Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Ebbtide Mannequins

I woke up inside some cave

With drunk flowers and a prayer

The sun and moon were sleeping

And I met my Master there


He came down from the naked clouds

With snakeskin eyes and a rainbow-snippet

For all I ever yearned to own

Was a goldfish and that windkissed puppet



"Look, master, look!

All the words you spoke

Comes true at this hour

In the weary eyes of smoke!"


"Look, master, look!

I see your temple door

I see your broken light

Like I've never seen before!"


"Look, master, look!

I've no more fear

I've no more dreams

And no more songs to hear!"



Master, with slow floating clouds,

Was a child of the last-night-glow

With electric fragments of the street

To kiss the Angels of ivory snow


Master, he drank up from the gutters

Those neoned drops of gold

With lightened bolts of the I-circled mind

As lamp-flamed dew-drums rolled



Before the walls come closer

And before the roofs drown

Master seeks his frozen flute

In the mist-lit circus town


Before the sidewalks burn

In the bull-eyed red

To dream of lost kingdoms

By the wasted riverbed



Let's play the dumb-charade

By the ruins of that haze

Where chasing shadows fade

In the fading shadow-chase



And stuck, between the words

There, in the photographed cold

Every picture, in every altar

Signs of hands you couldn't hold


Master hides his silver

In the dream-bound puke-green grass

As mind becomes the body

By the three-horned jet-swim glass


And in that other subtle storm

Of purple five-hand-draws

Like bones and wishing stones

Which break down all your laws


Too much foam and froth

From the skulls of the beast

As he steps down from the mirror

To your bookmarked wrist


By every throbbing shade

Sitting next to me

The bewitched treasure trove

Of hidden ecstasy



I stole the wildest halo

From some rattle ruffled slur

To scale the gunned-down edges

Of that methyl Vedic blur


I saw the currents bloom

With lotus-serpent-coil

And the boot-heels of the foothills

In the corpse-damp soil



Master, by the bridge

Though it's easy not to speak

With music crack-voiced arms

And a million wounds to lick. Lick



I wake up with my knife

And ice-flame hiccup rings

With cracks that run too deep

And all those life-rust things


You stand up on your head

You try to eat the skies

You paint your timeless clocks

And kiss the dead man's eyes


As first came the worship

In law abiding motions

With sexless rhapsodies

And senseless Delphic visions



You stand in the subways

And see those flying brooms

Of witches from the moon

And thus the desert blooms!


Those wait-thirsty roots

From the beach-Viking-roads

With flicker flag-pole glints

And those hitchhiking toads



And Master melts the candled feathers

From the wax-curtained veins

With pieces from our ancient tethers

And whatever that remains


And Master sees your face

Stone-fanned, Gothic, flame-tongue

And Master takes your heart,

Own hand, magic, name-stung



And Master soars so high

On battered bats' wings

His song is long and true

Silence, while he sings!


And Master owns the dark

And the hands of empty graves

When midnightmadness haunts

And colours rule the waves


My trembling temples tumble

As Master brings the light

From those nylon nymphs

In the deathsome star-scarred night



Friday, August 20, 2010

Nineteen Lost Images

Nineteen steps to the candle

And the first wings fluttered

Nineteen songs to the gods

For the final words uttered


And you close your ancient pages

For new songs to be sung

And Phoenix is a myth

For tears that had stung


Living through the pictures

Save my fallen day

Grace this broken night

Running by the clay


And nineteen crooked eyes

With withered fingers call

Creatures of the darkness

And I am standing tall!


Prayers for the forest

For the wildest muscle-rains

And the mountain-swollen moon

With nineteen stolen pains


Throes of desert-birth


For children of the flame

To pawn your plastic mask

In return of a name



For the worship grows taller


In our night-weary sighs

As mirrors hide those scars

Of nineteen bitter lies



The same old ill-starched stage


The fox and the hare

You reach out for the skies

There's a sniper hiding there


That strange light beneath

the jaws of the cold

You need a hopeless house

To find that hidden gold


The window hides this void

With nineteen fallen leaves

to burn my shadow down

And the river never forgives

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Tumi

Tumi shob kichhu ekta shonkher bhitorey lukiye rekhechho

Aar shankhota rekhechho gobheer shomudrer neechey

Ekanto nijer bhitorey, bishonno dhushor alo-e, andhokaar-e


Ami shankho ta chai na,

Shudhu eituku bolchhi jey ota kothaye royechhey ami jani

Bhoy peyo na, churi korbo na…….

