This poem is a bold look at living honestly. It covers joy and pain, silence and passion, faith and self-discovery—reminding us that the most important thing is to feel deeply and live fully.
# A cup of Life #.
I write in the cracks of my days,
My thoughts dance like splashing rain.
I live loud in the quiet moments,
Letting passion carve its mark
On every corner of my skin.
I chew on experience,
Taste its bitter, its sweet, its fire—
I swallow it all
And let it feed me,
Let it teach me who I am.
I take the gifts God drops in my lap—
A smile, a wound, a sunrise, a song—
And I hold them like treasures,
Because between life and death,
There is only one matter:
Living.
Not halfway, not in fear,
Not in hiding—
But full, raw, trembling,
Alive in every damn breath.
I want to feel it all—
Fall and rise,
Laugh and ache,
And leave nothing
Undrunk from the cup of life.
(Vijay Verma)
www.retiredkalam.com
Categories: kavita
Retiredकलम 
We always want to live fully! Beautiful and uplifting poem, Verma.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for your warm and encouraging words.
I’m truly glad the poem felt uplifting to you. Yes—living fully is the greatest celebration of life, and I’m grateful we share that belief. 🙏
LikeLike
very nice .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much.
LikeLike
Verma ji, this is not just a poem; it is a manifesto for the soul. You have articulated the very essence of a life lived with courage and conscious feeling. The imagery is stunning—thoughts as “splashing rain,” passion carving marks on skin, “chewing on experience”—it transforms the abstract into something visceral and tangible.
The progression from quiet contemplation (“I write in the cracks of my days”) to the roaring, defiant conclusion (“Alive in every damn breath”) is masterful. You remind us that the sacred and the raw, the “smile” and the “wound,” are equally vital threads in the fabric of being. The central declaration—”There is only one matter: Living”—strikes with the force of truth.
This is a bold, beautiful, and necessary reminder to drink deeply, to refuse to hide, and to embrace every flavor of this human experience. Thank you for sharing this profound piece of your heart. It resonates deeply. 🙏
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you deeply for such a generous and perceptive reading.
Your words truly touched me. I’m grateful that the poem resonated with you and that its spirit of living fully came through so clearly. 🙏
LikeLike
The study of literature learns through compare and contrast.
Torah common law not to be confused with Xtian and Muslim religious theology wherein both religions created their Gods, from the Nicene Creed to Islam’s strict Monotheism Universal God. The Book of Yonah compares to the Book of Job. Both address the destruction of g’lut. The Assyrian empire conquered by the Babylonian empire shortly after Yonah. Torah common law not a religion – bottom line. During the Dark Ages period of the Crusades Jews favored to convert Torah judicial common law courts into a Codified statute law religion strikingly similar to the Catholic church during its scholastic period during this time period.
The kabbalah concept of שכינה makes a סוד opaque – concealment of light – reference to the Sinai revelation of the שם השם wherein Torah permanently revealed as the revelation of this local tribal god in this world. The construction of the Mishkan, likewise another Torah revelation at Sinai to this precise same impact. The 13 tohor middot revealed at Horev following the Golden Calf, rabbi Yochanon taught the סוד opaque kabbalah that all ברכות צריך שם ומלכות; meaning that swearing a Torah oath לשמה requires the sanctification of Oral Torah middot or מלכות. Hence the Shemone Esrei contains 3 + 13 + 3 blessings – תרי”ג; Six Yom Tov + Shabbat – the opening and closing three blessings and the 13 chol and one shabbat blessing(s) refer to the direction of future social behavior through some dedicated tohor middah. Herein defines the K’vanna of all korbanot dedications.
The distinctions in Divine names (e.g., El Shaddai for the patriarchs vs. the Tetragrammaton at Sinai) underscore this shift: the patriarchs experienced God through promises and personal encounters, but Sinai revealed a national, judicial common law legalism. Justice the one word definition of Freedom from Egyptian slavery and invasion of Canaan לשמה.
