak again. It scares me to hell. The circumstances often remind me why we can never be together but when I see your face, when I hear your voice and when I feel your touch, I can’t help but hold on and try harder.

Tick

There’s a little tick,
that sucks you dry.
Leaves you cold and empty,
from within.

It’s always on your back,
never letting go.
The more it feeds,
the heavier it gets.

You can’t shake it off,
you can’t fight it.
The more it stays,
the bigger it grows.

It brings you down,
to crawl on your stomach.
Slither through rocks,
till you’re disemboweled.

It sucks your bones,
leaving them hollow.
You’re a withered shell
of what you were before.

The tick is still on you,
never to fall off.
It has sucked everything,
that you once were.

Your conscience begins,
and you realize.
The tick,
was your ego and pride.

Anorexia Nervosa

Rust grew slowly,
consuming a shiny blade.
It was shaped in excellence,
to achieve greatness it was made.

But it lay dormant for so long,
the master didn’t know it’s worth.
It could cut mountains in half,
and split this very Earth.

For years it lay there,
yearning for its master’s touch.
The wait was futile,
as its owner didn’t bother much.

Bit by bit corroding,
The edges had become so blunt.
The blade rendered useless now,
it could neither kill nor hunt.

Rust devoured it completely,
the blade never saw the light of day.
Its master squandered its ability,
and perished in a similar way.

Orgy

I wandered in dark places,
where no one else could see.
Found a home, a hiding place,
a house of horrors soon to be.

Tumultuous winds broke the door,
footsteps were coming near.
There was no face or sound,
but I knew that they were here.

Silent whispers turned to echoes,
the noise began to bother me.
I was convinced I wasn’t alone,
entrapment was a guarantee.

Hands pulled my face in deeper,
the days passed in a blur.
Tragic tales and gruesome deaths,
again and again would recur.

Held like a prisoner,
brutalized in every way.
Like a terrorist making demands,
they told me how and what to say.

Free will was not an option,
they raped every corner of my soul.
With broken pieces of conscience,
there was nothing more I could control.

They had invaded my innards,
crippling me one by one.
To all the world and all my friends,
a senseless monster I had become.

People failed to realize,
the turmoil that I held within.
Captured inside four walls,
paying for the demons’ sins.

They took over me,
consuming me like a cancer.
“Who was I?” – a question,
I could no longer answer.

Driven beyond complete insanity,
a dilemma they could never fix.
Where six were one,
and just one were six.

Cult Of Me

I claimed to see it all,
but I was so blind.
Arrogance was my armor,
and words were so unkind.

The tongue was a weapon,
sharper than a blade.
Slicing those around me,
destroying all the friendships made.

A once beautiful mind,
now in cluttered illusions it lay.
Temerity settled,
ego showed it where to stay.

They bred happily,
birthing narcissism and vainglory.
The feeling rendered me delusional,
convincing me I was the hero of this story.

The feeling that there was no equal,
only grew with my success.
So assured in self-righteousness,
my own ideal I’d caress.

I could never go wrong,
so strong and confident.
With such misconceptions,
my devolution was evident.

When I fell from my high horse,
there was no one to hold my hand.
I had driven everyone away,
thinking that I owned the land.

My success was an effort of all,
this realization dawned too late.
My self-conceit hurt everyone,
all their love had turned to hate.

Who was to blame but I alone?
My accomplishments shortsighted me.
Hubris had sealed my fate,
my own downfall I could not see.

Surmount

The mighty mountain stood still,
like pillars that held the temple of Zeus.
No one ever made it to the top,
they all perished as unambitious fools.

It stood tall like Goliath,
man was but an ant at its feet.
Whoever dared to climb that high,
their end they would surely meet.

It tested your strength,
then slowly broke your mind.
No matter how much you prepared,
it unleashed horrors of a different kind.

No one was sure of its malice,
until they could no longer see the ground.
They’d hang between heaven and hell,
no way left to turn around.

A hesitant step would be their last,
the moment they would fall from grace.
No friends or family to greet them,
only death’s cold embrace.

I was young and determined,
passion coursing through my veins.
My loved ones warned me,
but ambition had driven me insane.

