“Flow” — Penathon Submission

On the 10th of February, 2020, I submitted a poem titled Flow for the CAPS (Center for Academic and Professional Support) Penathon Competition, Season 3, conducted at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore.

The following topics were offered to participants, and I selected the one highlighted in bold:

1. ” Ecstasy now flowed through my veins. With a sense of thrill, I’d flap open the letter box.
   Giving in to my impatience, sometimes once a day, sometimes hour after hour. The wind had been blowing quite like a prophecy, the nights were long and cold, and conditions couldn’t have been more favorable, not one bit more ideal. Like a piece of the jigsaw that was still out of place, my calling hadn’t arrived. It seemed like I was destined to wait in apprehension, for who knows how long. “
2. Time is a funny concept and a dangerous territory that spends us in return.
3. Though the course may change sometimes, rivers always reach the sea.
4. “No one here is important or no one is unimportant. Nothing is definite. Nothing here has a beginning nor an end, nothing stays constant, nor will it reach a climax. Even hastiness has attained mindfulness. Everything has a meaning here and nothing is meaningless. Every drop of water is nectar.”

For my submission, I received a Special Mention at the felicitation ceremony. The unaltered work is presented below.

Flow

A hundred paths before me,
Yet only one can I choose;
A single way to get it right,
But ninety-nine ways to lose.

Or so I thought, for quite a while,
As I looked at each door;
With each a sense of guilt, I felt,
For the others, I could choose no more.

All my options, so good they seem,
Yet only one can be the best;
I walk down a road that looks alright,
To fate, I leave the rest.

With a heavy heart, but a peaceful smile,
I have learned to simply be;
As though the course may change sometimes,
Rivers always reach the sea.