Law as a “guardian” (παιδαγωγός, often translated as tutor or schoolmaster) until faith in Christ arrives misrepresents Torah as temporary or punitive, rather than an eternal system of pursuing justice. The Sinai revelation no more waits upon JeZeus than do Jews today. Torah functions as the Constitutional mandate of Sanhedrin common law ‘legislative review’ courtroom law. דברים טז:כ – the command to pursue justice actively through courts and ethical behavior. This shares no common ground with: get “Saved & baptized in the name of JeZeus.”
he Torah’s blessings and curses (e.g., ויקרא כו) – tied to ruling the land with justice, uprooting Canaanite avoda zara; meaning to prevent assimilation (ערב רב) and intermarriage. Amalek in all generations the consequences of Jewish assimilation and intermarriage.
The Book of Shemuel addresses the subject of Moshiach for the first time? No. Such a טיפש פשט fails to grasp that the NaCH Prophets and Holy Writings serve as hand maidens to the Kallah Torah bride; Moshe the greatest of the Prophets. Moshe anointed the House of Aaron as Moshiach; Penchas lead the warriors against the king of Moav who hired Bil’aam to curse Israel as משיח מלחמה. The entire purpose of korbanot to dedicate צדק צדק תרדוף as the definition of Torah faith.
Confusing the forms of faith for the substance of faith turned the heart of king Shlomo to worship avoda zara. The “temple” not some grand Catholic Cathedral but Federal Sanhedrin Courtroom common law wherein the Cities of Refuge serve as the spokes of Federal law courts across the land. The Talmud Chagigah 13a warns against excessive speculation concerning the kabbalah of time-oriented commandments expressed through מלאכה wisdom to create from nothing Angels/מלאכים. Even simple mitzvot with kavanah become time-oriented, the “Crown of Torah” (Shabbat 127a).
The Rambam’s critique in Moreh Nevuchim 1:50-54, where he argues that Divine names reflect attributes of action in this world, not metaphysical essences causes my soul to retch; the Book of בראשית – before the revelation of the Torah at Sinai לשמה. The first commandment Name רוח הקודש, whereas all other Divine Names – words. A fundamental רב חסד מאי נפקא מינא fundamental error made by assimilated to Greek logic rather than פרדס logic – Rambam. Assimilation and intermarriage defines the Yonah/Job\Daniel collapse of the Golden Age of Spain. Rambam’s code negated the charem of the Karaim deniers of the Oral Torah on par with the Tzeddukim during the Chanukkah Civil War!
Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica stands as the Catholic equivalent to the Rambam’s horrid Yad Chazaka. Mishna Torah means common law. Rambam’s assimilated Roman law codification – statute law! Another רב חסד מאי נפקא מינא fundamental error. The study of Talmud actively requires the compare and contrast of the different middot (ancient Egyptian bricks) building blocks developed by the Tannaim scholars and employed by all Amoraim scholarship upon the Mishna common law Case/Rule judicial codification made by rabbi Yechuda Ha’Nassi.
The Yalkut Shimoni on Iyov learns that Holy Writing T’NaCH primary source commentary to the Books of the Prophets similar to Gemara’s relationship to the Mishna; it links Iyov’s afflictions to a microcosm of Israel’s exiles, teaching that restoration comes through pursuing justice, not theological resignation.
The Zohar (Shemot 2:216b) describes the שם השם ציוי ראשון as light hidden in vessels, revealed through the Mishkan’s construction. HaShem לא בשמים היא – rather the Spirit Divine Presence Shekinah breathes within the Yatzir Ha-Tov of the heart – תפילה הדבר שבלב and not a Father and Son in Heaven. The prophets sometime inverse the Order of the Oral Torah middot רחום וחנון, based upon the כלל פרט כנגד רבוי מיעט Egyptian bricks made from straw. חנון expansive the next series of middot serve as definitions of חנון. Whereas רחום restricts based upon the commandment concerning treatment of the people of Canaan, the stubborn and rebellious son, Amalek, and Torah blessings & curses. Bottom line: do not confuse mercy with pity.
Korbanot exist only as time oriented commandments which require k’vanna – the opposite of Cains sacrifice! Yeshayahu 1:11-17, HaShem rejects offerings without מלכות Oral Torah middot dedications. Its not the form of living blood that a korban dedicates but rather the substance of the dedication of Horev Oral Torah tohor middot!
