If I were a Mermaid
I would swim away from shore
Away, far away from this land
teeming with blisters sore
I would dive to the depths
Smooth and clear
Sweeping away the cobwebs
Of confusion and fear
Life's furore too, unable to
knock me askew
As I imbibed the power to
embrace it's myriad hues
I would concoct love potions
many fathoms deep
To impregnate with passion
a world so bleak
If I were a Mermaid
I would float on the turquoise sea
Enamoured by this acquatic trance
I would watch the moonbeams dance in glee
©japsjk
-
-
S
She
Strove to
Sever all the
Strings holding her captive
Statuesquely soaring above his restraints
©japsjk -
japsjk 20w
Angry arguments followed by abuses
Being hurled at one another
Cacophonous shouts
Drowning the stifled sobs
Edging sideways I looked on, helpless
Frantically praying for help
God! please please please do a miracle
How can I see my mom being beaten up
Insulted and disgraced
Jostled and pushed
Knocked around
Like a rag doll
Mom looked at me tear stained
Not knowing what to do
Or whom to turn to for help
Paralyzed I watched on
Quietude set in as she
Reeled on to the floor
Succumbing to fits of unconsciousness
Traumatic moments
Unnerving, irksome
Violence; always an abhorred norm for me
Wistfully I approached her
Xmas bells resounded; death knell
Yoddling contraltoes
Zerking me with the magnanimity of the situation
©japsjk -
PETRICHOR
As the grey clouds burst
Raining memories of myriad hues
The petrichor emanating from soul
Cocooned me in the fragrance of you
©japsjk -
japsjk 23w
Soul
They
ripped her
maligned the
outer vesture
but her soul shone with innocent lustre
©japsjk -
japsjk 24w
Don the cologne of humanity
to proliferate its ethereal fragrance
on the darkling plains of vanquished faith
©japsjk -
Doubt
Doubt is lethal
It annihilates the essence of being
©japsjk -
Earrings
My earrings are the most precious for me
They are no simple jewels
But the essence of you adorning me
Studs, huggies, chandeliers are all so dear
Beset with stones so colourful
They are like your whispers enriching my ears
As I walk with these danglers all bedecked
I feel so unique, I feel so good
Their touch is like your kisses along my neck
©japsjk -
Water
Serenely brutal
Electrifyingly powerful!!!
©japsjk -
Astray
Life is too short to go astray
Keep your focus dear
there are many out there
Who might betray
©japsjk
-
raghavendran 40w
Croon on, Spirit of the Air.
A wandering minstrel is enamoured by the lilting strains of a song bird. He stops transfixed listening to the song floating from far off glades. He is enchanted with the unseen crooner and waxes eloquent with the following poem in her glory.
Croon on, Spirit of the Air
Yonder from the glades,
Whom art thou calling?
Oh! Sweet little birdie,
The air resonates with thy song,
The flowers dance to thy notes,
And the crying child
Hath into deep sleep fallen;
Art thou calling thy mate
Or wooing to find one?
Thy throbbing notes
Are like adamants
Drawing the resistless iron,
O! How can one
Be immune to thy overtures!
Croon on, O! Sweet birdie
And fill the flowing air
With thy sweet notes
And thy dulcet voice;
Alas! What a loss it is
Not to have ears
To feel the ecstasy
Of such wondrous gifts
As thy lilting strains;
Sing thy soulful songs,
Yonder from the glades,
Thou hast made me joyous
With thy mellifluous notes;
O! Spirit of the air,
Thou art born
To spread joy and music
And drive away gloom
From melancholic human hearts,
Croon on, my sweetie,
Croon on.
Raghav R
23.05.2020
©raghavendran -
raghavendran 5w
Bubble and Life
Bubble and Life
I sat at the water’s edge
Watching a tiny bubble
Springing to life;
It grew in size
With its walls
Quite thin and fragile.
I saw in it
My childhood, long forgotten;
As it grew a little more
And sailed from the bank,
Turning and twisting,
With hues of a rainbow
Flashing and glowing,
Memories surfaced,
Breaking the crust of time,
The while I was watching
The ever-growing bubble
Which soon attained
A dignified size,
With walls thick and strong;
My adulthood in it I saw
In all its reality;
The dome was steady,
Moving in a rhythm
Of its own,
Very much like
My adult days,
As time slowly crept,
As the mild breeze
Blew at the bubble-
Now full grown
And at its final stage,
With its walls thin
And movement unsteady,
I saw again,
My very present
Reflected in the bubble,
Waiting to explode
And mingle with the water
Where it sprang from.
