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

How do you define poverty
Where do you draw the line
How do you define this concept
To stand the test of time

When a rich man wastes food
And thinks nothing of charity
Would you call it mere selfishness
Or a variant of extreme poverty

When a man in need of the basics
Doesn’t have to think twice
About sharing meagre resources
With a heart warming smile

Would you still call him indigent
Crippled with dire poverty
Or would you think of his affluence
In spreading his generosity

Would you place him a notch higher
Than the rich who care to donate
A tiny fraction of their earnings
For gaining heavenly probate

Would you admire his courage
For sharing his all
For daring to make an attempt
And standing really tall

Subir Chakraborty / 1st May 2018

It takes almost a lifetime
To graduate from the earthly to the divine
From sheer lust to undying love
From the material to the sublime

The greed for the body
Has to step back a feet
For true realisation to emerge
For instant gratification to recede

For the moment to become momentous
For imbalance to transmute to balance
For joy to metamorphose to ecstasy
For the instant to evolve to permanence

For when the ethereal seizes you
And begins to cradle your heart
Your mate transforms to a soulmate
With true love finding its mark

Subir Chakraborty / 6th April 2018

This pandemic gave me an opportunity
To meet this very important person
Someone close to my heart
Myself

Have delved within deeply
Contemplated, introspected, meditated
Often talked to myself, the person
I want to understand, unravel

The meeting is not serenely pleasant as expected
For multiple traumas lurked in the shadows
Multiple fears, embarrassments
Many errors of judgment

It is not a cake walk
When the person I think I am
Is trying to moult to a new avatar
The person I really am

Zones of conflicts, compromises, greed, desires
Lie shattered on the landscape of my consciousness
As the person who I truly am
Struggles to find its rightful space

The release of tension, negative energy
That ensues with the process
Is electrifying yet calming, tempestuous yet silently soothing
Taking tons of payload off my chest

Making me a free man once again
No more enslaved to a make believe persona
No more a serf to my own tinsel creation
No more afraid to face myself

Subir Chakraborty
23rd Dec 2020