Truth Unearthed

 There was a time,  not so very long ago

When our world stood upright and still

Then birds twittered and bees hummed,  

Then children laughed in glee

Present seemed a safe space

And golden future beckoned merrily 

Skirmishes and tussels came and went

Rhythamic waves from deep seas;

Lulled to sleep in our cozy cocoons 

We did not, we could not see

The churning within, the heaving beneath

Our earth turning upside down

In utter amazement our eyes wide

We saw the chasm that creased

And "us" and "them" stood face to face

Greatest of adversaries

Togetherness a mirage 

Peace unsteady on fragile wings

Red hot burning center crude reality

Bare fangs sheathed neath humanity.

নতুন গড়া

 কে জানে কবে দিন শেষ হয়ে যায়!

আজ আছি দূধে ভাতে

নিশ্চিত চলা দিনে রাতে

এক পরিপূর্ণ যাপন

যেন প্রস্ফুটিত কুসুম 

উজ্জ্বল,  কোমল, সুন্দর 

তবু ক্ষণ স্থায়ী 

ঈশান কোন কালো না হতেই

ধেয়ে আসে তুফান 

এক লহমা,  লন্ড ভন্ড ধরা

এবার শুর নতুন করে গড়া।

Its okay

 It's okay, it's okay, it's okay

That's all I am supposed to say

When you hound me from my hearth

It's okay

When you strip me of my birth 

It's okay

When I shed copious tears

It's okay

When I flee in mortal fear

It's okay

When all my paths are blocked

It's okay

When greedy hands grab my land

It's okay

When each straw is blown away

It's okay

When death rains from skies

It's okay

When severed bits shrivel and die

It's okay

When pain fills hollow eyes

It's okay

When open wounds can't dry 

It's okay

When I turn around and snarl

When my battered soul hits back

Let me hear you say

It's okay.

Revelation

Each day a revelation 

Veil lifts bit by bit

Exposing blinding truth

Like a curtain slowly rising

To reveal lighted stage

Actors in well rehearsed roles

Dance, sing, speak, emote

Person behind hidden

Till show ends

Beyond tinsel world

Of make believe 

Existential struggles

Search ensues

For identity, for authenticity

For welcoming niche

To return to

Like a homing pigeon.

Between You and Me

Between you and me a wide gulf

Two continents separated by seas 

Apex and nadir conjoined

Sumit and valley of mountains

Manicured garden and tract of weeds

Distant as moons circling Earth

Near, yet never close

A soundless voice awaiting echoes 

A line disrupted by crackling noise

Piercing searchlights move round and round

While black shadows engulf grounds.

The Return

 Piece by piece heart dismantled

Drop by drop blood sucked out

Frame by frame filters erased

Exposing naked skeleton 

A living dead, a dead clinging to life

Suspended betwixt hell and purgatory

Dream of Heaven too distant,too unreal

Return then to mundane living

To grocery lists, daily meals, and silence

Rigmarole of conjugal bliss.

To Undying Spirits

 Battle on, battle on ye Spirits

In this ne'er ending war

A war inherited, a legacy

Walk into purifying fires

Unleash the power within

Stand steadfast, unrelenting

Amidst ruins of a Gaza

Resilient, defiant, daring

Ye indefatigable wills

Housed in crumbling bones.

I Forgive

 

I forgive me - wholeheartedly

For carrying burdens of misery

For weighing down soul with guilt and remorse

For dwelling on hurts that made life a curse

For giving credence to what others thought

And suppressing my nature thinking its worst

Letting years go to waste to fit in a box

As fountain of life slowly oozed thru rocks

Those ways I can mend I've learnt at last

My mind I set free to fly at will

What's done is done, all in the past.

 কলম তুমি কেড়ে নিয়েছ,  নাও

চিন্তা গুলো হয় না ছন্দে গাঁথা 

এলোমেলো বেড়াক  আপন মনে

রাখব না আর তাদের কোথাও বাধা

ভাবনা ভেলা যাক ভেসে যাক

বাষ্প সাগর সামনে খোলা

কূল কিনারা দূর নিশানা 

হক হেলা ফেলা অবহেলা

ছন্দে ধরা দিয়ে দিয়ে

হারিয়েছে তার তীক্ষ্ণ ধান

মুক্তি পেলে এবার বুঝি

ফিরে পাবে আপন আকার।

নতুন জীবন পাক দূর স্থানে 

গাইবে সুখে আপন মনে।।

Jealousy

Jealousy rises up like bile

Fills mouth with foul acid taste

Seeps into heart and mind

To turn into arid arid waste

 

 

Soon spawns hydra headed Hate

Venomous fork tongued serpents

That hiss furious whispers

And leave fatal punctures from fangs

 

 

Life's nectar forever undone

Human frames turn motley hued

Strung between heaven and hell

Eternal purgatory accrued

 

As I Pass

 

Time betwix but a journey

Lived, loved, traversed

Through gladness and sadness

Through riddles and puzzles

Each unique, challenge to ingenuity

A new lesson each day

Moments flowing yet frozen:

Now it's complete

A tapestry full woven

Treasured or torn

To store or discard, as you wish

My work is done.

The Urge

 

I have an itch, almost a twitch

To pour out thoughts and feelings

I know it's a curse, adds nothing to purse

Yet I still keep on repeating

The other side's too wise to bait to rise

Bottles up to keep 'em spilling

An opposite flow, in two directions go

The twain can ne'er come a meeting.