Flame (A Tanka)

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       The Earth is fragrant

Spring alights on Palash* flame

       Colors in all hearts

The blue above showers light

A lone cuckoo’s tireless cry

 

 

*Palash is a beautiful flower that sets the sky ablaze around this time in the State of West Bengal where I live

 

Posted for Alan’s prompt Flame @ PoetryJam

My Days of Clouds

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Glided the days of fleecy clouds

Innocent, light, gilded with dreams

Sailing in the breeze, in the blue

Hard rocky ground was far away

 

Time gave mantras to fly away

Winds brewing in the vast deep blue

White days saddened into black clouds

Raging weather melted the dreams

                    

No one to hold the falling dreams

That was ripped off from the high clouds

Into caverns was flung away

Gasping for breath the notes of Blues

 

Stormy days were painted in blue

Someone carried the sun away

No thread of light to weave the dreams

Shreds of blank thoughts slowly to cloud

 

Limping away my days of clouds

Of black and blue and shattered dreams

 

 

Posted for Bjorn’s Sunday MiniChallenge – not a Sestina but close @ Real Toads

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Shared with Poetry Pantry @ PoetsUnited

Captivity

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Poor, poor them

They are captivated

In their adamantine chain of ego

Sharpening their tooth and nail

At hapless victims

Every link of the shackle has a story

Of oppression, paranoia and envy

At their serpentine move

Many a heart skips the beat

A life not worth it

 

And some have captivated God

In their hearts with a chain of love

Streams of light

Flow through their veins

Their words carry ambrosia

Infusing life into numb souls

Every link of the shackle has a story

Of renunciation, devotion and service

Their graceful steps are truly

Lotus petals in zephyr swaying

A life worth living

 

Posted for Susan’s Midweek Motif ~ Captivity @ Poets United

Tea or Coffee?

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Aroma of tangerine liquor

And sunlight’s soft melody

Combine

The morning ambrosia

To lift the spirit

For the day

Darjeeling tea

Bridges the gap between

Lips and the white china cup

 

Posted for Gabriella’s prompt Tea or Coffee? @ Poetry Jam

Play

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The beauty queen

Wears her smile

Like a jewel

As she sashays on the shore

Of many a heart

Among waves of praise

My word group: waves, jewels, shore, queen

 

Posted for Margaret’s Play it Again Toads! #15 @ Real Toads

I used first archived challenged:  Imagined by Ella - Poem Sketching  

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Sharing it with Poetry Pantry @ Poets United

The Sun

       

I saw her voice giving the sun’s birth

A pleasant dawn for the whole Earth

Fly me to the moon

Little angel with cascading tresses

I saw rainbow in your seven notes

Fly me to the moon

I may not see the blazing blue

My soul has drunk the morning hue

Fly me to the moon

Music will play angels will sing

Our Earth will spread joyous wings

And I’ll close my eyes in sunny warmth

Fly me to the moon

Words in italics are taken from the song ‘Fly me to the moon’ 

               source

                            

Posted for Susan’s Midweek Motif ~ The Sun @ Poets United

  

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The Birds

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They arrived here last year

And made a litchi tree of our neighbor

Their home

The white bellied pond herons

With a buff-brown back

Strangely there wasn’t any water body

Where they roosted

Even croaky frogs left disgusted

As the pond was sucked up

And a dry new land appeared

For new houses, new life new happiness…….

With the pond

Vanished

The fishes, crustaceans and aquatic insects

Did the herons go foraging a long distance?

Strange is the way of Mother Nature

She must have fed the birds well

Otherwise how would they sing

Their night away

With those hoarse songs

And scare the skeptic owls?

The topsy-turvy dance of Nature

Scares me

Reminds me of Apocalypse

What’s gone wrong I wonder

They are still here

Their tribe multiplying

Massing

Have they seen Hitchcock’s birds?

 

 

Posted for Peggy’s prompt Looking Back @ Poetry Jam

Silent Wait

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I scattered my dreams

To the wild sky

I stand alone

Bereft of my joy

I wait for

The mercy of Spring

 

My roots are deep

Strong in faith

Ordeals can’t shake it

Let the snow fall

I wait for

The mercy of Spring

 

Posted for Poetry Pantry @ PoetsUnited

He

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Born He was

Born He is

Born will He be

Among all races

Again and again

Will bear the cross

Bleed, be killed

By His fellowmen

His only fault being

Loving them

Teaching them

To be Men

We will make Him a god

After the deed is done

 

Posted for Susan’s Midweek Motif ~ A Man’s Day @ Poets United

Eyes

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All her singers are back

The tree dances in the breeze

Casting me an oblique look

With her thousand leaves

I look at her happy face

When the blue kingfisher

Swoops into the pond water

And gets its prize

When the black cuckoo with its red eyes

Gives incessant call to his beloved

When the white cranes

Meditate on one leg hiding the other

And the frogs with their bulging eyes

Cover for shelter

When a star peeps and winks

From the dusky sky

When darkness with its glowworm eyes

Twinkles in joy

When the owl mother feeds her babes

With the heart of a field mouse

When life dances in joy with death

When the cricket song fades

With the slow rise of a golden eye

When vision creates beauty

And all her singers are back

The tree dances in the breeze

Casting me an oblique look

With her thousand leaves

And I look at her happy face

Posted for Mary’s prompt Eyes @ Poetry Jam

Oasis

Sarada Devi : Source

I rest my weary feet

On this emerald island

To replenish my soul

Foamy, froth of discontent

Disappears in the shore

Where peace lies in granule form

The sapphire morning sky

Gives me an indulgent smile

Crows, mynas, sparrows

Are birds of paradise here

The islanders are few

Only four in number

But they wear saris of fire

They speak in Love,

Their mother tongue

Our chilled bones are warmed

Their words kindle a lamp

In my heart cave

Light fills every corner

These souls are

Empowered with the blazing force

Of renunciation

That come from the poor widow

Sarada Devi*

 

*Sarada Devi (Bengali: সারদা দেবী;   Sharodā Debi (help·info)) (22 December 1853 – 20 July 1920), born Saradamani Mukhopadhyaya (Bengali: সারদামণি মুখোপাধ্যায়), was the wife and spiritual counterpart of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a nineteenth-century mystic of Bengal. Sarada Devi is also reverentially addressed as the Holy Mother (Sri Maa or শ্রীমা) by the followers of the Ramakrishna monastic order. Sarada Devi played an important role in the growth of the Ramakrishna Movement. Courtesy: Wikipedia

 

Ramakrishna Sarada Mission is a women’s monastic organization in our little town Balurghat. We fondly call the nuns Matajis. It is an entirely independent charitable organization exclusively for women run by the nuns carrying out various philanthropic, cultural, spiritual and educational activities. The Mission named after Sarada Devi has centers in various parts of India and abroad.

 

Posted for Brian’s prompt Local @ Poetry Jam

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Sharing it with Susan's Midweek Motif ~ A Woman's Day @ Poets United