an anthology of English Verses by brotee mukhopadhyay

an Anthology of English Verses

brotee mukhopadhyay

Contents:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

dark is the day

mayflowers

down with you!

scared i am to scale the lanes

he rests on the dust

sky is the limit

silence

save love

if darkness intrudes, first it does

spine

si-mul-tane-ous-ly

the statue

men are different

a non-ephemeral drinks

dark is the day

dark is the day
dark sings a bird
my lonely lane bathed with the silent dark blood
expects I say
one word or two
when I find my lips suddenly dark

dark is the day
a dark knife has just kissed the bosom of my earth
dark are her eyes
with the darkest ever tears

yes, it is just that
it is just that
the blasting program of this evening is just over

mayflowers

two ends of the mist folding with my hands

to the man in misery

told i :

i've come with the mayflowers

mayflowers for you

into my bosom embedded

and my bosom has been rocking

when a village at a glance withers away

as if to follow my tears

destined to be dried up for the right last round

my dream, (may be it is so), is not over teens

with limbs still feeble

and with bones still soft

and pungent in odor

but is well in the journey from green to yellow

a stream like a stream turns

and devours victory-stands one or two

one old confer is uprooted

when on the day of a pensive finale

somewhere at the foothill of the ice-clad mountains

one more first day of an age of stone raises its head

again my voice is low :

i've come with the mayflowers

mayflowers for you

into my bosom embedded

and my bosom has been rocking

my family of misery in front of me

keeps its quiet hand on the dilapidated gate

and exerts pressure on the lower lips with a couple of teeth from the upper jaws

noiseless

but i know and i'm sure :

only for my sake the grey soil

bursts its core

so that the sun greets the green

and i sprinkle water

and i sprinkle tears

and even my blood i sprinkle

down with you!

a boy missed to call his mother

a moment just

and he died

and he died before he could call

and he could not even know

right earlier

his mother had been killed

this scene a hoard of camels saw

they were on a run

with unheard ever earsmashers all around them

and they were all ashified

by the carpet of fire, fire of the hell

this scene a hoard of camels saw

then from the womb of the acres of cotton

beneath a sunless sky

from the eerie darkness of the railway tunnels

thro' the mountains deformed

from the caves of the ship

stationed voiceless

after cartoons of tea were thrown to the jetties

beneath a sunless sky

thousands of head did rise

black and black and black

and they did rise with burnt centuries on their back

air now willed to have wings

and willed to move away to the sky

and water of the rivers willed to hide face

as if no speech it had ever

and a bird of tiny beak

with the entire snow of the earth on the wings

wept and wept and wept

and a conifer remained straight

and remained rigid

and remained spined

and a curse it hurled :

down with you !

down with you !

down ! down ! down !

scared i am to scale the lanes

scared i am to scale the lanes

down memory lanes you call

a cotton-soft bosom who dares open

and points me at the blood-letting wounds!

have i really walked through the lanes?

scared i am to proceed more

when suddenly frontier of death is highlighted

the sun was kind and the wood was like my sister

the sun was kind and the rivers were like my friends

the sun was kind and man and woman loved

when battles against violence were settled in my favor

and not in my favor more

scared i am to scale the lanes

when suddenly frontier of death is highlighted

he rests on the dust

he rests on the dust

fragrance of tears around

to nobody he is a weapon

a weapon he is still

that a weapon he is still many of us know

we know he does suffer while taking a side

and wars continue

and I've touched him with this hand

and I've learned that he is not dead

and nor even in a sleep

his lips are closed

and eyes overflowing water woe and wonder of beautiful life

he rests on the dust

fragrance of tears around

to nobody he is a weapon

sky is the limit

whose sky this is and where the limit is

after i've sprayed radioactivities

from plants of the states

where birds leave the nests

and children cross the street

with splinters ready to greet

whose sky this is and where the limit is

when spirit of the time suffers in the cities

trapped in the blasts at the call of any faith

nothing new is yielded and old order changeth

let us drink and dance and celebrate this day

in a huge slaughter house, come, let us play

silence!

silence!

the dusk is very close.

silence!

a hide is near.

only you know I'm with you

and an envious star stretches

its pencil arms

towards the best treasure of the universe,

your lips,

I mean.

