Bhoirob

ভৈরব

একনাগাড়ে হেঁচকি তুলে এক চুমুকে তরঙ্গময়

বিষকলসি সাফ করেছি ভেল্কিবাজির এক লহমায়

এক টানে ওই চাঁদের কাছেই মিশতে হবে আমবাগানে

শব্দ-মেশা স্বপ্ন নেশা বনতুলসীর নূতন গানে

ঝর্ণাজলে হোঁচট খেলে উদাস আকূল কৌতূহলে

খসছে তারা হৃদয়হারা জোছনা ব্যাকুল আকাশতলে

উৎসবে আর ঘূর্ণিঝড়েও মুহুর্মুহু তেষ্টা বাড়ে

হাতের মুঠোয়ে আলোর মালা থমকে থাকার চেষ্টা করে

যে নৌকো টা ভাসিয়েছিলে ভাসছে আজ-ও গহীন জলে

হঠাৎ ভীষণ কান্না পাবে এসব কথা বলতে হলে

কান্না পেলে-ই আকাশ ভরা তাক্ ধিনাধিন্ আলগা ছড়া

বন্যা এসে উঠবে হেসে কোন্ সীমাহীন মিথ্যে গড়া

চিতাবাঘের ওত পাতা চোখ পাতার আড়াল সত্যি ভেবে

এই চিতা হায় সেই চিতা নয় এই চিতাতে পুড়তে হবে

হঠাৎ করে কাঁপছে বুঝি উত্তুরে কোন কম্পাসেরই

কাঁটার ভিতর রুক্ষ পাথর নিরুত্তর সে দুখ্-বাঁশরি

সেই কিশোরীর হলুদ ফ্রকে ফুলের আগুন লালচে আভা

পাগল হয়ে স্রোতের মাথায়ে ফুটতে থাকে রক্তজবা

শিরার ভিতর রক্ত ফোটে নতুন ভোরেই জবাই কোরে

যা করছি তা লজ্জাজনক কিন্তু সেটা সবাই করে

হাঁড়িকাঠটা তৈরী আছে গিলোটিনেও কঠিন মাথা

ভীমরতি বা আত্মরতির হরেক প্রকার রীতিপ্রথা

কালকে রাতে একলা যেও দেওয়াল লিখন লিখতে হলে

কল্কে হাতে থাকব বসে রাখব মাথা নদীর কোলে

গেছো-ভূত আর বাদুড় মিলে একসাথে হয় স্কন্ধকাটা

বলতে পারো বাল বকছে হতচ্ছাড়া মাতাল ওটা

নদীর লাল সে রক্ত নয় রে! সূর্যডুবি আলতা ধুয়ে

উল্কি আঁকা ফুল্কি ছোটে উল্কা-শিখার হল্কা হয়ে

একটানা ফের ক্লান্তি আনে শূন্য-ধোয়া দুঃখহরণ

সবার শেষে শান্তি আনে পূণ্যতোয়া প্রেমোচ্চ্বারণ

অন্তমিলের আড়ম্বরে হেঁইয়া মারো হ্যাঁচকা টান

শঙ্খচিলের স্বয়ম্বরে ছুঁড়তে হবে মৃত্যুবাণ

আলগা ফিতে ছড়িয়ে দিতে লজ্জাবিহীন উলঙ্গতা

রাতদুপুরে আঁকড়ে ধরে শয্যাত্যাগী ঝুমকোলতা

শিকার চোখে পাথর বুকে চিবুকচাবুক জাগুক একা

ভয় কে যারা জয় করেছে আমার সাথে করুক দেখা

ছাই মেখে তাও বাঁচতে হলে বাছতে পারো এই শ্মশান

কলজে ঘিরে নৃত্যরতা হাতছানি বা লিঙ্গত্থান

সবিস্তারে রংবাহারি সেই প্রহরীর রাত্রি জাগা

ধুসর সে’সব রেলের গাড়ির একলা চলার আত্মশ্লাঘা

মৎস-খেকো বৎস তুমি বীভৎসতার উৎসমুখে

রক্ত-বমি-পুঁজ নিয়ে তাও রয়েছ দেখি দিব্যি সুখে

চিৎকারে আর শীৎকারে ফের রাত্রি জমে শিকড়মূলে

হিংসচোখা বন্য শ্বাপদ থমকে থাকে শিকার ভুলে

ছন্নছাড়া খণ্ডগুলো ছিটকে থাকুক ইতস্তত

অন্ধকারের মধ্যে আমি জ্বলব একাই আলোর মত

কুঁয়োর ভিতর গৃহস্থালি শুঁয়োপোকার পাকস্থলী

শুয়োরকাটা করাল খাঁড়ায় ন্যাংটা নাচেন জয় মা কালী!