As I left the bank
With philosophical thoughts,
I cast a backward glance,
The bubble had burst.
Raghav R
20.01.2021
©raghavendran -
मगरूर हूँ, मजबूर हूँ,
नया हुआ मशहूर हूँ,
थोड़ा ग़म लिखने दो,
टूटा हुआ गुरूर हूँ।
©अश्वनी राणा -
raghavendran 11w
Fantasy
Amidst trees dying and dead,
A lone flowering plant stood
With withering leaves and root,
Unmoving and totally mute;
The earth lay scorched and burnt-
Hottest summer it’s, I learnt,
The burning rays of the relentless sun
Had spared the lives of none;
The lone plant was bent double
And rested on a round pebble,
My heart wept to see the plant,
But I couldn’t any relief grant;
Tears copious fell from my eyes,
I had to muffle my cries,
A small puddle around the root formed
And the heart of the plant warmed;
The next morn the plant I sought,
A curious sight my eyes caught,
The plant was standing straight,
My tears giving it life overnight.
A smile of recognition I could see
As it danced in gentle glee,
Will it survive the heat and the sun
When to shed tears there'll be none?
Raghav R
14.12.2020
©raghavendran -
raghavendran 11w
Words Are Superfluous
For those who have fallen in love, head over heels, words are superfluous and they have no role to play. For them, eyes and lips convey more than spoken words.
Words Are Superfluous
Why dost thou words allow
From thy silken throat to flow,
What thine eyes have already told
I want them not by words retold.
More eloquent are thine eyes
Than the words carried by thy voice,
They speak volumes for thy love
And to thy speaking eyes, I bow.
When thy lips attempt to speak
Command them to be meek,
Let them not their energy spend,
But to my labial pleasure attend.
When the hidden secrets thy heaving bosom reveal,
Spoken words to me do not appeal,
Let me rest my ears on thy bosom
To share them with thee as the loving twosome.
When thy lips curl in a knowing smile,
And thy eyes glint in great style,
Revealing what you would say,
Words have no role to play.
Words are superfluous, I say,
Let us keep them at bay,
Let the language of love be our eyes,
Lips and the insuppressible sighs.
Raghav R
12.12.2020
©raghavendran -
raghavendran 11w
Monsoon Scenario
Dark pregnant clouds
Full laden with rain
Hang still and unmoving,
Hiding the sky above.
Darkness descends on earth -
Darkness at high noon-
Baffling the birds and beasts
Rushing them to their homes.
Thunder claps boom,
Lightning rends the sky
Casting a luminous glow
Lasting a fleeting second.
The sky soon opens up
And rain in torrents descend,
Streets tiny rivers become
And playgrounds a lake.
Men and women their refuge seek
In the warmth of their homes,
But the poor birds and beasts
Huddle together dripping wet.
Out come the parasols and rainwear
With galoshes dressing the legs,
Children's shrieks rend the air,
Their boats floating and floundering.
It's the season of rains
When the heavens open up,
It's the showers of monsoon
The parched earth hungers for.
Raghav R
11.12.2020
©raghavendran -
ashwani 18w
@japsjk @rangkarmi_anuj @lov123 @jiya_khan @rani_shri
शुभ दशहरा।
रावण पक्का जला दिया ना??रावण तो फूँक ही दिया होगा,
दशहरा जो था कल परसों,
नाम तो कर ही लिया होगा,
यही तो होता आया है बरसों।
हर बार मर कर जी उठता है,
रावण क्या सच में अमर है?
इतना झूठ है जगत में अगर,
साफ़ करने कौन संघर्षरत है?
साल दर साल गुनाह बढ़ रहे हैं,
जुल्म की इन्तेहा का क्या पारावर है?
बोटी बोटी होती है जब जिस्म की
तो कौन यहाँ कसूरवार है?
शायद कोई घर कर बैठा है,
इंसानी तन मन और भावों में,
शायद नहीं आता कोई ईश्वर भी
आसुरी शक्ति के ख्वाबों में।
कौन जाने कौन इंसान अच्छा है,
कौन जाने कौन सा जल पावन है,
कौन जाने राम कहाँ हैं आज,
छिपा हुआ पर हर मन में रावण है।
©अश्वनी राणा -
raghavendran 17w
A Vagabond's Life
The sky above is my roof
The hard earth below my floor,.
It is my home to live in
Where I can be one with nature.
When the sun who brightens my day
Reaches its zenith at noon time
And sends his rays hot,
A tree, if nearby, becomes my shelter.
