The Ganges

 

(A Death Is Needed For A Renewal)

 

 

Seeing you this much mutilated

I can no more contain my sorrow-

it spreads as would a wildfire

riding a wind of its own-

the haunting voices of all

that is green, feathered, scaled

beside or within you

sing the apocalypse-

monal river,

you let your turquoise water feathers

to be ashen sewers,

though it’s a story of salty boundlessness in the end-

I am now convinced

you were always a woman

with the heart of Manikarnika,

treading the path to be a phoenix-

 

 

 

Posted for earthweal weekly challenge : RENEWAL

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Key

SOURCE

 

When I am locked up

among people who are all

either a closed door or a window-

the sky of my loved one’s face

is missing even when I lie down

looking up-

my pathway is a long, dark, almost infinite wall

of  sad moments-

my heart, ribcage, bosom slowly darkening

into a burnt landscape-

I never despair-

for my raven world

has become my key-

to set me free-

 

 

 

Posted for Carrie’s picture prompt @ Sunday Muse #93

& also sharing with earthweal open link weekend #5

Bidding Adieu to Shushuks

GOOGLE IMAGE

Standing in the loin deep water

Of the sacred Ganga*

I’ll take a holy dip-

No-

Not in the name of my ancestors-

No

Not for remission of my sins-

But to say

My prayers

For

The gentle Shushuks**

Who are feebly

Leaving your miracle waters

To become

A still word,

A mere photo-

In print-

 

*The Ganges

 

[**Shushuks are the Gangetic River Dolphins, an obligatory freshwater species, born blind and are facing yet another anthropogenic threat.]

https://youtu.be/M5dbBrNVHkU

 

 

Posted for Sherry’s prompt ~ The Animals of Climate Change @ earthweal

A Crude Someone

SOURCE

 

A crude someone is anchored

to his wasteland

where root his speaking-trees

leafless and haggard-

he let his mind to be

an intolerant, blazing sky-

and his love to be a gravel ground

to burn your feet-

his day-blind eyes cannot see

the door opening out

where grace and gentleness lie-

 

 

Posted for Sunday Muse #92 hosted by Carrie

This poem is a river, a man and a forest

 

This poem is the wrath of a river

This poem is the dream of a man

This poem is the story of a forest

 

 

This poem is Brahmaputra

Its hungry tide laps up land

Crashing, breaking dreams

Before reaching its salty home

It tears itself to countless streams

Taking the look of torn roots

Of a gigantic banyan tree

This poem is the wrath of a river

 

 

This poem is Jadav Payeng

He is a forestry worker

Living in Majuli Island by the Brahmaputra

The broken nests light a star

In his inner sky

He becomes his own light

And prays for a woodland to take birth

This poem is the dream of a man

 

 

This poem is Molai Forest

Each tree loves a man

Who single handedly

For more than three decades

Created this tree-land

That’s harboring wild life

And fortifying the island

This poem is the story of a forest

 

 

This poem is the flow of tamed anger of a river

This poem is the fulfillment of the deep green dream of a man

This poem is the song of the wild in an unusual forest

 

 

 

[I intended to post this old poem for the “Water” prompt but couldn’t manage as became a bit busy this week. So now.]

 

Posted for earthweal open link weekend #4earthweal open link weekend #4

A Mother’s Lament

 

SOURCE

I thought I was

your rural landscape, your sanctuary-

to my dried up branches,

you’ve tied glassy words

with an evil of their own-

the world hears

sweet tinkling and jingling

of their sound-

yet deep inside

their torque twists my sinews-

my failed leaves sigh-

I am so burnt up-

can I be your home again-

like this burnt up earth

I am forever athirst

for

love-

 

 

Posted for Fireblossom’s picture prompt @ Sunday Muse #91

&

Also shared with earthweal open link weekend #3

Bring Them back

 

When high-rises loom

like apparitions

house sparrows become

shadows and dream-

 

 

my ears thirst for their chirps

eyes for a glimpse

of this passerine bird-

 

 

twigs and straw are my words-

this poem an empty nest-

 

 

is this how the sparrows end-

 

[Factors leading to the decline of house sparrows are; rapidly changing cities that are inhabitable for the bird species, modern infrastructure that does not account for space for the sparrow to nest, and the sharp rise in pollution levels, caused by microwave towers and pesticides. In my hometown, Balurghat, West Bengal a house sparrow is a rarity. I can’t remember when I last saw one]

 

 

Posted for earthweal weekly challenge: Ghosts

Life

SOURCE

This year begins with the ceremony

of darkness-

I can’t sleep. I come out

only to find you rising-

am I able to touch the end of the world then

is it that close-

for I see your eyes leaning on us-

a volcano erupts in your eye-

in one eye-

turning the sky red

while the other one is all ice-

so it is your night

and we are all lemmings?

 

whatever you are

be my poem

and life-

 

 

 

 

Posted for Sunday Muse #90

Shift

 

This maternal river doesn’t go

her own way now-

she’s come at my door step-

we leave

letting our swaths of dream

spanning generations,

to be lapped up

by her once benign tongue-

I hear her sighs

broken into gloomy words :

I am looking for my way lost eons ago

when your barrage came about-

 

 

so

we both

shift-

one another’s kill-

 

[Malda district in West Bengal has lost huge swathes of land to the fury of the river Ganges, and thousands of families have been deprived of their homes and livelihoods.]

 

Posted for earthweal open link weekend #2

Fire

 

In a far away land fire rages-

we are not safe here too-

the Hollow Men at the helm

are sucking our life out-

they rage with

their ‘Headpiece filled with straw’*-

we in turn are slowly becoming

flint, ember

and waiting in silence-

 

 

*The quote is from T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men

 

 

Posted for Weekly Challenge : FIRE @ earthweal