think again

 

yes, you have the right, my friend
to feel left out, sad, vapid
your angst is just and valid
so is your unspeakable pain
yet if you look at the world
where there are these survivors
whose actions louder than words
they’re the heroes, the victors
seldom to sense freedom
never to taste the fruits of their labors
countless men, women, children
their sufferings without ends
who survive the poetic sunshine,
refreshingly rejuvenating rain
no shelter to share

if you think your life’s unfair
look around and think again

ignorance

everybody knows
what those blind men
thought of the elephant
but when they get into
speculation about
how the world was
created, they cannot see
their blindness, why
nobody knows

nobody knows
why what happened
before time, what is
outside the space,
why the world was created
are erroneous questions
but that
when, where, why
before, outside
are words of time,
space, causation
everybody knows

everybody knows
they are this
they are not that
yet who the self is
nobody knows

nobody knows
who the inevitable
player is
but who the waker, the dreamer,
the deep sleeper is
everybody knows

everybody knows the
havoc the world
is subjected to, that it
is a prey, everybody knows
but that the predator is
the ignorance, nobody knows,
that it is neither good
nor evil
nobody knows

Bon voyage

A sparrow and his hen
With kids, happy in their nest
The birds all of a sudden
Decided to cross the sea
To check what's there to see

For months they tried
Flexed their wings
Exercised to build them stout
Not with their winsome wings
But with the disobedient waves
They found them a bit unsound
The water roared too wide
They felt tiny to cross the side

The two pondered for long
The yearning to leave was strong
Their nestlings have grown up,
Gone out of sight
They wouldn't know how to
Make the flight
They were about to give up
On the trip
When they perched on
A sailing ship 

পথ চলা

পুরোনো কথা লিখি
নতুন সতেজ পাতায়
ফেলে আসা চাঁদ দেখি
স্পষ্ট
জোৎস্না-মাখা জানালায়।

এ চেনা মায়া পথে
ভেসেছি অনেক আগে
দুজনায় 
সেই সাধ আবার বুঝি
জাগে, নতুন ছন্দে 

নতুন অনুরাগে।

টেবিলে প্রদীপ জ্বলে
খাতায় কলম চলে
ধীরে
চুপিসারে তুমি এলে
চোখ হাঁসে মৃদু অশ্রুজলে।

কখন আমি থামি 
এই গল্পের মাঝপথে
কে জানে
আলোর উষ্ণ ছোঁয়ায়
আমার খয়েরী মনে
পুনরায় উঁকি দেয় 

সবুজ কিশলয়।

winner of a kind

winning a rat race
we don't become a cat
fame without grace
a name game of shame
kept under the hat

strong, begging to walk,
like those dinosaurs
can't gait yourself right 
you've put the cart
before the horse

winning can be losing
even by hitting the
bull's eyes, big fish
can go starving in
the absence of fries

the globe, a model of
learning, a moving
school, being together
clever animals here
cannibals, a set of fools

sport from the front
safeguard the herd
cause you’re one of them
kill the corpus, become
a corpse, go buried
under the world

Oh, my love

 

I am in the 'I am'
as also in the
'I am not'
I let go of the
mind, the corpse 
the journey, to untie,
the knot; in time
all beliefs unite, they
also separate; when
I find who the
I is, all else
becomes naught 

***

the greatest power
in the troubled world 
is peace; we hope to
achieve this with war,
so, therefore, the power
eludes us more and more 
***

moonstruck,
oh, my love
I live for you
but the veil of evil
falls on the stage
in the green room
there’s a different
play, a different script
players exit
from the unexpected gates
the audience waiting
as subjects
for the king of love
waiting to see, not
tapping within, not
tapping within the die
of id is played, a golden
crescent moon announces
a strange ceremony;
it’s war, it’s war again
they’re hugging and
stabbing
each other to death
the rideau of horror
unveils, takes the
spectators out of breath

From the Stakeholders

 

Whoever you are
if you haven't been
able to deliver peace
you aren't a star

Whoever you may be
if you haven't seen
the world as one
you are but a demon

Who do you think you
are, a troubled land, or
a superpower
if you're still struggling with
barriers, borders, orders
if you haven't yet learned to
live without wars that pop
out of the fatuous excuses
by the pusillanimous and
obstreperous leaders
in search of destructive power

one wonders what
you are

the same gut-wrenching
bloodsheds, like inimical
scarlet waters under the
bridge, a globally designed
model of poverty
polluting the atmosphere,
exposing an insipid smell
of shenanigans in the air,
your hoity-toity
chiaroscuro carving of
words to induce fear, hatred,
anger superciliously
indulge in a divisive,
lose-lose game of jeopardy
you are the monster
on the loose that needs
to be taken into custody

গানের জন্য

তোমার আমার গানের শুরু
ছিল একিই সুরে বাঁধা
এগিয়ে যেতেই গতির গভীর
মিলে পড়লো বাধা। 

তোমার গানের কথা
তার মধুর ছন্দে সুরে
আমার স্বরলিপির
থেকে গেল অনেক সরে।  

তবু দুজনেরি মনে
ভিন্ন ভাবে অন্য তানে
ভরলো নতুন বীণে
অন্য কোন টানে
নাচলো না আর মোদের
হৃদয় যুগল অন্তরালে
জড়িয়ে ধরলো একিই স্থায়ী
ভিন্ন অন্তরাকে।  

না, না তাতে কিইবা হলো
গান তো শেষে গেলো
ভেসে স্রোতের সাগরেতে
দুটি প্রাণীর দুটি গানিই
ভিন্ন কথায় মাতিয়ে দিলো
শ্রোতার আসরেতে।

বিশ্ব পারাবারে
বেসুরো সব অমিল যত
মিলিয়ে যাবে জানি 
গানের জন্য বারে বারে
মিলবে নীরব বাণী।  

O Kamsa

O Kamsa, how many more
children will you still kill;
you're digging your own grave

mark our brave words,
your days are numbered
no matter what your skill.

The Killer of Democracy

On the face of cosmetic growth,
cosmic energy is ignored,
whatever you do, say, we won't listen 
to your hearsay,
your jaw would drop in awe
when we'd respond to all your flaws,
wait for the final blow
to end all your hee-haw,
await our last straw.

Your overturning the law would 
backfire, 
wait and watch, we'll overthrow
you from power, 
you ruined democracy under
the patient paradise,
the omniscient firmament,
in our unerring eyes, you are 
guilty, not innocent.

Note: The poem is rather Indian. Pretty much sad and disillusioned, I didn't enjoy writing the poem.