Category: Poems

One Life to Live

~ Subrata ~ Leave a comment

This miracle,
Magical existence,
This tiny ripple;
So beautiful,
Vibrant, luminous ,
But alas, only once
Only once
In the ocean of time.

One life to live (Image credit: http://www.unsplash.com)

Only once
To cry into this world
Hear lullabies in mother’s lap;
Be amazed
With all there’s to behold;
Innocent, playful;
Crawling, toddling;
But just one spring;
That’s all there
To make a promise,
As it doesn’t stretch
Beyond its reach.

Only once
To defy
And rise to the sky;
To grow strong and fight:
Shine bright;
Still grow up
To bring new lives;
To give and receive
Your gift;
To love and care;
But just one summer.
To get anything rare
You must dare;
You must rise
To fulfill your promise.

In twilight,
Find bliss ;
Be wise
And advise;
Give as much
From life’s collections!
The last winter
Before the leaves fall;
Leave a mark
For the future
To remember.

A boatman ferrying
One bank to another;
The river is there forever;
A farmer spends
All his life tilling;
The earth never stops giving.

Thus many waves,
Relentless and galore,
Hitting the shore,
And going their full course!
Yet many getting lost
In their prime;
In the quicksands
Of time.

Much to live for and love;
It’s now and here.
In a short while
By the wink of an eye
And there is nothing after;
Leave something for the future
To remember.

Inspiration

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A kite was gliding
In the sky;
A boy stood imagining
One day he would fly
Under the blue sky,
Over the mountains,
Over the oceans.

Far into East and West
Into North and South
Nothing stopping him
Feeling the air currents
Pleasant and cool
Flowing over his wings.

pic credit (www.pixabay.com)

A bearded man
Picked up brush and paint;
He sketched the kite
Silhouetted against the sun;
He drew a cage
With a bird inside
Looking for release,
Tears streaming down her eyes.

An urchin giggled,
With a bread in hand,
And hairs tousled,
Two crows hovered around
To swoop down
And take up the prize

A pair of searching eyes
Looking through lens all times
Saw them.
And clicked images
Poignant and sharp,
Depicting
A mix of pleasure and pain.

Day wore on and poured into night
Birds returned to their nests singing;
A man crazy about picking
Music from every happening
Heard the birds’ communes;
He composed his jingle
Mingling rhythm with tunes.

The moon shone that night,
Bright and beautiful,
Wolves howled, lovers met,
Romantic and joyful.

A man sat in the open
With paper and pen
Waking all night watching;
Lyrics were born
Extolling
The moon and the shine
And the joy flowing down.

Inspiration comes
Percolating in tiny trickles
Enlivening the spirit,
Loosening the mind
In magical effect
Into making newer things
Indulging in the beauty of creation.

I’m A Magician

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I’m a magician,
No wand, no potion;
Just with lotion
I do magic
And make myself shine.

Representative Image (Picture Credit: http://www.unsplash.com)

When mind is dark
And life loses its spark,
A candle
I light;
All darkness is gone;
Soul is filled with light
And mind strong and bright.

When body goes slow
And life loses its flow,
I lift myself with song and dance:
These two legs
I shake,
Mind is filled with joy
And body sprightly and gay.

When knots tie me down
And things are long drawn,
I hold the knots
And pull the rope,
They are put aside;
And the wheel
Starts turning again.

When doubts nag
And fears cripple me;
A big broom
I take
And sweep the fears away
And leave doubts no room.

I can be hurt with thousand cuts,
Yet I come back to life unhurt
With greater strength
Greater vigour
I can make my joys appear
And sorrows vanish in no time.

Throw me into ocean
Of darkness, shackled
I break free
And come ashore
World welcomes me back again.

Throw me into fire,
I burn to death;
Yet I rise
Like a phoenix
From the ashes
Alive and strong.

I’m a magician
I can do anything and everything.

(Inspired by lessons from Law of Attraction coach Mitesh Khatri)

Walking by the Sea

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The swish of waves
And the blast of winds;
The roar of the tides
And rhythm of their strikes;
Restless and loud,
I hear them,
Walking by the sea
From sunrise to sunset.

Representative Image (Picture Credit: http://www.unsplash.com)

These bursts of joy,
Even I do have;
But they only bubble
And fade away in ripples;
Too little before her
As she goes on, relentless
And seeks no rest.

Far into the sea,
Though deep and calm,
In those blue waters,
Hurricanes and Cyclones form;
I feel them,
Walking by the sea;
Dashing and smashing,
They would one day
Come and hit you and me.

Fury of this kind,
Even I do have;
But not that fierce
Thankfully,
Even to rattle a mouse
Lasts not long enough
To harm my house.

From east to west,
So vast a spread;
Continents are just islands,
In her endless breadth;
And deep into her womb
There are many secrets.

