Life's Boot Camp

Like hell I will, I won't!
My goals are trivial
My foes surreal
My life been lived
But only a little.
I have dreams stashed,
Frozen and brittle

I check the freezer
I need to know
If they're still preserved
For a future
I will never know.

I compromise
I realize
I'm pseudo
Fake and feigning, a
literary pseudonym,
Licensed to live
Bigger than
My puny dreams.

Till my battery runs out
Life's magic charge rubs off
Aladdin's old tarnished precious
Lamp, and
Discarded for an electric one
That won't go out.

My magic is spare
My carpet too threadbare
To fly through this OCD wilderness
To drink in our breath.
We fell asleep on and off
Dreamings of giants and jolly genies
And fell neatly from the nest
Down on our feet...
The way we know best.

All is good.
Life forgave
All we have to do
Is breathe in and out
Till our lungs are forever smothered
In Alladin's lonely cave.

Mercy.
Is an angel
Called Death.
Who calls without knocking
But is never too late.

How much longer
Will it be?
Trim down your lamp
What will it take
For a soul
To be free
from life's boot camp.

(c) Amrita Valan 2016