In my haste to live
I have perhaps missed out on life
In my haste to earn big bucks
Perhaps impoverished my mind

When I sit down today
And recount all those days
When I could have but didn’t
When I should have but declined

Not to anybody else but to myself
For the promise of a better tomorrow
For the comfort of external status
For the cushion of a nest egg

Sacrificing my present relentlessly
My day to day existence
My own peace of mind
My call of the soul

Realising very late in life
That it does not take too much
To be blissfully joyous and content
To soar with the wind and sing with the birds

To connect with long lost friends
To spread a little cheer
To think of life as a journey
With some good thoughts to spare

Subir Chakraborty
15th April 2021

When the moment approaches
When the far seems near
Why do the knees tremble
And the lips begin to quiver

She does not as yet know
Whether he will finally state
The words she’s been dying to hear
For what seems like decades

Why does she appear nervous
Losing her usual composure
Creating a unique situation
And self imposed pressure

Will he, won’t he, will he
Eats her up from inside
An unbearable condition
Of continuing seek and hide

Subir Chakraborty / 25th April 2018

 

 

 

 

The prattle does not intrude on my tranquility
But the valley does
Sweeping me in its wake
To a consciousness far above

Why do consecutive waves
Affect me so violently
Emanating out of the depths
To wrench me out completely

Into a new order of serenity
With a soaringly superior poise
Where the earlier order of tranquility
Can at best be termed noise

And this metamorphosis continues
Successive welcoming of the new
Till the self is no more the self
I earlier loved and knew

Finally the self or whatever remains
Dissolves into the ether
Taking me back to my roots
To become one with nature

Subir Chakraborty / 26th April 2018

It is interesting reading material
Grabbing Sunday bytes
But for the ones at the wrong end
It is called genocide

When humans turn into fiends
Destroying every fabric
Of humanity and its manifestations
Treating it as debris

For the hapless victims
The effects are well known
Having lost near and dear ones
And all that they ever owned

What would the murderers feel like
When all would again be quiet
When the frenzy would have subsided
And the hysteria would have died

Exhilaration or remorse
Both are equally possible
Depending on the degradation
Of the human crucible

Brought about by hardening
Through repeated exposure
To satanic influences
And mephistophelian culture

Subir Chakraborty / 4th April 2021

 

 

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