‘Why weaving words is worthwhile…’

Before I begin, I would like to Salute the human guardians of knowledge as it is the greatest gift from God and the best present you can give someone. Preserving knowledge is a virtue and sharing it is the greatest form of charity. Words can do miracles, no matter in what form they are written or read.

The words of a man who lived centuries ago can help to heal an emotionally wounded teenage girl of the 21st century (eg. To Althea, from Prison by Richard Lovelace). In the same way, people’s brains absorb the words presented to them in the form of a story, poetry etc and weave a new web of life for themselves with the threads of hope, according to their understanding. Words should never be underestimated.

Pen is definitely mightier than the sword. A sword can only cut through the body but the pen can create a hole in your soul. When you have such a weapon in your hand, use it wisely to transform the world, one step at a time into a peaceful realm of unity. With such a tool to change the thought process, surely not just one man but even one child can create history. Writers, authors and poets are the unsung heroes of the metamorphosis of human evolution although most of them have stayed in the shadows and my Respectful Gratitude goes out to all of them for their contribution.

Right words read at the right time,

May let you have an experience so sublime;

Can lessen your pain, make you forget your sorrow,

and remind you that you can start a new life tomorrow.

What is life, tell me?

It is a melting pot of experiences;

Different for each human, animal and tree,

Depends on the mind and our senses.

Words thrown around in random,

Are just a waste of vocabulary;

When woven into lines that give birth to stories and poems,

They can perform miracles for the writer and the reader whenever necessary.

Communication is the key to evolution,

It started with sign language, cave paintings and more;

They are wordless stories that tell us about,

Our ancestors’ lives and how they opened the alphabet door.

When we mention human evolution,

People generally talk about our journey, so long;

From Cave men to the Sophisticated robots, we are today,

But the writers and poets are barely mentioned in the evolution song.

We were born from ashes and will turn into them soon,

What happens in between is life as we know it;

When these experiences are recorded in the form of stories,

They keep you alive and change other lives bit by bit.

When you create a story in your mind,

You draw something fresh and new;

On a blank canvas with your choice of colours,

And design a majestic robe with gems so rare and few.

This was the gate to the Kingdom of stories and poems,

Stone tablets are truly historical gems;

Languages developed all around the world,

The roots from which literature stems.

Writing is so similar to weaving,

Every thread has a purpose like every word;

Pouring out your feelings or imagination,

Until you are free to fly in the sky like a bird.

Weaving words is worthwhile,

As when we write, we get transported to another place;

A place where we have the power to create our own characters,

their lives and whatever happens through the nights and days.

Story is the mother of poetry,

Or sometimes her sister with rhymes too;

Songs are nothing but poetry with tunes,

With music that changes your power to view.

Each story and poem will conjure empathy,

When written with honesty and a pure heart;

In the minds of the readers who can relate to them,

And for those for who can’t, it acts like a piece refreshing art.

Be it Shakespeare or William Wordsworth,

Or Rabindranath Tagore or Jeffery Archer;

Their goals may have been different and methods too,

But the purpose of their lives was to empower others before and after their departure.

Even the holy Hindu Vedas are books of poetry,

When distributed to the masses as Wisdom currency;

All the mantras have the power to change reality,

If recited in tune with the earth’s frequency.

If Mary never had a lamb,

Or if Jack and Jill never went up the hill;

Toddlers would be deprived of the pleasure of phonics,

the rhymes and the words which would improve their every skill.

There is no age limit to become a poet or a writer. You can start at 6 or at 60. If you have built up feelings and hidden emotions inside, writing is the best therapy. The pen and paper can lighten every scar left inside you after bitter experiences.

When you start writing, be it any genre, you not only start to explore new ideas but also decode things within your own mind. You become a true observer.

As you write, you start realizing that you have the power. It maybe the power to create your own universe in your mind where your real self can satisfy its hidden pleasures. It can also help you lay out the skeletons in your closet or even wash your dirty linen in public without anyone guessing that all of it is reality.

Writing is also a way to guide people. One may read a book once and cast it aside but later on when certain situations arrive at the doorstep, those words and advice from your long-forgotten books come back to you.

Words turn into stories and poems; stories and poems turn into books and songs and then they may even turn into movies and music albums. There are so many possibilities and sky is not the limit.