silence!

there'll be a bang in my heart

resembling those chimes of the bell long back

sprouted from an aryan temple.

silence!

no more I can bear

only you know I'm with you

alone.

save love

save love

whatever you may offer me to love

i do not love, dear friends,

nothing may be had from whatever is offered

save love

from globules to gold

whatever

fragrance of flowers or waves of music

my wind may not find

if it runs from pillar to pillar

my wind may not find

even if it runs

ask me to be ready to welcome a bullet

ask me to have a life in a dark cell

again i will say

save love

whatever you may offer me to love

i do not love

save love

if darkness intrudes, fast it does

if darkness intrudes, fast it does

with its eyes set on the school

with its eyes set on the church

on the hospital and cemetery crossing just

darkness devours everything what I hold

and begins to dance

if darkness intrudes a little sound it leaves

it leaves a little sound for tears and wailing

or even a sound that you may have heard

when a factory is declared for ever closed

darkness is crowned silently

as in one January morn

the body of my loving son

rests motionless

just at his varsity’s gate

if darkness intrudes, fast it does

spine

even a while after he has left

he is in a chair besides me still

a while ago

he should go i wished

i don’t understand how he does tell

and he has been telling what and what

as if he is addicted to some scorching truth

as if his barefooted ventures are

miles away from what we have learned to be true

he has left and the overcast sky is close to my head

suddenly one in me shouts:

come on again, please! come on once!

i have gathered moments of my utter hesitation –

the deserving flowers of this night

who knows somewhere still remains one

whose spine does not fold

even a while after he has left

he is in a chair besides me still

si-mul-tane-ous-ly

resolved not to speak

and not even spoken ever

dry waves of miseries in the air float

and my day once again begins for the ancient funeral rites

settled in a territory where you cannot separate terror from trust

pagan-colored canopy instead of the soft blue sky was over my head

people assembled

as if in a feast

they don’t have lips really

and instruments they have to emit slogans:

blood is the desired

blood of human beings

people assembled wearing varieties of uniforms

still strangely look-alike they all appear

the arena was not empty

resolved not to speak

and not even spoken ever

in a stretch of land between veiled lie and unveiled truth

my eyes glanced with love and smile at the restless green beneath

i still wonder

how it did occur

i have not uttered a single word

right they have heard

they have heard rightly too

a k forty seven

down! down! down! down! down!

yes, roared i

si-mul-tane-ous-ly

the statue

a statue has been set to be removed

entered one and spat

entered one and kicked

and the two threw their colored hats up in the air

and the two danced for a minute or more

then it is a crane

a huge crane

and points of sweat on the forehead of the crane-driver

points of sweat on the forehead of his associates

the statue has been set to be removed

the ruler pleases

i am not a god

the statue whispers

whispers to the ear of the old woman

who has failed to check her tears of a century

i am not a god

the statue whispers

whispers to the ear of the old man

whose lips were heavy with the curses of a century

the statue said:

i am not a god

the beautiful hands and the beautiful eyes and the beautiful minds

who had created this statue

hold my dream

the beautiful hands and the beautiful eyes and the beautiful minds

who had created this crane

hold my dream

the points of sweat on the forehead of the crane-driver

the points of sweat on the forehead of his associates

hold my dream

even today

nothing else the statue said

men are different

nights stare at me

and await i reflect

days too stare

and await i reflect

in the column

my sky and the conifer stand

men are different

lanes of labor on a run

they wave hankies

red and blue and yellow and green

while in motion

while in motion

ask :

don't you have a tale to tell ?

a tale which is exclusively yours ?

A non-ephemeral drinks

leaves are dropped
days too
a non-ephemeral drinks as if the sun is

and also a heart that you do not see
my babes know
and know those who are pleased
to kill the born
my girls know
and know those who are pleased
to chew the bones

leaves are dropped
days too
a non-ephemeral drinks as if my heart is

and leaves are young
days sunny
my heart yields flowers of dream
when to a rope-walk I am led
when a hanky I do search
when a hanky I do find
a hanky stained with blood from bones

a non-ephemeral drinks as if my heart is

[I do humbly submit some of English poems in this site. I shall be obliged if any of my friends or viewers of Allvoices.com finds pleasure.]