Subtle Moments

By Vinay Benjamin

Thoughts skid to a halt when the psyche reaches its innermost sanctums and the entire mind seems to become an extension of the infinite. The realization that we are boundless and much more than the physique is sobering and yet so true.

The inner journey into the realms of our being is an epiphany that transforms and transports us into awareness of the goodness of human nature, and its intrinsic capacity to tame pain, disappointments, and challenges that destiny confronts us with without exception. Circumstances and pursuits that seem to occupy us otherwise are a deviation from the higher purpose of love and empathy that has kept us together as a species with the immense potential to reach nobility. These inner realms of absolute tranquility are sanctuaries and the source that has been tapped over and over through generations to enrich the world with unique expressions in poetry and literature.

As a race mankind is invincibleabove pain, above pleasure, above all vagaries of time. The verse here acknowledges every human being in this world. Being is all that is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Mar 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514444832

Vinay Benjamin

An inner voice resonates within all of us, ever present and insistent. In moments of stillness, these whispers of the soul are audible, and those profound moments of lucidity compel one to indulge the written word. Each of us reaches that plateau of self when time seems to stand still, and we get a glimpse of the person we truly are. These pages are an attempt to grasp those moments in this vast continuum of hearing that inner voice and being heard. These could be your subtle moments, lived and inscribed in another place and time and just as loquacious as the voice that whispers to you in your meditative stillness and arouses emotions that invite narratives of the pen. I was born in Vrindavan, India, the birthplace of the Hindu deity Krishna, and completed my education with a master’s in English from New Delhi, India, with specialization in phonetics from the University College, London (UK). I also write in Hindi and Urdu. My anthology, titled Hasrat, is under review, to be published as a dual book in both languages. I also have a certification in Japanese from the Japanese Education Ministry. I’ve lived in the Middle East since 1989 and began my career with Xerox (Bahrain). Since 2012, I have been working as an education specialist in Dubai (UAE).

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Copyright © 2016 by Vinay Benjamin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 02/19/2016

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

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Contents

Dedication

Foreword

REFLECTIONS

Dreams in Clay

Sum of all Colors

Equinox

Face in the Mirror

Child of Instinct

Celibate Pens

Camouflaged Myth

Face of Hunger

Contemplations

Dubious Legacy

Fistful of Eternity

How Old Am I

Indelible Inks

Memory of my Maker

Mischief -Monger

One Window in Heaven

Polygamy

Dulcet Melodies

To Be Nothing

Relativity

Street Painter of Bombay

The Best Is Yet To Come

The Hourglass

Word Mosaics

Predicaments

Tomorrow

Why Pets Die… .

Implement of a Muse

Insight

Just Beyond

Blow Gently…

Bard of Morpheus

A Wish to Love

Plight of an Embryo

Poetry Is… .

Myths and Legends

Difficult Paths

Opus of Life

Paradoxes

Paris : Friday, 13November 2015

(To every victim of violence in this world)

Perpetuity

Death of a Cherub

Perfect Poems

If Babies Did Not Cry

Genius Resides in Humor

I’m on Facebook in Heaven…

Pleasant Surprises

NATURE

Mysterious Pearls

Twilight Worshippers

Lesson of the Web

Raindrop

Loneliness is a Statement

Notes of a Bamboo Flute

Shangri-la

Seasons of Life

Storm in the Universe

Strewn Graffiti

When the Moon Absconds

Terrestrial Mirrors

Where Rivers Meet

Spring

Eavesdropping on Nature

MEMORIES

One Word Songs

Rhythms

Distant Loves

Unveiling A Fantasy

Thorn in My Flesh

Avid Philatelist

Valentine

Unrequited Love

Ode to a Memory

An Elegy

My Lover & I

MIRRORED VERSE

Ballerina (Mirrored Verse)

No Man Is an Island (Mirrored Verse)

Outrageous Modesty (Mirrored Verse)

The Final Drill (Mirrored Verse)

Portraits (Mirrored Verse)

Dedication

To all the wonderful people of the United Arab Emirates who extend hospitality and warmth without bias or reservation … . I now understand the meaning of Ahlan Wasahlan completely.

I also dedicate this book to my late mothers Binapani and Olga Myra – both nurtured me with patience and aroused in me a love for the written word. Thank you for this wonderful gift that has opened a door in the mind for loquacious thoughts to indulge the integrity of expression….

Vinay Benjamin

Foreword

Had I kept a journal from the day I was born,

and threaded life’s narrative as a sequel -

I would’ve accumulated 365 folio page volumes

of vivid images and effusive script indexed as

life’s progress in years.

I would’ve recounted emotions and every intense moment

by precise hour and day - the first love, first sadness,

first warm tear recorded in minute detail.

I now write in snatches as though compelled to describe

the cameos of life- else time would rudely erase the

fragile slate of memory of these cherished scribbles .

Human deeds echo in eternity as will mine, but

in parenthesis I’ll preserve naïve sentiments

and this memoir of Subtle Moments… .

Vinay Benjamin

Reflections

The contemplation of beauty causes the soul to grow wings… .

Dreams in Clay

An elusive mirage exasperated,

a chimera, a fascinating whim,

atavistic desire beset with longing,

seeks the quixotic or the obscene.

I gathered coarse clay, sifted it,

through