Joma-Khoroch

Shukher bhitor-e kichhu dukkho joma hoye achhey
Shukher bheeshon alo, dukkhora tai lukiye porey
Shukher bheeshon aagun, dukkhora tai kNukrey gYachhey

Raat gobheer hoye geley dukkho gulo mukh baraye
Haat bariye shoratey chaye bhultey chaoar porda ta
Raat gobheer hoye geley dukkho ra shob pothey naamey

Takhon jodi kashto hoy, amake deko nahoy?
Takhon jodi ekla laagey, ami hNattey raaji
Tomar shukhey amar kono dabi nei, dukkho holey esho
Dukkho holey mone rekho, ami kachhei thaki……

Theko

Bikeler ga dhuye shonajhhuri phutey achhey, chokhey klanti achhey
achhey bet-bon,
kishorir hashi hoye laal-neel churi,
khNacha achhey,
daana achhey,
achhey shutokata ghuri


Chithhi chhilo, srot chhilo, chhilo rupo-makha chNad , chhai hoye chithhi niye mukhey, jolchhobi eNkey-chhilo dhulomakha chul, Hall-ghor jora tai thomthomey
bYatha aar raatjaaga elomelo sharosher mato,

Ekhon o shob-kichhu achhey
Aaguner koler kachhey
Phulki hoye, jonaki hoye, tumi o achho, jani

Theko

Sheydin

Sheydin ghaat-e kono nouko bNadha chhilo na,
Ghumiye chhilo kshoyate khYapa chNad
Sheydin raasta kono alonkaar porey ni
Kuasha taar mukh lukiyechhilo goliir konaye

Sheydin shahorer gobheer kshoto-gulo ningrey
Uthhey ashchhilo ektana jhhNijhhir shabdho
Haoa-e bhashchhilo du’ekta gachher konkaal
JYamon brishti shuney andho pakhi-ra phirey ashey

Sheydin tumi bheeshon ekla chhiley
Joldhaka ba Murti nodiir mato
Kuriye paoa purono jhhinuk-gulo
Chhoriye rekhechhiley udashiin baganey


Sheydin ghaat-e kono nouko bNadha chhilo na,
Tumi chhiley,
Eka

Sheydin pothey kono rakhal-balok ashey ni
Ami eshechhilam,
Eka

Onindyo-shundor

Brishti elo, bonya elo, elo bhishon jhhor
Akash jurey chokher alo - Onindyo-shundor!

Megher buk-e, dhheu-er bhNajey, oi toh tomar ghor!
Agun hoye purchho bujhhi,- Onindyo-shundor?

Udhao hawa-r kanna niye khelchhey nodiir chor
Sheikhane aaj gNathchho mala, Onindyo-shundor!

Jochhna mekhe ekla jaagey udash tepantor
Amar shathey poth hNatbey, Onindyo-shundor?

Rupo-chNad

Rupo-chNad jomechhilo brishtir meghey
Janala-r bYatha chhilo raat-bhor jegey
Akashey aagun hoye nodii-srot taaney
Rupo-chNad jochhonalii anmona gaaney

Rupo-chNad ghum holo agochhalo dhheu
Udashiin poth beye hNatchhe-toh keu!
KhNujechhi jiyon-kathhi pakhider doley
Rupo-chNad raat-porii chhaya porey joley

Rupo-chNad, bhashayechho kagojer nao?
Majhhi nai, dNar nai, trishna metao
Du’chokhey baalir daak, shunyo-chhNoaa
Rupo-chNad-nodii holo punyotoaa

Rupo-chNad, poornima, alor maala
Rupo-chNad, bhulbi na shukher jWala?
Rupo-chNad, tumi bujhhi Krishnochura?
Alo hawo, chhaya hawo, shwopnatura…

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Sudden Strange Blindness

You open up the skies

To paste the pests in haste

To store your hidden sighs

In the glowing aftertaste


By the magic river cruise

With a brainful of those scars

With strings getting loose

Somewhere closer to the stars


Those shapes of holy night

Dancing through the mist

With eyes shining bright

The beast and the priest


And light hides the night

To cast its dreary spell

And bats take their flight

Down the wishing well


Mind blooms a flower

Up those hazy climes

Yearning for the shower

Through these crazy rhymes


Those holy lions roar

At lilies floating by

And through this moonlit lore

The night is blazing high!