মরচে পরা উদরস্ফীত মরছে যারা সবাই মৃত

ঢিশুম-ঢুশুম জবাকুসুম জবাবদিহির ক্ষমায় স্থিত

বারুদঠাসা মেঘের ভিতর হঠাৎ করে বাদুরঝোলা

ভাসান হলে আসিস নাহয় সাঙ্গ হবে সিঁদুরখেলা

ক্ষতস্থানের গর্তগুলোয় বিষ ঢেলেছি আগুনছেঁকা

পারিস যদি এসব ভুলে আমার সামনে দাঁড়িয়ে দেখা

Prothom Dolon-chNapa

Ki bheeshon teebrota-e akoshmik aleya phutey othhey!
Onek jotno niye, opekkha-r shesh pranto jakhon obhimaani hoye
upekkhar shatochchhinno molat-e naam lekhabey boley
kshoye asha rong-pencil gulo dhaar nilo,
tumi ki bujhhechhiley, jey ebar notun gaan shuru hotey cholechhey?
Bagan-o gaan hoy, kobi-r o bihbol hobar shomoy phuriye ashey
Rong-moshal er shesh ongsher bali dekhey bheeshon kanna petey chaye
Aar kuchkaoaj korey othhey kichhu paal-tola tithi-otithi-bisMriti


Ekhaney nodii kato ta nabyo jani na,
Shei nodiir paarey jey boshey achhey shey tupi-oala
na bNashi-oala tao jaani na,
Tulor bhitor kato purono kshoto-chinher rokto akash ta ke ningrey niyechhilo
Tao jaani na
Jana ohetuk.


Tobey jakhon prothom Dolon-chNapa phutlo,
Takhon koyek muhurter jonyo holeo,
Ki pranpon chabukey chabukey shaw-nishthho teshta
bukey niye bNechey achhi,
Sheyta bhuley thaka banchhoniyo.
Karon shikor gulo o shei nibiir trishna
phatoler shWash-rudhho phawna-r gobheerey
dhorey rekhe-i phool photaye

Gachhera paarey, amra pari na?

Dots and Letters

You told me
about a temple
where you needn’t force your prayers
Trust me,
I would’ve gone there,
But I’m too tired
and there’s no one left to lend me
their wings or their purple flood

Well,
maybe there’s no temple,
and there’s no prayer
And yet,
I see you at times
In my silence.

In that park-bench,
White, repulsive,
with a scarlet skull and snow in his eyes
that giant bug we had once decided to pet
Sits, all alone, abandoned
For the man has got out of its skin today
And he stays in an attic room with a million mirrors.


The blue man with all his rainbow plumes
is too naked and too ashamed of his nakedness now
He pretends that he’s lost in the mist
He isn’t
The daylight’s too harsh, and way too much truthful
to comfort all those mirages.
I know.
No, I don’t,
I just pretend that I do.

Paper-Boat

Paper boat.

Float.

Float till the sun turns into a sunflower….

Melancholia

Far far away

in the hills

it’s raining....

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



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

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…

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



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!

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…

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

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

Orun Borun Kironmaala

DNariye chhilo neerob shonkho-maala
Takiye chhilo bYartho pujor thala
Ulto roth-er udash shondhye-bYala,
Orun, Borun, ebong Kironmaala

Akash jurey ajob alor khYala
Dekhiye chhilo brishti-bhNepu-mYala
Lutiye chhilo ujan sroter bhYala
Orun Borun ebong Kironmaala

Orun, Borun, ebong Kironmaala
ShWapno chhNuye ChNad Bonik-er Paala
Sposhto chhilo koshto paoar jWala
Ebar amar hariye jaoar paala!

Of Dreams and Pugmarks

Beer-sick nights
Children rolling around in bear-fever
Mothers needing to bear these children forever

Fifty nine pages of ill-digested laments
And they reach stardom for the same sacred werewolves

I’ve seen such nights naked in my bed
Dancing atop the mountains for the fools’ Sinai
Ah, what a sight -
Madness dancing atop sadness!

