Sometimes,
It seems as if it was just the other day
You turned up suddenly out of the blue,
Gave us a pleasant surprise.
Remember ...
The roller coaster ride on top of a rainbow
Stopping to chat with a flock of geese returning,
Sleeping awhile on soft cumulus clouds.
You’ve been away for long
Yet, now that its time for sunset
The stars seem to lie in wait for someone
Before they start peering out
In countless dazzling millions
If you could manage some time do visit us soon
Long since we bathed together in the darkness
And quenched our thirst on the other side of the moon.

FACES

You wouldn’t have known
How smoothly I pocketed your face
The other day when we met
For a second time on the lift
Now ... I can savor it
In the privacy of my room
Or the silence of the library
In the bustle of a crowd
Or whenever I’ve reason
To be distressed
I’d simply take a look at you
All golden rays of the sun
Shimmering on the waters
Of an unusual calm
As it sets over the horizon
The dark silhouette of a returning sail

POKHARA

The lake comes alive
Tiny little canoes
Lush green forests
On surrounding hills
That is,
If you care to notice
Amidst the hustle and bustle
Of a busy market place
From dawn to dusk the sun,
Plays around with
A snow clad fish tail.
What if,
There was no lake or snow
What of this place then
One day,
We might find
The snows have toppled into the lake
Filled it up for posterity
Along with the hunger of millions buried in it
Hunger buried ... maybe not immediately
Some people would still keep coming
Picking Souvenirs ... bits and pieces
Of the mountain
Carry them home in ice boxes
And then, every day at dawn
A father would open the freezer
And point out to his son
Look! Over there, Fishtail ... Annapurna ...

COMPLEXITY

Springtime you see the tree
In full bloom
Branching and flowering
Drinking in life ...
Encounter Falling leaves
A dreary winter
As you move into the Hospital
Humans ... on the verge
Of losing their complex branches
Death and despair seep in
As the disease evolves
The diagnosis becomes simple
You thirst for an ounce of complexity

STREET LAMP

Evening falls as hordes of insects
Swarm around it in chaotic flight
Their illumined attractor glows
Drawing in more and more followers
We come into this Earth
As insects on a street lamp
Flutter continuously around till daybreak
The light of dawn devours an ounce of sleep.

DREAM

You stepped into my dream
Like a whiff of rain swept Earth
A cool breeze blew through the windows
Rain ... created music outside
The room bore your silent eyes
And myself lying on the mat
From an unearthly distance you bent down
And breathed softly into me
While I ... kept on struggling
To reach you
Through dense jungles, steep slopes
Gradually you receded
Into that never ending corridor.

Copyright © 2001 by Rakesh Biswas