The heliconia in full bloom
Is gradually waning
Withering away
Perched on a solitary stem

Perfection and imperfection
Coexisting
Cohabiting peacefully
One giving way to the other
Surrendering its right to hold centre stage
Submitting silently to the law of nature
The bright colours of youth slowly losing lustre
To reveal the wrinkled texture of old age

Perfection transforming itself to imperfection
Only to metamorphose back to health
Through a preordained productive surge
A new flower
Another creation
Traversing with consummate ease
The path of constant evolution

Subir Chakraborty
2nd April 2021

The middle path of the Buddha
Not too high, not too low
Neither grieving, nor ecstatic
Not too warm, not too cold

What does this mean
What does this teach
Beyond the usual rhetoric
And what is preached

For Buddha meant something
More than those mere tasks
More than what is contained
In the noble eight fold path

Equidistance from extremes
Was the message at its core
Packaged in sermons
And repeated encore

Success or failure
Conquest or defeat
Nothing is permanent
In the lives that we lead

The middle path signifies
A detachment supreme
Where the mind is unaffected
And remains pristine

Subir Chakraborty / 13th June 2018

I can see your smiling face
Deep in my mind’s eye
The lock of hair caressing your forehead
Gently waving to me to come by

You are truly miles away
Doing whatever it is you do
At this time of the hour and day
With zeal and sincerity to boot

I wonder if you take your mind away
For a minute or even a second
To fleetingly think of me once in a while
And savour the unique moment

I have this strange feeling
That you actually care and do
For I can hear my heartbeats
Echoing a melodious tune

When I get to meet you once again
You may not agree with what I say
But the rare glint in your eyes
May give you totally away

Subir Chakraborty / 7th May 2018

When words cease to come out
And reflections give me a fix
I know I have eventually reached
The precincts of that edifice

Whose foundation is secure
Deep in my heart
Whose depth cannot be measured
By the feet or the yard

Where to get lost
Is far from threatening
Where to wander around
Can be refreshing and calming

Where to immerse oneself
Can be the beginning of a process
On a path of self-discovery
Irradiated with growing awareness

Where I begin to feel
I do not need this face or body
To impart an earthly contour
To my own sense of identity

Subir Chakraborty / 16th May 2018

Moonlight is only for lovers
For the silvery hue to cast its spell
For the hearts to flutter in unison
For the minds to mingle in quietude

For the eyes to speak so vividly
With the language of silence
For silence to emerge in sweet symphony
From the depths of the soul

For the moon to play hide and seek
Behind the lazy, drifting clouds
For the zephyr to lend its voice
To the cooing of two beings in love

For Cupid to string his bow
With strands of serenades
For the moonflower to stroll dreamily
In the depths of the night

For the lips to quiver haltingly
Without uttering a single word
For the gods to celebrate gloriously
This grand spectacle on earth

Subir Chakraborty
9th March 2021

Your shadow follows your body
Keeping pace with time
Trying to remind constantly
What you’re leaving behind

Joyous and happy faces
And fun filled laughter
Or a tsunami of misery
Howling with disaster

If the shadow is distinct
And sings a melodious tune
A cheery track you’ve left behind
And blessings have accrued

If the shadow however
Is shadowy at the edges
A path of destruction trails
With numerous burnt bridges

The body shall one day disappear
But the shadow may remain
In the minds of those you’ve touched
Both euphoric and pained

Subir Chakraborty / 29th April 2018

Creation can be refreshing, energising
Leading you to hope for more
For the flowers to bloom in gay abandon
And for nature to repeat encore

Evolution takes you one step further
Leading you up the rocky terrain
With hurdles and difficulties to conquer
Transforming you in the bargain

Destruction is continuous, relentless
The final dance of the Nataraja
Where the old give way to the new
And the cycle begins again all over

Submission cannot be selective
Cannot be in bits and parts
Cannot be a choice you can make
Cannot be in fits and starts

It must be complete acceptance
Of the cyclical process of nature
Where destruction sows the seeds
For creation to happen in the future

If you accept the pain of creation
And the continuous struggle of evolution
Then why deny the sweetness of finality
That envelops the process of destruction

Subir Chakraborty
8th Jan 2021

When does time become a moment
And a moment becomes time
What is the threshold beyond which
One can conclusively define

When there is a sudden spark
When happiness turns to joy
When you can unleash your passion
Without being shy or coy

When a wish turns to reality
When your heart gives a leap
When you know not what hit you
In the midst of your crawl and creep

When your mind ceases to function
And your soul is on a song
Know your moment well and true
Won’t be there for long

Seize it as firmly as you can
For it is yours, fair and fine
Too late and it will change its character
And become just a bit of time

Subir Chakraborty / 10th March 2018

The reality that I witness
As the object experience
Can very well be unreal
Illusory and nonexistent

All that I have to do
Is to ask this question
Of each outward experience
Of each object perception

To whom is it directed
Who is really the subject
Who is really the recipient
Of this thought project

There is only one answer
Only one possible solution
It is for the Self which exists
And which can exist in isolation

Rest all are images, impermanent
Illusory, fleeting, transient
Dreams, waking dreams, thoughts
Which shatter before coming to rest

Leaving the active mind
In absolute total silence
Which I can observe as a witness
From a state of detachment

And then this too must dissolve
Leaving only pure awareness
Couched in a state of permanence
Engulfed in infinite happiness

Subir Chakraborty
16th Jan 2021

Nothingness leaves nothing in its wake
Not a trace, not even a shadow
Just a space filled with emptiness
Devoid of geometry, permeated with ether

Is this death as we know it
Or is it a hiatus between two moments
Before the proverbial Big Bang
Before the birth of time

Before the formless forms a form
And singes the skies with the cry of creation
Before the infinite can seek expression
In countless celestial entities

Is it a point of inflection, reflection
When all must be still, silent
Waiting in anxiety, in anticipation
For the celebration to begin

For the galaxies to take shape
Out of the churning plasma
For life form to evolve gradually
Over thousands of millennia

Subir Chakraborty
8th Jan 2021