Prisoners filling up the sky
There’s no cup of gold or fountain of life
It’s just these crumpled yellow pages
And an old, forsaken Hart Crane sighing in my garden

……………………………………………………………………

…………………………

By the way, have I told you about my garden flowers?
I guess not, for there aren’t any…

I see these green slopes
I feel the water crying through them,
through those green leaves which hide the desert

And, unlike Casanova,
I prefer to talk a lot, though I never listen
Let me explain why,
You see, I’m not ready to share my silence with anybody
And I’m not interested in anybody’s silence but mine

…………………………………………………………………… ……………………….

Roofs – they close down at times
And at other times they just disappear
You look at the cat catwalking along the window-sill,
You hear the strange harmony of the clock
and think that it’s Time talking to you
And you start visualizing some graveyard with
thirty eight clumsy rows and forty five orderly columns of scarecrows in place of crosses

Well, a clown’s judgment never gets clouded
Because the cloud is here,
between my lips,
And there,
between the skulls of motion and stillness

…………………………………………………………………… …………………

When the curtain drops,
And the puppet-master decides to call it a day,
The strings get loose,
You start thinking of the stars and madness and eternity….



Even then, freedom is essential

And, here I stand:
A scarred moon with broken jaws and hollow eyes.

…………………………………………………………………… …………………………

Shibi

Eto’ta raasta hNetey
jani na kothaye eshey pNouchhechhi,
Janmo-udashiin kono sroter
kachhey bujhhi
Kono ekta
odbhut gobheer godhuli’r gaye
koyekta aNchor
Koyekta khapchhara shonajhhuri,
koyekta bishonno mouchak….

……………………………………………………………………

………………………..

Chhilo, upaye chhilo,
Chhilo jeeboner abokash,
Neel-shada upotyoka…
Urey gechhi, bohu durey,
Dana’ra’o poth phirey chaye…

Tumi ki bolo ni?
Bojhho ni aleya bhul?
Ami eka roi
Eka porey roi
Jotil anko eNke…

…………………………………………………………………… …………………………

Jani na kisher khNojey
bali shoriyechhi eto’din…

Tot-rekha jurey jol-kada-bisrinkhol,
Juddhye raatrey koshto,
Koshto paatar bhNajey
Alo noy, abir noy, brishti-teshta’o noy
Gachh chai, aaro gachh, shobuj
snigdho aloron….

…………………………………………………………………… …………………………

Pakhi’ra-o chena shWadhinota-e phirey ashey
Manush-ta ekhono porey,
Tepantorer nesha-e,
Badur-jhhola Chhayapoth-e,
Megh-chNad-prodiip-er chiroporichito carnival-e….

…………………………………………………………………… …………………………

Asholey abeg noy, onubhuti noy,
Emon ki kono goheen upolobdhi
ba uchchwaron-o noy

Kobir ashol shombol holo
Aguner probol akorshon:
Purey jaoar aar puriye deoar
obaadh onabil nishthhurota….

…………………………………………………………………… ………………..

Vajra Guru

That was nothing. A flash of masks
And a mad dash.
And the tarantulas have hit the streets now!
Right now! A million and fifty three of them
Some of them are really asleep
Others need to take a dump in the wet
symmetry of the sunflower-esque half-dreams
I kiss you, now. Right now.

And then came the quadrilaterals
Flying –
floating in the infinite space
between time, god and toothaches
Vibgyor quadrilaterals, and,
And I imagine a lion. And a lion imagines me
And the harmony imagines the silence
And the silence imagines the harmony
And distant drums rumble

I want to make love to Pandora.

Those who stay at home are fools
The Home is on fire
Those who stay in the sky are fools
The Sky is a liar

Take my broken bugle and give me your beastly flag in return

Mind goes to the forest
And becomes a tree
And there’s a corner of your room
Where the bohemian telephone squats,
perched atop the sun…..


Those small squares have somehow
disappeared from the vials, and the candle is just this little throbbing dot
closer to my eyes, a friend to a friend of the tides.

Time and tide wait, and keep on waiting, for a nun
The nun is dead. Her lips are cold. Her flesh is the earth
She isn’t my mother.

We live and we believe

“Namo Ratna Trayaya,
Namo Arya Jnana
Sagara, Vairochana,
Byuhara Jara Tathagataya,
Arahate, Samyaksam Buddhaya”


.


I have conquered fear. So fear me.





And the hunchbacked gatekeeper must begin with his fire-sermon…..

Pujo Ashchhey?