You open up the skies

You need to drink the flame

There's fire in your eyes

And dreams you sought to tame


There's this wild hawk

It knows how you've been

The lizard stole the clock

And that broken violin


Burn your withered sighs

And the poison that was stored

The eagle rules the skies

With this ageless, edgeless sword


All the nameless names

In the lantern-glow

Written in those frames

Where rivers run slow


The maskman hid the sky,

The veil ate the frost

And there's a chain to tie

Every thing that's lost


You keep the petals burning

You know you must live

You know the world is turning

But mirrors never forgive


All your roots need water

For all the words you'd said

Didn't really matter

To your rusted razor-blade



Friday, August 6, 2010

Shokti Chattopadhyay ebong Amra









শক্তি যদি হাঁড়িয়া হত, এক চুমুকে সাবড়ে দিতাম

শক্তি যদি বৃষ্টি হত, উদোম গায়ে খুব ভিজতাম

শক্তি যদি খোয়াই হত, বিকেল বেলা-এ হারিয়ে যেতাম

শক্তি যদি পলাশ হত, তুলতাম না, ভুলতাম না


কিন্তু শক্তি কবি হল,

নিষ্ঠাভরা কাঙাল হল,

আকাশ হল, আগুন হল,

আগুন-খেকো দুঃখ হল,

মাটির ভিতর শিকড় হল,

জৈষ্ঠ্য মাসের প্রখর হল,

তৃষ্ণা ভরা ফাটল হল

কৃষ্ণচূড়ার মাদল হল

বিষ-ফোয়ারা কণ্ঠে নিল,

কষ্টগুলো পুড়িয়ে দিল,

সুখের জ্বালা জুড়িয়ে দিল


আর আমরা?


আমরা

পিদিম জ্বেলে,কুঁয়োতলায়,

সোনার ফিতে,রূপোর থালায়,

বুকের ভিতর জোছ্না নিয়ে,

ঠোঁটের উপর ঠোঁট নামিয়ে,

ঝিঁঝিঁর গানে, হৃত্-পীড়িতে,

সুখের টানে, যাই ফিরিতে,

রইতে হল, বৈঠা ঠেলে

কথার কথা, কই বা এলে?


ডুবতে হল, ঘুমের ঘোরে

মাঝ-দরিয়ার অনেক দূরে

সাতকাহনের নীলচে ভোরে

ভেল্কি দেখাও, টুকরো সুরে

উল্কি আঁকাও, আকাশ জুড়ে

পাল্কি ছোটাও, রাতদুপুরে

ঊল্কা হয়ে অলীকপূরে

কাঙাল, তুমি যাচ্ছ পুড়ে?


শক্তি যদি কবি না হত,

কাঙাল না হত,

আমরা তাহলে ডুবতাম না, ভাসতাম না, পুড়তাম না, এমনকি উড়তেও শিখতাম না,


নিয়ম, অনিয়ম, বেনিয়মের হিসেব নিকেশ গুলো তো আর অঙ্কের ক্লাসে শেখা যায় না!



Thursday, August 5, 2010

Mithye-Kotha

Shara raat aguner mukh
Shara raat phaala phaala shukh

Lubdhok, ChNad Hoye

Tumi lubdhok chNad shejey eshechhiley
KNuo-r bhitorey porey geley eka
Benojol kopikol chNad unmukh
Obikol shei-motey aga-gora shukh, tumi lubdhok,
ChNad shejey eshechhiley, michhimichhi
pahar churoye
bhalobeshechhiley,
bhalobeshechhiley, hijibiji jol-chhobi shaap-er kholosh
bhalobeshechhiley, elochul buno-phool matir kolosh, bhalobeshechhiley,
khhapchhara dhheu hoye, bhalobeshechhiley
chabuker chumboney, bhalobeshechhiley
shamuker shondhaney, bhalobeshechhiley
bheeshon bhalobeshechhiley,
lubdhok,
lubdho bidushok, kruddho protarok,
chNad hoye, neel-machhi hoye, mithye hoye,



aNdharmoni….

Chenrezig

Chenrezig, there,
the brightest jewels –

A lion wrapped in blankets

A lotus lost in trumpets
And for those who can feel –
The great wombs of the wheel

A thousand silent arms all around those thousand cold minds

in this deathless blue chamber with a thousand naked mirrors

And when it rains,

Remember the eyes,
Watching you, watching…
Pure,
and still…

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Waking up

Waking up by some river,
trying to remember how your dung-pillow
gulped the moon down last night,
and realizing that you have no enemies and no friends,
brings bliss,
at times

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Inside

From here.
A couple of steps into the cemetery
and the mundane mud of the moon
Smears
The bats.
There were four or five last night.
Adjusting their first flight
With the sound but not the light

Three more fences to mount

Three more stars to count

From here,

the rum-rattled battles
of the calm window-tamed winds,
the ill-famed sunflower
and the inflamed gunpower….
And thus,
They write of us

Circling all around

Death-bound

Flame, flame, what’s your name?

Name, name, what’s your shame?
Shame, shame, what’s your game?

Hell, too much water in the system

Water has eyebrows it can’t raise
Is your sister Modesty Blaise?

And there,

with a lopsided view of time, space
and other jaded dimensions in between -
Three hundred birds took their light from your eyes
And you, blind,
Trying to read these words,
Oblivious to the facts of oblivion