I took the first step,
and thousands more after that.
Tired, alone and broken I carried on,
while others on their leisure sat.

I had climbed quite afar,
and saw more than the others did.
But the mountain’s wicked nature came to light,
from the shadows in which they hid.

Boulders fell from above,
like rain from a cloudy sky.
Buried under a hundred rocks,
a voice in my head said, “You must try!”

Clawing my way to the surface,
bloody like the crimson moon.
I had to quickly climb back up,
as my end was coming soon.

I had been pushed halfway down,
as ruthless winds were setting in.
The snowstorm made climbing difficult,
hope was slowly growing dim.

Then came the vicious wolves,
striding through the pale white snow.
Taking my hand as a trophy,
blood began to overflow.

I wish I had wings,
to fly as high as I can.
But lying at the brink of death I realized,
Olympus was not for man.

Even as the reaper stalked me,
his scythe close to my heart.
My resilient spirit held on,
stubbornly refusing to depart.

There was no turning back now!
All quitters went to hell.
I wanted to stand on the pinnacle,
from where all the titans fell.

My undying persistence,
elevated me against all odds.
I made it to the top of the mountain,
defying the will of the gods.

Standing alone,
where no man had been before,
there was no love or affection,
no desires anymore.

I had done the unthinkable,
without a soul by my side.
Not a parent or a friend,
not even a lover in whom I could confide.

I fulfilled my ambition,
the willpower was all my own.
Determination and ardent efforts smiled,
for the heights at which I had grown.

Cage

Staring throught the cage
bricks on a broken stage
Standing on a glass floor
Silent, the blood pours

Sticking a finger through the hole
Peeping till we grow old.
Climbing only to fall again
When did this madness begin?

Have we become expendible?
Has corruption become indestructible?
Are these cages impenetrable?
Is dependence irreplacable?

Tring to conquer land
Killing with our own two hands
A better world-
A bitter lie.

Blasts that shattered lives
Flags that uphold lies.
Money laundered here and there
We know, yet we blindly stare.

We watch, behind the cage
Succumbing to a sage.
So secure, in this cage,
Withholding, till we outgrow age.

Break away from the chains
Swallow, guilt and shame.
Break away from the chains
Swallow, guilt and shame.

Break this hollow cage
Unleash this untamed rage.
Uncloud the corrupt haze
To cross this tangled maze.

Elora

What lured me to her?
Was my conscience half asleep?
Drawn to her like a magnet,
wasn’t my heart my own to keep?

The attraction never fazed,
even though I ran so far.
I always found myself chasing her,
like a dog after a speeding car.

Her eyes kept me captive,
like a prisoner on the ground.
There was something special,
in the way she moved around.

She enchanted my dreams,
all day I’d think of her.
Each passing moment she grew on me,
better reason was a blur.

No matter how hard I tried,
I could never deny the obvious truth.
She changed me as a man,
all my goals she bore to fruit.

But this fatal attraction had to die,
it was more than I could take.
Shattered into a million pieces,
beyond this no more I could break.

I wished to let her go,
yet I desired her warm embrace.
A victim to her deadly charm,
I had fallen far from grace.

I wanted to escape her gaze,
but my heart would be lost amiss.
If I let the memories go,
I’d find my soul in a dark abyss.

Specula

What could she tell you,
that you didn’t already know?
You ignored all the answers within you,
just because they wouldn’t show!

Instead you followed a liar,
who was no better than a thief.
She kept you engrossed in yourself,
enchained to disbelief.

What about your own soul,
the voice that lingered in your mind?
Didn’t it matter anymore,
than the beauty you were trying to find?

For hours you’d stand before her,
admiring all the vanity.
Pointing out every tiny flaw,
like you were stricken with insanity.

She could never show you,
the truth that you yearned to see.
The answers were all within –
the places you would choose to flee.

Was your hair perfect?
Did it reflect your soul?
You wished to impress them all,
isn’t that a futile goal?

It’s only your outer reflection,
that you admired like a fool.
She kept you captive like a slave,
even though she was your tool.

Through the glass she showed you,
all the things you wanted.
But there were things far beyond,
the face that you flaunted.