Contact Lens

Bolechhiley alo jwoley megh nibhey geley
Shwopnera heshey jaye smito torutoley
Bolechhiley bhanga ghor jora laagey joley
Akashey holdey chhai aguner koley


Bolechhiley chNad ashey brishtir daakey
Mombati tuli hoye jolchhobi aNkey
Taara-der tim-tim-ey kuashar fNakey
Dukkho lukiye pheley jonaki-ra thakey

Bolechhiley udashiin ghurider thhNotey
Nibhey jaoa phulki-ra phool hoye photey
Jonguley jochhna-e praan jegey othhey
Herey jaoa kobita-ra lakho-lakho jotey…..


Onek kichhu-i toh bolechhiley,
Proshno hochchhey, ami shunechhilam ki?

..........................

..................................................................................................

Siren

Tirey shariboddho prohoriira
Chorey jegey achhey, gachhey andhokarey lukochuri
Andho prohoriira chokh dhar nYay
chNader kachh thekey,
manusher oshukh ekhono sharatey paarey ni nodii…

Okhaney ullekhjogyota paabey boley,
Aleya-e, buk-e kaada makha-makhi alo
Okhaney lonthhon dYakha-e, bari noy,
Bari theke beronor poth, okhaney klanti taaney

Ajosro nouko, ashonkhyo akankha….

Tirey shariboddho prohoriira,
Nodii-te najor-bondii manush…..

.......................... ...................................................................................................

Kholosh

Shoriirer bairey bohu jayega-e kshoto-chinho,
Bhitorey andhokarer ghran
Boshey thaka, shanto protisruti niye,
Gobheer-e upekkhar teebrota

Eka thaktey ekhono bheeshon bhoy hoy
Bagan achhey, phool achhey, ekta cheshta achhey
Aar du’ek phNota teshta achhey,
Sheykhane-i shikor amake ashwosto korechhey……

Shudhu jetty-r pashey kaadaye purono launch-er kholata
ekhono mukh thubrey porey achhey,

Aar amar-o ko’ek ta kholosh chharano baki….

.......................... ..................................................................................................

Choturthii

Koyekta daag porey achhey,
Daageder-o obhimaan achhey
Koyekta mummy amake dekhchhey
Mummy-ra o shobuj bhalobashey

Prokrito rohoshyo holo lukiye na thaka
Aguney pathorey neel, goponiyo rakha….

Jara banijye jaye tarao nabik…..

.......................... ..................................................................................................

Heimdall

Koyekta shukno khor-kuto-e agun dhorachchhi,
shiit kombey. Eka thaka-e haar-kNapano thhanda
Abar bhirbhatta-r jwalonto furnace-e, gham-e
shanti-r shiit o khNujtey hoy majhhe-shajhhey

Eto onushondhan klantikor,
Janla-gulo-i besh bhalo bondhu….

Ekta houd dhNoyasha halogen
Bosti-r chhadey chNad uthhechhey
Aaro onek du’rey,
koyekta mohakash-er o’parey
Prithibiir dikey takiye achhey nirbashito goli…

Ekhon-o chaar-tolar kotor thekey obak hoye cheye achhi,
Ekdin pothey naambo
Shey’din aar obaak hobo na……

.......................... ..................................................................................................

Kotor

Ekhono pordar araley tripti-ra haatchhani dYay
Ekhono kopal jurey kangal chNader alo….

Sheydin bheeshon teshta peyechhilo, ghumonor teshta
Bohudin ghumoi ni,
ghumono-r shwopney onek dhulo-bali jomey achhey
jegey thakar aaguney onek diner chitkaar

BNechey thaka maaney gupto-dhon nei jeneo
mati kopano
Bhalobasha maaney shei mati te-i brikkho-ropon…..

Shob jani, ami e-o jani jey
nodiir kono alonkaar laagey na,
srot-ei taar poripurnota

Tobu, eto kichhu jana shotweo,
Ami na-jana ta ke-i dinraat khNuje cholechhi

Nodii paar bhengey cholechhey….

.......................... ..................................................................................................

Lukiye

Andhokaar amake bheeshon bhalobashchhey
Amakey lukiye rekhechhey guptochor der thekey,
Manusher chokhey bheeshon alo,
Tai jonaki-rai apon
Manusher kanthho-shwor teebro
JhhNijhhNi-ra-i onek beshii ghonishtho

Andhokaar amakey bheeshon bhalobashey
Andhokaar aphshosh dhekey dYay…..

