The Doll Shop

 

Into a doll shop I wandered one day

Where, how and why, I have no clue

Maybe I just lost my way;

Maybe not, I never quite knew…

 

And there, in orderly disarray,

Were stacked many dolls of great allure.

Rows and rows, all along the way

With a charm I could scarce endure.

 

I rushed here and there in crazed delight

Grabbing all I could carry, all I could hold.

For it was clear to my childish sight:

I was amidst treasures untold!

 

Each doll came with another, both were free:

A discount sale, yet t’was not a win.

For, with every doll of great stunning beauty

There came along an ugly twin.

 

Friendship came with Farewell

Adulation with Isolation

With Popularity came Scandal

And with Talent, Obsession.

 

Family came with Friction

With Wealth came Anxiety

Success came with Exertion

And with Birth, Mortality.

 

“This isn’t fair, this isn’t free!

I want the one, not the other!”, I said.

The Shopkeeper, He smiled at me

Placed a kind hand upon my head.

 

“I’m sorry, my dear”, said He

“What you get is what you see.

There’s no other way it can be:

For this is the Shop of Duality!”

 

With naught else to do, I shopped and shopped

Until I fell from sheer exhaustion.

I rose again, and shopped till I dropped

And rose and fell, in dull repetition.

 

“Enough!”, I cried. “I want no more!

The lows, nor even the highs anymore

Of both these, I’m tired and sore

Show me the exit, show me the door!”

 

The Shopkeeper, He rose with alacrity

And blessed me with a fresh wise gaze.

I looked again around Shop Duality

But this time, with the vision of Grace.

 

Now where there were two before,

I saw but one – yes, that’s true!

The twin doll sets were two no more:

They all were one, in Love’s kind hue.

 

I put down the bags, let go my load

And marched to the door, finally free.

Beyond, I could now see a road

To where He is I and I am He!

 

 

Meenakumari Venkateswaran