Category Archives: Poetry

The place for all your poetry to be shared with the world

Father

3 Replies

SOMETHING I LOOK AT-61
BY-SMUTI RANJAN MOHANTY

My father!
how sweet were those days
when i was at your feet
chanting your hymns
siba sahasranama and mahimna stotra
from morning to evening
how beautiful were those moments
when your temple was my lone asylum
your prasad my only diet

How captivating were those nights
spent in repeating your name
visualising your resplendence
so engrossed i was
could not differentiate
when i was awake
and when i was asleep
in my conscious mind you were
in my subconscious mind you were
in every moment of my life
i felt your presence
and your sweet smile
guided me in each step

In a weak moment
might have craved for
your affluence and splendour
and you gave me the whole world
but took away those fulfilling moments
those fascinating days and nights
that innocent smile on my lips
that simple mind
far away from this glittering word
and its lovely amenities
i lost those beautiful feelings
my heaven on earth
what i gained
everyone knows
but what i lost
i only know

My Lord!
what to do with your spellbinding grandeur
when you are miles away
beyond my horizon and
the more i look at your splendour
the poorer i become

My master!
take away everything you have given
but return me those days and nights
which were once completely mine
let me be at your feet once again
praying and repenting
feeling your presence in whatever
i see and what lies beyond
let me have a bit of the poison you drank
to be of any use
in this cosmic drama of yours

copyright@smrutiranjan 12.2.2018

The Hall of Mirrors

7 Replies

It was as bewildering
As the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles
Endless reflections
But only of mirrors
Where was the entry
And where the exit
One knew not

Is Eternity a Nightmare
By which Man’s Soul is jag- ridden ?
Endless bewilderment
From which there is no escape ?

Worse still
To see nothing
But your own reflection
Endlessly multiplied

Your own echo
Endlessly reverberating

Coo- ee !
Is anybody else at home ?

Choosings

4 Replies 
Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca
 Poems choose their poets
 Passion chooses its lovers
 Palettes choose their artists
 Darkness chooses the light
 Stars choose their heavens
 Stripes chose the Zebra
 Tusks chose the Elephant
 Antlers chose the stag
 The roar chose the Lion
 The hiss chose the Snake
 Fall chooses its colors, or does He ordain that?
 Winter color is mostly white
 With some shades of grey
 Families, race, ethnicity and skin color are chosen for us. 
 Life is given to each one
 The gift of a ticket-less journey
 Be the ride bumpy or smooth
 The path is not strewn with roses
 Silver spoons feed random mouths 
 The choice of destination to be wisely planned.  
The hour of death is not of our choosing 
Copyright Kavita 2020

Just Keep Holding Me Tight

5 Replies

I am impatient
and little insecure.
I am mad at times,
just keep holding me tight.

Only light can drive out darkness.
Only you can bury my sadness.
Only you know how to make me smile,
just keep holding me tight.

Dont ask me what is wrong,
just care to hold on,
not a blink in my eye,
just keep holding me tight.

You are the most precious,
the pearl that shines the brightest in dark,
the intimacy of speaking with your eyes,
just keep holding me tight.

No matter what happens,
how far we physically are,
never ever say goodbye,
just keep holding me tight.

~Mehak Varun

Dummy

5 Replies

In the darkened gloom

of a wooden tomb,

you kept me smothered

in a dank ,musty cloth,

my burial shroud wrapped around me,

like nightmares wrap themselves

around my dreams

were I be allowed to dream,

to suffocate on my own dust

passing time watching iron nails rust,

distant noises muffled

my own screams caught in a throat

that cannot issue its own currency of speech,

my counterfeit visage

its motionless mouth,

my fugue turns a darker shade of night;

until,

until,

until you release me

on parole again;

and as I sit obediently on your knee,

the applause reaches its crescendo

and you bow your head

as Charles did upon the chopping block

to which my thoughts stray

and before you put me back

into the wooden tomb,

I know now,

what I must do…

Progress

5 Replies

Like the clouds you drifted
away to distant land
In pursuit of your dreams.
You endeavoured to gain
A life of affluence,
Leaving hearts parched behind.

The glitter of strange land,
New places and faces
Captivate , mesmerize,
Lifestyles entice , provides,
Ostentation presides.
Success is misconstrued.

Engrossed deep in your strive
To ameliorate life
Success prioritized,
Bonding gets compromised .
Your visits become few
swapped by excuses new.

Feelings wane away as,
You endlessly explore
While far back at home,
Vacant eyes search for the
Happiness and warmth,
that money can’t purchase.

Your loving grandma
turns stoic, keeps counting days,
Ears hung to phone bell ,
eagerly for your news awaits.
Living for all these years
Vicariously through you.

The doors await your steps,
festivities miss you.
While  the loved ones remain
impatient   for you                                                                                                                                       to  restore  their lost smiles.
And make this house a home once more.

Dictionary

8 Replies

The situation was undesirable
They finally found a way out
All the words in use
Were withdrawn without a warning.
New words were released
For everyday usage;
Gentle and hopeless
Patriotic and amiable
Castrated words.
Daily usage of words were restricted
To minimal numbers
So as not to Multiply
What is said to be
Cursed words!
That is how the country produced
A dictionary with least number of words
The country is all quiet now.