Leave your heart for me

 

You will leave your soul

for Him,

Though, it'll take

A few lifetimes for me to touch,

Leave your heart for me.

Happy Baisakhi, Happy Poila Boishakh

 

Tere bin asi ki mananye baisakhi ve,

Sau, sau peer manava,

Nale, than, than matha tekan.

Happy togetherness in Baisakhi!

Eik Boishakhe dekha holo dujonaar-

You and the New year!

Happy Poila Baishakh

*Tere bin asi ki mananye baisakhi ve: What is Baisakhi without you!

*Sau, sau peer manava: (I) propitiate many hundred pirs (that we are together)

*Nale than, than matha tekan: (I) bow my head at many places of worship (that we are together)

*Eik Boishakhe dekha holo dujonaar: On one Baisakh month, the two met each other.

On the day of the first rains

 

Scent of love is everywhere.

In the flaming forest of flowers,

In the swoon of lovers,

Separated by time,

In the welling of eyes,

Of one with unrequited love,

In the tears of a mother

Of another,

Who's leaving for battle,

In the tears of the seeker,

In the temple,

In petrichor,

On the day of the first rains.

Rain on, dear Love.

Speechless

 

No sheep is a polyglot,

Because all sheep have the same bleat,

No sheep has an English bleat,

Or, a Hindi bleat,

Or, a Tamil bleat,

Or, an Assamese bleat.

No horse has an English neigh,

Or, a Hindi neigh,

Or, a Tamil neigh,

Or, an Assamese neigh,

Would it be good if humans had the same language?

I wonder!

No misinterpretations,

(Is the speech ,

a hate speech,

Or, an endearing speech?)

No paras ever lost in translation,

Signboards in just one language,

Passports in one language.

The thought leaves me speechless.

Humans without speech?

That is another thought.

Antipodal

 

As nations, we know where our maritime boundaries are, where our airspace is. But what is our nation's boundary beneath the earth? Up to how many kilometres does it extend? Does it extend up to the centre of the earth? In that case, subterranean areas belonging to a nation, would become conical in shape where the earthly space of a nation touches the centre of  the earth. Or, does it go right across, and to the other face of the earth? Then we would have two land spaces on the surface of the earth that are antipodal, yet are under the same flag; one the alter ego of the other. With two thirds of earth covered by oceans, more likely would be one land space and one oceanic space, each with its own maritime boundary and airspace.

Old Times

 

Worn out pages.

Speak of old times again

When people were my father's height,

When the mango trees held mangoes

And were not just trees,

And the telephone posts were endless

When we counted from a train's window,

When the kites flew,

And our hearts flew with them,

And after all these accidents,

Our mother's laps were ours,

And our tears, hers.

10th Jan'77

The Tunnel

 

Tunnels are easy pathways to destinations,

Just like stents

For the blood to reach the heart,

Like shunts in an electrical circuit.

But the wise say:

They may not be all good paths,

For they are essentially short cuts,

To the heart,

Or through Mother Earth.

Some short cuts beget deep cuts:

in the heart,

Or inside the earth.

Sometimes the vision gets abridged,

Like a tunnelled vision.

At times, tunnels cave in,

Other times, the light at the end

Is blotted out.

I will choose my pathway carefully,

Will I go over the scary ridge?

Or will I go through the tunnel,

That gave Mother Earth immense pain

In the making?

शुक्र है, शुक्रवार है

 

चाहे गुलाब का फूल, 

चाहे धूल का फूल, 

या April Fool,

या Bloody Fool,

सभी भगवान का धूल,

सभी भगवान का फूल। 

शुक्र है, शुक्रवार है