The Strange Tea Shop

There was once a tea shop at 18 Zavian Street, which sold memories. The memories were held together in white crystal bottles and written over them with black ink was the year they were from. There were memories from as back as 100 BCEs and memories as new as from yesterday. The tea shop was manned by a huge old man named Albert Dunning.

Little was known about Albert Dunning to the people of 18 Zavian Street. Nobody knew where he came from and when he started the shop. As long as anyone living in the street can remember, the tea shop was always there, waiting for new customers in the morning with its opened red doors and at night closed with a huge sign that read ‘Closed‘ hanging over its door. People came to the tea shop from all far away places to get their hands on new memories.

Albert Dunning made the memory tea himself for everyone. First he would make the tea which is the simplest part of the process; and then he would take a crystal bottle from one of his tall shelves. Nobody can decide which memory he will pour out on their tea. Some people had enjoyed one of their best memories in his shop, but some were disappointed by the memories he put in, but they still came back to his shop hoping he would give them a good memory one day.

One fine day, say the 29th of September the residents of 18 Zavian Street went to the corner of the street as always in the morning to enjoy a warm cup of memory tea. But the people are said to have stood before the tea shop (what used to be the tea shop) in shock. They were bewildered as they realized the tea shop was no longer there and it was as if it had disappeared into the air.

Nobody saw Albert Dunning after that, but stories about him and his strange tea shop are still passed between the people and the occasional travelers who came to the street, who always wonder how someone can sell memories. How the tea shop came about and it’s sudden disappearance is still a mystery for people of 18 Zavian Street to ponder over.

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Sorrow: A poem

Go down with the ashes
But the embers, they did spark
Pleading down to clashes
Wishes said bye and passed

Clouds get dark and darker
I see myself in a flash
Sorrow is never sweeter
With icing pink and black

Trapped in all this sharpness
I step on and then I fall
Down to somewhere safer
Everything blurred to small

Past is always my enemy
Future a friend, so far
Never had something like misery
Etched in ice and sand

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Forever flowers: A poem

Bad things done is never mend
Over time or centuries went
House of greed and anger send
Postcards made from tears and dread

Disappear upon bad little times
And come back when all is fine
I may only be a passer by
Who walk upon with a hidden sigh

Cannot lie or cannot disobey
Your rules made under a secret hide
I am down but I shall fly
Then you can watch with eyes all wide

I may not be the one to blame
When the rain comes, all is same
Whether me or the others in play
Break down all your dreadful game

Forever flowers will never lie
Can’t wither away with dreamy times
Upon the winds and by the hives
They shall stay and never they die

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Nothing: A poem

Nothing this frail lips can utter
Nothing is which I have to see
Nothing is in the forgotten clutters
It is nothingness that I breath

Nothing is that which flutters
Like feathers in the autumn breeze
Nothing is the broken shutters
That looms in the window unseen

Nothing this hands can now hold
Nothing is what the sky may feel
Nothingness covers me like gold
Nothing is my heart in a crystal seal

Nothing is a year that had left
And the future all unforseen
Nothingness now feels like theft
When universe burns in the deep

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Ephemeral : A poem

I could only sit and watch
The night as it slowly pass
Moon blinked away so fast
Am I caged or free at last?

I could never utter truth
Wishes buried under roots
Trees are branched up to roofs
Few are weak, never sure their foot

Proud or crying out in pain
I watch as everything fade
Stars and moon all away
Tears dripped and appear a way

Way to nowhere, sure it was
Wondering whether to lose or grasp
Threads are fragile and lies are plans
Moon disappear, slowly the stars

-Jan @jahnavigouri

A new morning : A poem

A shade of gray in the sky
“Morning coming,” says a cry
Darkness lifts as moon says bye
Light showers at right time

Sun is in an orange hue
Sky is no longer the darkest blue
Trees are lit and birds they sing
Then fly over high with little wings

Light spreads slow and slow
Chirping of birds heard loud and low
Sun now shine up in the sky
It’s morning, open your lazy eyes

Morning is bright and free
I look at the sky and feel the breeze
Sorrows are old while love is seen
A day of mystery, calls for me

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Even the darkest night will end and the Sun will rise.

– Victor Hugo

Light would come: A poem

Different, different scream so loud
Inside and outside, comical sound
You aren’t like us, they call out
You can’t be like me, then I shout

People are cruel, yes sometimes
We can’t change them,  never try
Let them think, what they like
You hold your head, up very high

Squirrel, squirrel walk like the mouse
If you walk like that, you aren’t cool
If you say that, then you are the fool
One can never be another, that is truth

Thoughts we have different ones
We laugh with our loved ones
Night passes then comes the sun 
Darkness would pass, light then comes

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Tale of mystery: A poem

I see a window, as I stand by the road
Who live there? I would never know
It is never open but always closed
I looked up again then walked back home

People can weave crazy tales  
Ever believing stories, they would say
Why weave tales, when no gains
I wish to ask them again and again

Back at home, I dwell upon thoughts
About closed windows and doors
I ponder about mysteries unsolved
And little things never solved

The next morning, I went again
I can say with not much gain
The closed window, so it lay
I walked back home once again

I still walk back through the road
To see if the window remains closed
Who live here? I still don’t know
Never ending tales it really grows

– Jan @jahnavigouri

Prologue: A poem

Hundred people in the room
My face holding all the gloom
Withered flowers was once a bloom
Aching, shaking misery loomed

Windows held brilliant views
Clocks ran as time went soon 
Faces held in smiles and hues
I lost music dancing to their tune

People, people all around
Nobody came to make a sound
I was from the other town
They whispered but all aloud

I was there but nobody could see
Standing by the wall was little me
Laugh and play, sway in the tree
Fly away soon, while in the breeze

– Jan @jahnavigouri

A walk down the memory lane

I see the waiters walking here and there. People, they appear and disappear. I watch them talk and see their faces brimming with joy. My own coffee sits in front of me, untouched. I put down the pen and reach for it. I sip the coffee for a little while and put it back on the table. Then I go back to seeing, hearing and observing closely everything around me. 

I am new, my mind echoed. I am new to the place surrounding me fondly. The people, all of them are absolute strangers. They are now painting their faces to my mind for the first time. I would forget, I know that. Memories are made in almost every moment but only some stay in the heart forever. Those are the special ones. The unforgettable ones. 

I remember days when I was truly happy from my past. Days when I have tasted freedom and the kind heart of others. I walked down the memory lane and people from my past appeared. My childhood friends, neighbours and others who had touched my life in unknown ways. I remembered my days with each one of them and a tentative smile bloomed on my lips. I heard their words and conversations from long ago, humming on my lonesome heart. My heart fluttered alive and then suddenly the smile vanished as I was pulled back by reality. I came back to the coffee shop where I sat down at the corner table. All alone with a half finished coffee cup in front of me.

– Jan @jahnavigouri