NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 1: Smiling Through Tears

ALS NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 1: Smile and Tears are a part of life

The Poetry Marathon begins!

It’s the time of the year when the poets around the world, no matter how busy they are, steal some time to pen their thoughts everyday! It’s the National Poetry Writing Month!

This is my 8th year of participation and the energy level keeps rising every year 🙂

Like last year, I am hosting the poetry month with intriguing prompts to put those little grey cells to work. 

The prompts will be shared at the FB page of Asian Literary Society. Today’s prompt is as below and can also be checked here.

“It’s April 1st and we are all set to begin ALS NaPoWriMo 2024! The month will be a roller coaster ride filled with varied emotions as we delve into verses based on prompts, so we decided to initiate the month with two diverse expressions of emotions– smile and tears. Weave your verses around the thought, “Smile and Tears are a part of life” and share your poem in English/ Hindi as a separate post with relevant hashtags. There’s no word/ line limit.”

Here’s my poem to begin the month:

Poem: Smiling Through Tears

Emotions– an expression of our state of being,

Ephemeral they are, but eternal they seem,

Impermeable a realm we create around these,

Inextricable from their domain we tend to feel.

Joy and happiness we cling to all our lives,

While smile and tears are a way of life,

Why suffer in dejection when we feel the blow,

Did we laugh every time life seemed to flow?

Awaiting exuberance, we overlook the little joys,

Feeling entangled, inviting worries all the time,

While reasons to smile beckon at us,

We misconstrue our sorrows as our providence.

As the cycle of seasons strengthens the nature,

The grandeur of life glistens with craters,

So don’t let your tears drown you in an abyss,

It’s just a passing cloud that’ll clear away the mist.

Ephemeral, remember, are the moments of time,

Lessons eternal, they teach for a dime,

A zest we need to grow over the years,

I pray for wisdom to smile through tears!

©Vandana Bhasin

01.04.2024