When the sun descends behind
The tall and soaring cliffs,
I walk into the open
To enjoy the breeze cool.
When the cloudless sky darkens
And the stars begin to twinkle,
I give myself to the charming night
When appears Luna with a broad smile.
When night-blooming flowers
Let their scent float abroad
For the sprightly air to spread it about,
I feel blessed to be alive.
Often I find a lake nearby
Where I choose to spend the night,
The silent lake mirroring the sky
Dotted with stars and the moon.
Bats and owls criss-crossing I find,
None colliding with the other,
On sighting their unwary prey
And flying back with a jubilant cry.
Soft straw lying about becomes my bed
And a bundle of straw my pillow,
My ears oft catch lilting strains
of a nightly warbler hidden unseen.
Once I heard a frog woken from slumber,
By the lilting notes of the warbler
Showing his musical mastery
In his unique croaking style.
A strange musical concert then began,
Both the sounds mixing together,
But the frog's attempt to show his prowess
Put a strain on my unwilling ears.
I was accustomed to weird sounds
As well as to pleasing notes of birds,
So smiling to myself
I renewed my efforts to sleep.
I walk gaily with my hands and mind free
Unburdened with earthly goods,
Which weigh down a carrier
And slows down his progress.
Streching plains or the snowy mountains,
No different are they to me,
Rainy skies or burning sands
Never my advance halts.
With nature as my support,
And the whole earth left to me,
What more do I need on this earth?
A vagabond who communes with nature.
I know not where I shall be
When the next morn dawns
Nor where I shall be asleep
When the next night falls.
I am a vagabond and a wanderer,
I go wherever my legs carry,
I know not my next stop
Nor where I will breathe my last.
I love the life I lead
With no worries about the next day,
Every minute of my life I enjoy
And it is how I want to live.
Raghav R
28.10.2020
©raghavendran -
ख्वाबों को सड़कों पर मरते देखा मैंने,
उम्मीद को हैवानों से लड़ते देखा मैंने,
बस ऐसे ही चलता है देश हमारा क्या?
निकिता के संग कानूनों को गिरते देखा मैंने।
©अश्वनी राणा -
raghavendran 17w
The Lord is the Final Arbiter
The Lord is the Final Arbiter
This is not fiction. This poem is based on many such incidents reported by the dailies. There were cases when the dead, declared as such by the doctor, woke up to everyone's surprise. Some even came to life while on the way to burial grounds or crematoria. In some cases doctors were perplexed when the body kept in the mortuary showed signs of life when about to be dissected for autopsy. So while the doctors' decision might have been right in a majority of cases, there were still a few instances where they were totally flummoxed.
It is like the field empire declaring a batsman 'out' while the third umpire says 'not out' giving a chance to the batsman in question to bat again. In the real life case, when the doctors pronounce one dead, the Lord above declares him 'not dead' and allows him some more time to live on the earth. This poem is written to highlight this point.
The Lord is the Final Arbiter
The old man lay in bed
Looking almost dead;
Kith and kin waited around
For movement or sound;
His eyes half-shut,
With his hair close-cut,
His fists two clenched,
His chin in saliva drenched,
The old man inert lay;
Everyone around began to pray,
His body arched and fell,
It was time to sound the bell;
They called a medicine man,
Who his stethoscope ran
Over the silent man’s chest;
Then his heart he prest;
A while later turned he
That he may the gathering see;
With a shake of his head,
He proclaimed the man 'dead';
Soon whispers were heard
And glances were shared;
“Doctor, Is he sure gone?”
Asked one, lost and forlorn;
“He is dead and gone,
Will see no night nor morn,
Shroud him and the bell ring,
Breath to him none can bring”
It was time to say bye,
Tears welled in everyone’s eye,
Some four men the body lifted
And to the carriage shifted;
The body of the man dead
And the body of mourners with bowed head
Moved along the crowded street
In the slowly gathering heat;
They hastened their walking pace
To reach the final resting place,
When someone in the crowd
Saw the slowly arching shroud;
Out came the shivering face
With eyes peering as though through a haze;
Guttural sounds floated through,
Slowly and slowly the volume grew;
Panic mounted among the crowd,
Voices were heard aloud,
The dead body was sitting erect
In a posture truly correct;
Pandemonium broke in a trice
Amidst flowing tears and cries;
“Ah! The dead man born again,
Our prayers are not in vain”
An aged wise voice was heard,
Soon by everyone around shared,
No man can another man’s life trim
Until the Lord beckons him.
Raghav R
30.10.2020
©raghavendran
