by Ayan Adak
chagrin-pain
While others paint their hearts in warmth
To write the songs they sing
And the hopeful ones compose the joy
They think today will bring
And every page, it pleads us all -
To be a little bold
To scribble down sentences black,
If not poems in gold
So that when sunsets kiss the day
And night begins to fall
The pages that were handed us -
They’re not left blank at all…
_________________
The shepherd and the swan
"Where do you fly, in such haste,
O bird in shining white?
Why do you fly, do tell me friend,
Is it in peace or plight?"
The smiling swan decides at last,
To halt upon its flight,
And give the wearied human child,
A reason to en-light
"I fly, my friend, to a hidden land,
Beyond the valleys green,
To a wonder land so beautiful,
Not many eyes have seen."
"A land of plenty joy and food,
A land without a pain,
Where spring, she reigns for twelve months,
With neither cloud or rain."
"A land where one needs never work,
Or toil like this all day,
With streams of wine and skies of cream,
Bejewelled are its ways!”
"So will you join me, little one,
To see the truth I sing?
Will you choose to live therein -
The eternal land of spring?"
Smiling then the shepherd boy,
He replies silently,
"When Winter goes unseen, my friend,
What use is Spring to me?"
"I have a humble modest life,
I have my sheep to care,
Though wealth and riches have I none,
I have a lot to share."
"Your land may full of glory be,
Rich food and drink, you say,
But my humble food is sweeter still,
For I toil for it all day."
"And though each day is harder still,
At night, I rest to smile,
That yet another day I’ve seen,
That I’ve crossed another mile"
"So let there be hardships a bit,
They give us hope in turn,
Let there be pain-melancholy,
Or happiness we won’t learn"
"For its only when you see the dark,
You seek out for the sun,
And when at last it shines at morn,
A greater warmth there's none."
"So fly, my friend, don't wait for me,
Your journey you restart,
This stark and humble land's my home,
It's where will be my heart."
"And someday, we might meet again,
With you, happier that day,
But don't forget, I'll be happy too,
For I chose to walk my way..."
_________________
A teardrop
I guarded your teardrop -
Your silent parting gift to me
I guarded it with my little heart
To last unto eternity
It was you I’ll ever have –
So I had to shield it from this world
A silvery drop – my universe
Upon my palm lay curled
And I guarded it from the jealous sun
Lest it may dry out soon
And I guarded it from the caprice night
So as not to slight the moon
Come howling winds or thunderstorm
Wide awake was I –
Until I crossed the seven seas
And thought I heard it sigh
You seemed to wish the salty seas
How could I refuse?
And so with a heavy heart at last
I threw it to the blues
And in that moment understood
It was you who had set me free,
Now, a part of the timeless waves,
You were immortal to me
_________________
Tears
Whatever soothing words I use,
I can never feel your pain,
And yet, I'll look into your shimmering eyes
And wipe your tears again
_________________
One day in the times ahead
One day in the times ahead,
When we will walk our different ways,
Life will keep us busy both,
And time will fade our yesterdays
We will be sailing in the sands
That turn the clock of time for all,
We’ll seldom turn to look back past
To Spring that smiled for a season small
But maybe someday just by chance,
Perhaps a sunset or the rains
May bring alive a memory
For yesterday to wake again
I might forget your tender smile
Or the wavy locks upon your face
Our bare foot walks on dewy grass
Those pastel shades of our wonder days
But this human heart will not forget
The painting that we both had made,
A small prologue to our story long,
Eternal locked in time undead
I’ll wonder then where you would be,
And hope that you would think the same
Maybe for a moment brief,
But a moment yes, left all untamed
And the heart will warm to a silent smile
No more tears that mature day
Until Life reminds us then -
To keep on walking on our way…
_________________
Sudden thunder
Sudden thunder,
Sparkle rains,
6’o clock
And it pours again.
The musty air,
No longer dry,
Will greed again
And clouds will cry
The city bored,
Can only run,
No time for rain
(Or wind or sun)
Umbrellas sing,
In unison,
Scrambling feet
For the day is done
Scurrying cabs,
Frenzy wild,
Like the place itself
Madly styled;
Tomorrow 6
The show’s again
But who’s got time
For silly rains?
_________________
When Sam crossed the scarecrow
I remember reading Tolkiens:
In holidays, years ago,
With monsoon clouds outside unfurled,
And deeper shades of darkness,
Painted in my imagined world
The magic stayed inside the book
But what got really etched
Were events, heartfelt that they were
Resounding in Life now and then,
Year after every year
But most I think of Gamjee Sam
There, leaving his lovely Shire
Saddened, pensive, even lost,
When he finds the scarecrow -
That scarecrow that he's never crossed
"This is it, (Master Frodo)
If I take one more step,
It'll be the farthest I've ever been..."
And yet he crosses on to find
Worlds and times he'd never seen.
The lines were hid,
In a deep recess of the mind
Until, without a choice one day
I had to leave worlds behind
And walk upon an unknown way
The tiny teardrop that was shed
It felt at last -
Pathos of the hearts that burn,
When you leave the worlds you always knew
To do what you had never done
Miles I walked, and more remains:
Joyful ventures, even pain.
And writing on page after page,
I played my role to realize
I grew up more than did my age
And after walking miles today
Oft' I do turn back -
To gaze that day, when all alone,
I left my fears at home behind -
To cross the scarecrow of my own
Which makes me think how
Each of every us,
Is a Samwise hero in his eyes
Winning over hostile worlds,
In a frail and little hobbit's guise
But 'the Shire' waits for us always,
When one day,
We shall walk upon the homeward way
To apple orchards, flowing streams,
The warbling birds and the children's play
And watching all the sunset hues
We'll smiling think,
How the Sam in us had bravely roamed,
With scars upon his little feet,
To win this world and come back home...
_________________
Hope
When little drops of precious life
Are left in days but few,
The pensive heart does only say,
“I wish I had just knew, -
How swiftly would this candle burn,
The wick is all but done,
I wish I knew since long ago
When the candle would be gone!”
But if the youthful heart be wise,
It’ll sigh, yet smiling say,
“I’ll burn the last drops of my life,
To keep darkness away…”
_________________
Lines written on an autumn day
The boulevards have all aged with time,
(I see them now that I have to leave)
But when I’ll move to distant lands,
Will these trees miss me and grieve?
Or like a leaf in autumn times,
My memory will age and die,
Will this land not remember me?
I only think and sigh.
The rustling wind –it questions me,
Why I make this pensive plea,
My smile, it softly then replies,
That there’ll be souls like me unwise,
(And even weeping thinkers some),
To replace me here in times to come.
But will there be a place like here,
With trees that mellow without a care?
And when to distant lands and times,
I’ll lose myself and fly away,
I won’t forget how a part of me
Was left behind here yesterday.
How even cloudy sunless days
Stole my heart in the lands I strayed…
_________________
First rains
The Artist in the skies above
Paints my morn in gray,
And yet the raindrops spilling forth
Add colors to my day
For they are the first rains on the bloom -
And who can fail to smile?
Rains that bring the child in us
Back to life awhile
The child who dances with the rains,
Awash from head to toe,
Forgetting wherefrom he has come
And where he needs to go
The child who wants to stitch a pair
Of wings from silver clouds,
To sally with the rainy winds
With