The depth of my mind,
Even I do try
To meditate and explore;
I reach almost the end of it,
But I dare not measure her,
As she stretches my imagination
Beyond limit.

On the shore,
I walk
To leave my mark
On the sands of time
That I existed once
To admire her trance.
But waves come in
And erase them
In no time.

But I will one day be
A speck in the sand,
A whoosh of wind
Blowing in the beach;
My promise!
Formless, timeless,
I will one day be
A part of the sea.

Bliss

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Oh, my friend,
Stow away your gifts ,
In your cosy niche;
Let not daily grinds
Rob your bliss.

Up there
Have a slice of the sky;
Away from the dark cloud
Let your kite fly;
It must have
A way to glide;
Let not a storm
Rattle its flight.

Flying Kites (Image Credit: http://www.unsplash.com)

Have your little pool
In the ocean,
Bathe in its water,
Let your joys flow;
Let not the wild currents
Wash away the ripples;
And let not the weeds grow.

Sing with joy,
Dance with rhythm!
Let not the din
Drown your song;
Let not your feet
Get the beats wrong.

Climb up or fall!
Listen to the birds
Chirping in the trees;
See the waterfalls
Dancing in the hills;
And look at the pebbles
Sparkling in the river
Before it meets the sea.

See all around,
Make them your part,
And love all
That make up your earth.
Let not life
Move away from its path.

Winter Mornings

~ Subrata ~ 2 Comments

Coiled up in bed,
If done with pillows and blanket,
Venture out
In the warm sunshine
And behold the dews,
Tiny and still,
Last through the early chill,
Adorning the blades of grass,
Bright and fresh,
On a lazy winter morning.

Get a little far,
And be lost in the ethereal mist,
And behold a few
Walk, wrapped in clothes,
And disappear into distant paths,
While others sit hunched,
On a fire,
As flames kiss
Their dreamy eyes,
Lifting their spirits high.

On the wayside,
If you see marigolds shine
Know it’s their time to reign
It’s their way to beguile
In their golden red, yellow smile.
And if you see guava, oranges or grapevine,
Juicy and luscious,
They’re there,
The toast of the season.

Still a lot more hidden
A lot more to be found
From its bosom
But feel blessed
It’s all so awesome –
The gifts of
Winter mornings.

In Memory

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They went before their turn,
Taken by a wave,
By its ugly churn;
A parting never was from too far
In a grave or a funeral pyre;
The moment that was,
Dark and grim,
When life was eclipsed
And death reigned supreme.

It was not long before
They would
Hear the birds sing,
Like you and I,
With a sip in the morning.
They would
Roam about the garden,
Like bees,
With the hum of a lovely tune.

My homage to the departed

A grandpa wanted
To see a little more of light;
A mom had
To make her little ones bright;
Scaling the mountains
Was for what a son
Was through the grind;
Crossing the oceans
Was what a daughter had in mind.
Dream in their eyes
And the hope of a new dawn;
All gone
Unseen, unsung,
Only mourned in a distance.

This world, this earth,
This cradle of life;
It sustains;
Also it kills;
Unjust and just,
Unsafe and safe,
Ugly and beautiful
It has twists and turns
In its tale.
Its army was let loose,
They proved too tough to quell;
Mask, sanitizer
Could not save them
From this hell.
Doctors, nurses among them
Heroes of the time
Went down fighting this battle.

We feel their presence
In the songs they had sung
In the dance their feet had sprung
In the flowers they had helped bloom
In every little path
They had trodden
To make our lives sublime
We remember them
In the starry nights
In love,
In tears,
Wishing them back again.

Welcoming the Rains

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A whoosh of wind,
Icy, fresh;
Blows away the blind
And washes my face.

A smell of soil,
Earthy, soft,
Wafts into my nostril
And makes me glide aloft.

I go out on a high
And behold the sight.
Thunder rumbles in the sky,
And plays sound and light.

A drizzle falls in streaks,
I hear its strain.
Nobly, gracefully,
Here comes the rain!

A Bachelor

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Five-days old stubble,
A heap of rubble,
He doesn’t care to trim;
He has no desire to be posh and prim.

With all things he plays shuttle;
His room is a jigsaw puzzle.

Clothes tucked in bookshelves
And computer on floor,
Books strewn in wardrobes
And kitchenware in store.

Mosquito net strung all the time
Over his bed,
He has made his life sublime
Without any sweat.

He never stays put with patience,
Floating always is his existence.
Busy without business,
People call him a bohemian par excellence.

Parents like to see him marry,
But it doesn’t seem to be his worry.
They pray for him to find his partner,
But Cupid simply doesn’t seem to care.

Everything so bizarre,
Wonder
Who is this boulevardier?
He is a bachelor,
Is a bachelor,
Is a bachelor.