Chagigah 13a warns against speculating on ma’aseh bereishit (creation) or merkavah (chariot) mysticism, read through the simplistic טיפש פשט of literal word for word translations. Torah instructs through משל\נמשל rational discipline; Joseph interpreted dreams. Dreams which lack an interpretation compare to a letter never opened and read. Torah common law does not compare to a Harry Potter work of fiction that simple minded children can read and enjoy. Torah common law stands upon the יסוד of בניני אבות-precedents. Talmudic precedents function as logical proofs based upon the understanding that Talmud as 70 faces like the facets of a diamond!
Sefer בראשית together with its Divine Names – pre Sinai. Just that simple. No fancy dance’n. The לשמה Sinai brit, this Divine Spirit lives within the hearts of the chosen Cohen People. Goyim pray to their Gods who dwell in the Heavens. Rambam’s rationalism, influenced by Aristotelian Greek logic, sidelines the פרדס (Pardes) hermeneutic organized into a warp\weft threads of דרוש\פשט – the Aggadah. And רמז/סוד – the Halacha. פרדס inductive logic which conducts a compare and contrast T’NaCH prophetic mussar to halacha which serves as precedents ie a unique perspective by which scholars re-interpret the language intent of the Mishna based upon this בנין אב logical comparison of Case/Rule to similar but different Case\Rule judicial rulings.
A Three-Man Torts Court divides the justices of the Court. One judge assigned as the Prosecuting attorney. The second judge as the Defense attorney. The Difficulty/Answer style of the Gemara edited to communicate this model for a future Sanhedrin Court room once Jews re-conquered the oath brit Home land. T’NaCH\Talmudic inductive logic as far removed from Greek philosophy deductive logic as the lights of Hanukkah despise the T’zeddukim attempts to cause Israel to forget the Oral Torah and also turn Jerusalem into a Greek polis!
Yonah Gerondi wrote Shaarei Teshuva after the disaster of 1242 burning of all Talmudic manuscripts across France in Paris bon-fires. Gerondi duplicated the error of the brothers Hashmonaim who requested that Pompey resolve their dynastic dispute during a prior Hanukkah Civil War some 1000 years previous. The Jewish Civil War witness not only the destruction of the common law Rashi/Tosafot school – all Jews expelled from France in 1306.
But it generated chaos and anarchy that disrupted Jewish refugee exposed nakedness before Goyim enemies; the king of England first imposed taxation without representation then expelled all Jews in 1290. The German kingdoms likewise robbed plundered and made forced population transfers. Pauperization of Jews cause the Vatican decree of ghetto gulah imprisonment of all Western European Jewry which in its turn caused another mass population transfer of Jews from Western to Eastern Europe. Then came the 1648 Cossack pogroms!
Rambam’s code, while brilliant for impoverished g’lut refugee populations scattered across Western Europe during the dying days of the Dark Ages, its inherent corruption – flattened T’NaCH Talmudic common Case\Din law into Aristotelian categories, akin to Aquinas’ fusion of faith and reason egg-crate dogmatism, which the Baal HaMaor cricized the Rif common law code and later the Vilna Gaon critiqued the Rambam’s Yechuda jumping into the Sea of Reeds emphasis on religious codification observance of halacha prioritized over Talmudic depth of inductive פרדס logic; the k’vanna of lighting the lights of Hanukkah.
As mentioned above, the Yalkut Shimoni on Iyov (Remez 906) indeed frames Iyov’s sufferings as a microcosm of Israel’s exiles—from Egypt to Babylon to Rome—teaching that geulah demands active pursuit of justice (צדק), not passive theological surrender. This midrashic commentary functions unto Gemara Aggada: a primary lens on NaCH (Prophets and Writings), linking personal affliction to national t’shuva. Restoration not through resignation, but rather courtroom equity – echoing Devarim 16:20’s mandate.
Tefillah is דבר שבלב (matter of the heart, Berachot :כו) rejects Tehillem prayers as comparable to tefillah oaths; Jews do not pray to any Father-Son duality in the Heavens. Yeshayahu 1:11-17 condemns form without substance: HaShem spurns blood offerings absent מלכות (kingdom)—Oral Torah middot from Horev. The dedication isn’t animal life but tohor attributes, elevating the act to the Torah’s crown (Shabbat 127a). This aligns with the Zohar’s vessel metaphor: external form holds inner light of middot.
LikeLiked by 1 person