.......................... ..................................................................................................

Bibhinno Rongeen Shuto

Gobheer phNad pata achhey
mati-te, akashey,

Lukonor jayega kom,
Lukochuri-ta emni-tei bishakto khYala,
Aar ami-o shei kobey kon-kaaley
diary lekha chherey diyechhi….

Gobheer phNad pata achhey,
Gachhey, nodii-tey

Palanor upaye nei ekhon aar,
Mukho-mukhi dNarano-o bhiiti-prodo,
Chokh dhheke phYala ta anushthhanik,
Onekta mukhosh kholar mato

Jaara chhaya-e ot petey amake dekhchhey
Ami-o alor bhitor theke taader-kei dekhchhi.

Meye ta brishti dekhchhey
Brishti meye-ta ke dekhchhey

Mati theke manush dekhchhey airplane
Airplane theke manush dekhchhey mati

Gachh theke aagun dekhchhey srot
Nodii theke srot dekhchhey aagun….

Apatoto ami tai bibhinno rongeen shuto niye kheley cholechhi

.......................... ..............................................................................

Old Skins and Sold Sins

I have written a lot about you
I need to drink something new
Without me, the world is blind
And there’s a key I cannot find

I need the moon to glisten down
I hid the spoon to eat the town
You need my eyes to stare at me
And in my cage I am free

Why on earth shall I stand?
This is not my holy land
My holy land is far away
My holy hands are made of clay

My words are true, I am not
There are battles I had fought
Elephants have that scent of God
The King rules with his iron rod

That twenty-seventh rope is loose
And the thirty-ninth brings the booze
But I would rather stay at home
And keep on talking to the gods of Rome

My head, you see, is too proud for you
So here’s my ass, and the flower I drew
You are welcome to my house
But there's no milk, I've killed the cows

You hit the wall, you break it down
Your name is just that proper noun
Well the flames do listen to me
But I don’t really care, I’m just a tree

And no one must dare to ask
The reason why I wear this mask
In my garden the stars have claws
There’s the warden, he has his laws

I can’t feel, I’m not that strong
I’ll burn out, it won’t be long
But if you find me asleep again
Kiss the seas and bring the rain

Mother-chod ChNad

Mother-chod chNad tui hosh na kYano mod?
Amar thhNot bYakul holey shondhye-bYalar alo
Mother-chod chNad tui hosh na kYano mod?
Shukher bhitor ajgubi jol buker bhitor kaalo

Mother-chod chNad tui bondhu chhili bujhhi?
Megher bhitor alpona rong alta dhoya gaaney
Mother-chod chNad tui bondhu chhili bujhhi?
Mother-chod chNad ami kothaye torey khNuji?

Mother-chod chNad aye chokh rakhbo chokhey
Joar BhNata-r bhatiyali srot boithha gYalo koi?
Ekla ghorey pidim jWeley ekla shuye roi
Mother-chod chNad chol prem korbo tokey

Mother-chod chNad tui rakto mangshey gora
Bonbibi tor bonbhojon-er bonya holo khora
Mother-chod chNad tui hNariya makha dhheu
Tor abol-tabol matal madol shunbena aar keu

Mother-chod chNad tor nekrey taana roth
Mother-chod chNad tor shikor bNadha poth
Mother-chod chNad aye teshta diye ja
Mother-chod chNad aye koljey chhNirey kha

Mother-chod chNad aye bhashbi amar shathey
Rakto-joba-e korchhi pujo rakto makha haatey
Mother-chod chNad tor rupor pa-er kachhey
Brishti bheja aoaj gulo shanto hoye achhey

Mother-chod chNad, torey mrityu-dando debo
Akash jurey alor mala phatol jurey kotha
Bodhir pranii odhir jaani pNajor-bhora bYatha
Mother-chod chNad tumi prodiip hoye nebho

Mother-chod chNad, ami kNedechhi onek-kaal
Mother-chod chNad tor adim chokhhey bhoy
Kabor khNurey jochhna elo polash holo laal
Jhhorer mathaye nachtey holey nupur portey hoy

English aar Bangla

Ekjon-er alonkaar achhey, onyojon-er nei
Ekjon ahonkaari, onyojon udashii
Ekjon Bypass-er alo, onyojon ShNaotali madol

Ekjon cabaret nachey, onyojon khYamta
Ekjon purnima, onyojon omaboshya
Ekjoner onek bondhu, onyojon eka


Ekjon mohinii Park Street e Hiramon-tota-r rakto hoye hashey
Onyojon hotash Dharmotollar mor-ey bYakul hoye dukrey kNadey

Kintu,

Kintu du’jon-ei amake akasher khub kachha-kachhi niye jaye

Shadow Song

I met God for three seconds, his skin was made of electric
I was busy shaving a lion’s mane before the maskmen got busted,
They were carrying a cross across some cold deep desert
They were singing.