For example, J.K. Rowling created the Harry Potter Universe years ago and it is still creating chain reaction products.

This is one hobby that can turn into a profession or an emotional spa. No matter what anyone says, keep writing.

There will always be people in this world who will discourage you. Remember, you can’t please everyone. You may not win prizes for your work due to partiality or other reasons but that was never the goal in the first place. One man’s treasure maybe another man’s garbage. The way each piece of writing affects an individual is different from person to person. Don’t play the blame game. Just keep exploring and creating unique clothes of words, rhymes and good vocabulary.

Never underestimate the importance of Grammar. Keep reading good books, improving your grammar skills and work on your writing techniques. Let your thoughts live rent-free in your mind and they will start whipping up delicious dishes of stories and poems.

It will become your legacy that you can share with your family, future generations and the whole world.

Illustrations are like the make-up and fashion department of the Drama show of your woven words. You can always get a good illustrator or an artist to help you but don’t let it stop you from creating your own drawings. Nature has millions of designs and you can use them in any way you want. If you think you are not good at art, let me tell you, that is a myth. Keep practicing and you will discover which type of art you are really good at. The words, rhymes and illustrations breathe life into your treasure box of alphabets and who better than you can do it the right way.

Title of a story or poem has to appeal to the reader just like you see a dress displayed outside a shop and feel like buying it. You go inside and end up discovering many more things.

Don’t take the crown for granted as the title is what will work against gravity to pull your readers towards the magic you create with ink and paper.

Time is a factor; people rarely talk about. It is expected that a poet or writer can be given a topic and will dish out something within minutes or hours. No; that is not true. This is another hurdle along with partiality and meaningless criticism that I have faced. Yes; it is important, if you are participating in a competition and there are people who pen a write-up in minutes but there are others too who take days to finish their write-up and these are usually the ones who come up with the best of the classics.

Don’t judge yourself when it comes to the time factor. Success has many roads.

Embrace criticism and failure with open arms and you will become a better version of yourself.

We already know that a baby can hear sounds inside the mother’s womb.

What better reason could there be to make weaving words worthwhile.

You can start a forest fire of literary talent which will inspire the generations to come as every generation will add more dishes to your buffet table. It will start a spiritual revolution that will bring people together breaking all the barriers.

We are all bound by stories. Our culture and traditions are all based on stories. Memories we cherish until our last breath as well as the ones we leave behind as our legacy are also stories.

My advice to all budding writers and poets is to maintain a diary where you can note down every fleeting thought. After a week or a month, sit and read the diary. You might be surprised to see the words being transformed into the outline of a story or poem. Write it down.

It is your baby and you have to nourish it.

So, let us climb this story mountain daily, create an outline with the seeds of observation, take the characters to the top of the climax mountain and walk through the strong winds to the foothills, just to look back and see a new world we invented. More power to all you Artistic Scientists. Keep Observing, Exploring, Creating and Sharing.

Weaving words will always be worthwhile as it gives the soul, the freedom to connect with other souls as we are all tiny sparks of the same Universal Cosmic energy.

Stories, where there are bad ghosts of the past mistakes, jealousy, greed and pain as well as good ghosts or spirits of love, peace, gratitude, loyalty and honesty make each life unique whether they share it with the world or keep it in their mind.

Personally, I would suggest to pen it down. It might help someone someday as everyone reads something special between the lines too.

I will give you an example. George R. R. Martin wrote a small poem called ‘Jenny of old stones‘ in his book, ‘The song of ice and fire’, which later on went on to become one of the greatest TV series called the ‘Game of Thrones’. Obviously, I have never read the book or watched the series and neither has my mother who is bedridden but she would always sing that song to me, which was originally a poem, at bedtime and tell me that there can be so many meanings to this simple song and encouraged me find my own path through its streets of words laced with tunes.

High in the halls of the kings who are gone,

Jenny would dance with her ghosts;

The ones she had lost and the ones she had found

And the ones who had loved her the most;

The ones who’ve been gone for so very long,

She couldn’t remember their names;

They spun her around on the damp old stones,

Spun away all her sorrow and pain.

And she never wanted to leave

Never wanted to leave

Never wanted to leave

She never… wanted to… leave.

Hope you find this article valuable and got inspired from my readings. Also share it with your friends and connections over social media to let the inspired.