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

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