I open my eyes every morning. Busy ants crawl through
Busy snakes coil and uncoil, but it’s just another cigarette-dot in the sun
Or is it the sun?
Curtains were thrown open,
Light! Divine light!
And I know ghosts who promise themselves the rainbow,
Can you believe it!


Happy roads with sad trees.
Trees. Flowers and shades. Trees.


There were saints in the mirror,
The curious dead.
There are saints in the sky
The holy dead


And every time I look up,
I see the Milky Way, on fire!
And every time I look down
I see my unwashed underwear.
Isn’t it funny to break things?


An ostrich walks in, like some ancient Greek philosopher with a burning halo all around his head,
And I see my mother, before she became the rain
And I see my father, before he became the clouds
And I see my baby-self, before it became this thirsty bullet hole


And of the million colours you sell, I’ll buy the red
and the blue,
I’d have preferred the white, but you don’t have
it with you


Ah, these epiphanies
Ah, me!
Am I not the centre of the world?
I guess not, but at least I’m standing there.


And when I stand in the rostrum
I feel like Caesar
with no Rubicon to cross and no henchmen and heartmen waiting in the stairs.

Am I? Are you? Are we?


Well, I’d given my faith away to the morning star.
At times the skies open up.
At times, I tremble in sexless elevators.
And then, the storm brought in all my jubilations.

Stone. Scissor. Paper.
Stone. Scissor. Paper.

Take a right turn from here and you’ll see my face etched in the mahogany and cobwebs of this night and these nights. Like some mummified high-priest from Discovery Channel.

I woke up in a garbage can. The prison roared out!

I had shown my face to Petrarch. I swear he was repulsed. Blake loved me. At times.

Wish I were a rainbow in sunset.
Wish I had wings.


But wherever I step, there’s this splitting headache following me
And I’m a giant fly with a million blue eyes
The highway becomes a river with strange flowers floating
The town becomes a circus-tent with happy elephants and sad clowns


And I saw those death-convict houses wearing shoes, shoelaces stretching to the horizon. I might join the army, or the Red Cross, or get run over by a mad truck somewhere in between the two bridges of sunrise and moonrise. Hah! How many times have these words been repeated? My eyes are on fire!

When I want everybody to talk to me, to give me some time, everyone seems busy licking their own wounds.
And when everybody wants to talk to me, to give some time, I remain busy inflicting wounds to myself.
It’s a bloody war out there!
And I’m talking to the insects.
And I have nowhere to go
And I have everywhere to go!


I need to take my head out from the refrigerator.
I need to put it on.
I need to paint my floor

Darkness, my poison whore!
Darkness, my door of hope!
Darkness, my crystal cup!
Darkness, my kingdom of gold!
Darkness, my wild love!





And then, for three seconds, I met god
His skin was made of electric. He was god

The Hunter

I've earned myself a thunder.
Some day, I'll be god.
I'll rule.

But now, I'm living in a garden,
And my shadow lives in a desert.

If you do manage to find it,
let me know.

Windows

I know this world
I know this place
I know this smile
In every face

Nothing’s wrong,
Nothing’s right
There’s a song
To sing tonight

Times wasted
In treasure hunt
There’s no treasure
It’s just a stunt


The words I write
Are for me
And that’s the way
It shall ever be

Crowded days
Words ablaze!
Fear the guards,
Fear their gaze

I speak of gold
I speak of dust
Some gets sold
The rest flies past

And then the flames
Leap out wild
Flowers, ashes
And the long-dead child

And here I stand
In the middle
I know this land
I know the riddle

Hajaar Taka Daam

Shukher jaani haajar taka daam
Tai dukher churoye likhchhi amar naam

Bheeshon Shukh

Ekhon ami bheeshon shukhey achhi, alor mato jWolchhi
Ekhon ami bheeshon shukhey achhi, alor mato jWolchhi



Shukher mul karon holo, ami dukkho petey bhoy pai na aar