You love me, you say
I reply, I love you too
You turn back and ask
Do you really do

Is it just a force of habit
Or is it just good to hear
Cannot say for sure
Nothing is really clear

If I say I mean it
And you also say the same
Does it impart a new meaning
To a relationship already tame

Or does it raise it
To a slightly higher level
A reminder of sorts
That all is actually well

Perhaps a cue
To pause and think
For a partner you take for granted
And a relationship supposedly in the pink

Subir Chakraborty/ 10th April 2018

When the road less travelled beckons
When the unknown sends you a summon
When certainty tires you out
And you want to run the marathon

The hazy path lying ahead
May be both dangerous and deviant
It is not the roses which draw you
But the thorns garnishing the stem

When your heart yearns for a way out
From the monochrome existence engulfing you
You do not need to think twice
To embrace the romance of the new

The journey through the extremities
Tests your skill at each step
For every success that you mount
Failures lie strewn along the breadth

New people, new roads, old fears
Slowly give way to a new you
Stronger, bolder and more evolved
Ready to face the world anew

Subir Chakraborty / 28th May 2018

 

Life is not a bunch of notes
Cradled in sweet symphony
Neither a lovely string quartet
Creating melodious rhapsody

Really a nosegay of sounds
With peaks and abysses
A bouquet of near opposites
With frequent hits and misses

The hits lift your spirits
While the misses cause pain
For the former you take credit
And the latter curse your Dame

If you care to analyse it closely
And dissect all the layers
Life is actually teaching you lessons
From both successes and failures

You can always be on top
If you maintain your calm and poise
Unperturbed and undisturbed
Amidst the chaos and the noise

Subir Chakraborty / 16th April 2018

Why do we constantly desire
This ring of certainty
To surround us permanently
To provide a modicum of satiety

Why do we constantly desire
The absolute opposite dimension
Of what has induced evolution
And made us intelligent humans

A strange contradiction in terms
Where we want to progress
Yet ceaselessly seek and pray
For a painless process

When we know for certainty
That uncertainty forces us to think
More so in a situation
When we are standing on the brink

When we know for certainty
That the path to an enriched future
Lies not through the ring of certainty
But through the ring of fire

Subir Chakraborty / 30th April 2018

My tryst with life
My tryst with nature
My tryst with myself
My struggle for the future

What I receive easily
I do not always treasure
And what I long for
Goes beyond my measure

What I want to give
May be minuscule, tiny
What I want to conquer
My moments, my destiny

May be the truth
Is what I want to say
But what comes out
Are half-truths everyday

Each day I rise
With a fresh resolve
Before I go to bed
I beg to be absolved

Who am I
Is the question to ask
What I might discover
Is a face with a mask

Subir Chakraborty / 6th May 2018

The past of the instant
Is enduring, enchanting, beautiful
While the instant itself
Dissolves gradually into starry ether

And the remnants which persist
Are voids of sheer beauty
Which remain entangled delicately
In the crevices of my mind

Floating daintily in my imagination
Bearing a life of their own
To flower, to seed and to grow
To embellish and to freely flow

For beauty belongs to no one
Owing allegiance only to itself
For it cannot ever be enslaved
By human greed or pelf

Subir Chakraborty
15th Oct 2020

Tomorrow we shall scale the mountain
Tomorrow we shall share the pain
Tomorrow we shall seek true freedom
Tomorrow we shall again be men

Tomorrow is just a concept
Tomorrow is just a postponement
Of what you need to do today
Of what constitutes the urgent

Tomorrow may never come
If you continue to procrastinate
Tomorrow may be just a mirage
If you continue to hesitate

Am I ready today
To face tomorrow’s question
For the tomorrow I dream of
Is knocking today at my bastion

Today is the only day
That we live at this moment
Today is the only time
On which we can comment

Live today
As if tomorrow may never come
Love today
When your heart is as yet young

Subir Chakraborty / 8th Aug 2018

Something is amiss today
Something is not quite right
There is something on your mind
Weighing with all its might

Why are your lips so sealed
While your eyes are drowning with words
Why are your steps halting
While your gaze is determinedly stark

Why do I get the feeling
That you are talking to yourself
Rehearsing ever so silently
Without being heard or felt

Why do I get the premonition
That you are sailing the doldrums
Waiting for the storm to break
Beyond the sea of calm

Why is the twilight so unsteady
With its looming shadow of darkness
Perhaps arriving accompanied
With a raging tornado in harness

Subir Chakraborty / 12th July 2018

 

 

 

 

My loneliness brings me to the doorstep of aloneness
Where there is no craving for company
Nor desire for any sound
Other than the rustle of leaves welcoming the evening zephyr
Or the sound of dew drops falling gently on unsuspecting leaves of grass
Or the gentle surrender of each day to the call of the dusky damsel
Or the tranquil awakening of each night to the music of dawn

This oneness with nature is alluring
Where you begin to see with your heart
And feel with your mind
Where the abundance within you
Gets enriched with the sweet nectar of life
Creating those precious moments of aloneness and rare quietude
Where you feel yourself entering a zone of bliss
Devoid of any stress or cacophony
Laced with the splendour of sublime existence

Subir Chakraborty
20th Sept 2020

When the fire is raging within
But the mind has to stay calm
When the beads of extreme anguish
Are gliding down your sweaty palm

When your eyes cannot betray
What your mind is trying to hide
When your heart is crying out
Tearing out your insides

When the half smile on your lips
Can also be half a cry
Irrespective of how much you camouflage
Or how much ever you try

When the inferno cannot be doused
By sweet meaningless words
When the music which wafts gently
Is cutting your flesh with a sword

There is only one person
Who can see you through your guise
The same person who loves you
And has never ever left your side

Open your heart to her shamelessly
And hear the flames whimper
Making your true self surface again
Rejoicing in the arms of your lover

Subir Chakraborty
16th Sept 2020