Only a few were born free

Since the birth of mankind

They had a sky in their heart

Where an eternity of love dwelt

Truth was their mother tongue

They were one with every object

Living, non-living

The path they had trodden

Led to the dawn of freedom,

C i v i l i z a t i o n,

They had left a trail asking

To leave everything and follow

I hear their call

I listen to the song my soul sings

The song of freedom

Am I not tethered to Desire?

Alas!

Freedom is seldom for those who are

A slave to the senses

To the mind

To the body

 

 

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

Time Travel

Anxious faces of loved ones

See tears rolling down her cheeks

While her eyes are still closed

Though she can see

The green fields of yore

And she is playing there as a child

She hears the loving voices

Of her dear ones who are no more

She sees her as a bride

While the grooms face is vague

He left her long ago

When he breathed his last

She sees scenes after scenes

Taken from her life

Though her eyes remain closed

And tears stream down her cheeks

Her bosom still heaves slowly

Then becomes still

The loved ones bend over

Whispers fill the air

 

Posted for Bjorn’s hosting MTB with Time Travel @d Verse

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Shared with Poetry Pantry @ Poets United

Summer Solstice

                     (.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)|(.)

The longest day

Draped in black monsoon sari

Weeps a river

I smile

At her kohl smudged eye

As my fevered skin breathes blessings

The twittering, chirping little fairies

Touch each other’s wings

Bathing in the little pools

Appearing on the pathways

My heart sprouts

Blue glossy peacock feathers

And dances with thunderclap songs

On this longest day of the year

Let the days shed their light

Let the dark hours be gleeful

Let time’s hand pluck

The weary leaf one by one

And cover the ground

Nothing can take away today’s joy

When the monsoon taps her dancing feet

And the sun stands still

               

                

Posted for Susan’s Midweek Motif ~ Entering Summer or Winter @ PoetsUnited

Ode to the Wrist Watches

source

I use a pair of wrist watches

They are not mine, though

They belonged to my daughter

Who is now beyond touch

And even beyond time

Those two unkind hands

Both wiped her tears and smile

And her total self

They go on tick ticking

Playing like a see-saw

Throwing me high up into the place

When the world was baby soft

And made of light, flowers and dream

Then bringing me down to the dreary landscape

Till my voice becomes choked with salt

They exert their power on me

Like the orcas playing with seals

Before gulping them down

But there is a light within

That holds me against them

Every day it whispers to me,

“Bear with them a while”

And I listen to the voice of light

I am bearing the unbearable

 

Posted for Karin’s hosting Sunday Mini- Challenge – Ode to the Quotidian @ Real Toads

&       

Sharing with Poetry Pantry @ Poets United

Father of My Nation

source

That non-violent heart of yours

Tasted three bullets

Served to you by your sons

I am Nirbhaya*

Born in the land of Buddha and you

They didn’t even spare me

My spirit won’t rest till you are reborn

BAPU JI**!

Thou shouldst be living at this hour:

Bharat*** hath need of thee

 

 

*Nirbhaya means fearless (girl). India does not allow publicizing a rape victim’s name so the 23 year old girl who was gang raped and brutally assaulted in New Delhi in 2012 and later succumbed to the injuries was given the name Nirbhaya.

 

**Bapu ji is father in Hindi. Mahatma Gandhi was fondly called Bapu ji by the people of India.

 

***India is ‘Bharat’ in all the Indian languages.

 

The last two lines are taken from William Wordsworth’s poem London,1802 only I used the word Bharat instead of England.

 

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

Trust

I trust my sun who will always rise

I trust my stars who won’t forget to light

I trust my Ganga* who will ever purify

And my Himalayas who will pull me to His height

 

My soul has taken bath in fire yet not burnt

My soul has withstood fear-storm undaunted

Waves of doubt could never blow out Thy name

The trust in Thou glows in my soul like a flame

 

Be my storm, fire, deluge whatever Thou Will

With faith, trust, love let my heart be filled

 

*Ganga is the Ganges

 

Posted for A Prompt Each day / Daily Dose of Inspiration – Trust - is today’s word to write on

 

&

 

Shared with Poetry Pantry @ Poets United

Weekend Wordle #2

Books adorning walls

In the big library hall

My own paradise

 

Wordle is a maze

Deep, darkening, enticing

Short of ideas

 

A funeral pyre

May consume an earthly form

Unscathed spirit lives

Kite plays with the wind

Desires for a higher sky

A finger controls

 

Leaders touch the ground

On a begging from door to door

Oh, there’s election

 

A red dawn

Sea water blazing

A boat sails

 

A pair of sweethearts

They are yet to name the day

We are curious

 

This tycoon’s

A grounded huge tree

Of humble birth

 

An alive planet

Needs hundreds of well wishers

To keep it going

 

Posted for Prompt 13 – Weekend Wordle #2 @ A prompt Each Day