Category: A03 — POEMS

You struggle, raising and nourishing the world, whole day
And retire smiling spreading charm all the way
And come back the day next with same smile and beauty,
Aren’t you bored, Sun, of this routine duty?
Pulling seeds from dungeon , cracking the hard shell
Pulling water from the seas where they happily dwell
Pushing them then into sea, why all these trouble?
You could have adorned the throne royally idle.
Earth sleeps, still life grows, trees stand idle, still flowers
Immobile hills generate streams, ocean, noisy waves.
Doing nothing they all gain, what you gain by working?”
“The knowledge why I should work harder to make you wiser”

Where will the fish, shells, pebbles and sand go
If the sea sustains only water ?
Where will my thoughts, dreams,worries and memories go
If the mind sustains only laughter ?
Where will the clouds, moon, stars and planets go
If the sky wants only the Sun?
Where will the mouth, sharp nose and ears go,
If the head want only eyes and none?
Where will my jealousy, anger, ego and greed go
If you want only my love and devotion?
No Father, accept everything, still or in motion
Mouse to mountain, all your creation.

To whom do you belong to, the sky, so high?
To the clouds, dreamy, roaming aimless?
To the clouds, roaring ceaseless?
To the Sun who speeds with thousand horses?
To the Moon who sows smiles and dances?
Do the dance groups pay you rent,
Or walk away with a head bend?
Or ask wages to light the lamps
And take them away at the close of camps?
Is thunder your scream when a ghostly wind
Kicks and sweeps clouds off the ground?
Rain, your tears when the friendly clouds
Fight and fall down in bits and pieces?
Do you feel the pain when clouds
Cracks and drop down screaming?
Do you feel the joy when they all
Come back and start playing?
To whom do you belong, the sky, so high?
“I belong to none and none belongs to me,
The motions and commotions, all in you,
Sun shines, moon smiles all you view,
Even the cloud bursts , dark and radiance
The theater you’re; me the audience”

She is above law,
My only mother in law.
Me, her only son in law,
The one with no flaw
For her, an outlaw!
She bought me for a floor ticket
For a lousy talkie seat.
The owner of a rocket launch base
Flats and pools, steeds for race
Me, for her, a meek mouse!
“A liar’ she said first, then elevated
My status to ‘bluffer’
‘Cheat’, she looked up and yelled
All about me, God didn’t hear
His hear aid failed.
“Didn’t you hear the abuses she barked?”
That he heard, the battery worked
“Not on you?” God asked.
“No, on you” I said. His eyes sparked
Thunderbolts rocked.
God tore a bus ticket, she said,”No,
Give him that, for me air ticket”
“Foolish woman, you reach fast
By air, bye, bye, my tires will flat
Or gas won’t last”
There comes slowly, Ammalu
Tells God, ” don’t buy trouble
One will fill the sky with bluffs
Other with Ayurvedic stuff
You can’t manage; I can”

He teaches the Sun to shine, the moon to change
The stars to twinkle, the oceans to dance,
The seeds to raise head, the plants to flower,
My mind to glow, my Guru, my eternal lover.
.

 
I knew you would come,
Come, sit close by, still close, hold my hand.
The warmth of your hands, not new to me
Nor the sweet smile or the gurgling laugh.
And that dazzling lightning from your Disc
That sliced my heart and burnt my body.
How could you do that to me, Krishna,
How could you do that to me?
‘Never, your face ever’, I went in protest
But saw only your face wherever I went.
Like a lambasted little one back to mom
I returned to meet your lavish laugh.
How does it matter now, many things came,
Many things went, but Krishna was it just a
Many thing Krishna! was it just a many thing?
Poor boy, you have no answer!
The air brings the fragrance and melody
From Tulasi and reed, but why those
When your chariot sound and foot steps
Always vibrate in my inner depths?
When everyone, everything has left,
And this body too soon to depart,
You came, sit for a moment, w’ll leave together.
I can still work there, be of some use to you.
Can stitch flowers for your garland
Fetch water to wash your feet
Sit idly singing your glory
Or simply sit looking at you, Krishna, looking at you!
Carrying with me my only asset
Your thoughts, but why thoughts
When you are with me, Krishna,
why thoughts, when you are with me?
 

The duty assigned to me is to be here, facing you and I have been doing my job sincerely.
I hardly see any devotees turning up theses days, may be because your shrine is battered by weather and bears the scars of aging.
But, the deterioration is only for the house and not  for the Great one housed in. Why are men not realizing this?
But, thinking in larger perspective, if no devotees enter this premises, why should you be here at all, my God! And why me too, without you?
When severe rain and sun batter me and I hear no bell ringing, no melody of hymns flow from your sanctum, no flowers and drops of water fall on my head,  and  you remain in long silence ( may be in meditation), my dirty mind even goes to the extend of doubting your very presence inside.

You are there, I believe that you are there. Stones do not move, but Gods should.
Let us  move Mahadeva, move from here.  This is not the place for us. Let us go back to our snowy heights.

Maples and mulberries are losing their sheen
Oaks and pines are watching the scene
How the all- powerful Sun is getting weak?
How the noisy, busy wind is turning meek?
How fortune changes like a celluloid show!
Where those sharp arrows from the golden bow?
Where the vagabond winds’s trumpet blow?
Where the birds, bees and flies, the Nature’s glow?
Mother Earth, consoles the trees with compassion:
”Wait a few days, a new scheme is in motion
The sky and wind are weaving shawls in great passion
To greet and honor you for your contribution.
How generous were you in providing
Food and Shelter for the crawling and flying!
The felicitation will start soon; colors are vying
Golden yellow, red, purple, the stars are dyeing.
I hate to discourage you, but truth has to be told
Nothing lasts long, you will shed those clothes of gold
Stand naked like a hermit, do penance and become bold
To face the onslaught of the snow and extreme cold.
Ah, then arrives  His Highness, the Emperor  of the heaven
In his golden chariot drawn by speeding steeds seven
The celestial hands rip your pricking snow needle cover
Then he wraps you with fresh leafage, like a lover
Lose one and get another, that is Nature’s law bounden
You will lose even your trunk, when it becomes a burden
But will be back again and like me, round around our warden.
As there is no end, only bend, for the daily dance in this garden”
 

The wood outhouse in our backyard has no top;
Only a few shafts can see the full sky when I look up.
Fuming or cool like a mother’s mood
When her kids refuse or agree for food.                                       1
The wood outhouse in our backyard has no side covers
Only a low fence can see trees and bushes live like lovers.
The secret language they use for chat
The bird on the tree knows and the pussy cat                             2
There is a rubber ball kids have kicked and thrown
It jumps up in joy when hits the ground
Or is it the Mother Earth that lifts it up to boost
It’s spirits, after healing its wound?                                             3
Why these little squirrels are in hurry, I wonder
To buy tickets to climb walls and wander?
Why are these birds noisy and restless?
When the sky is calm, no lightning or thunder?                                      4
Oh, they want to run away from me, as I’m singing!
Is singing a crime? No, they say, ‘you are bungling’.
” The court singer of heaven, Air, is your teacher
How can I match you?’ I ask ashamed of my torture..                              5
There is a fireplace close by, to warm us in winter
What a fool am I? I am fire, the sky is fire, and oceans are fire.
The fire of love pushed me into mother’s womb
The fire of life makes me breathe; the fire of Death will take away.            . 6
The wood outhouse in our backyard has no top or sides
‘Why do you call it a house and not deck then?” you ask.
For squirrels, cats, birds, lizards and butter flies,
A wayside shelter, a way for my flutter.                                                       7
Yes, I flutter with joy when I sit there
When the sun, birds and animals sit very near
I utter the glory of the high sky
Looking up, oh, how far but how close by!                                                 8