Why should I feel the horror
Why should I bother for Pulwama
Why should I agitate my conscience
Why should I disturb the indifference

Why should I feel it is my problem
Why should I feel any pain
Why should I care to pause
Why should I pause to care

Why should I look beyond myself
Why should I think about the sacrifice
Why should I think about the families
Why should I internalise the suffering

Why should I spoil my sleep
Why should I wreck my mood
Why should I alter my position
Why should I call myself human

Subir Chakraborty / 17th Feb 2019

Tossing and turning on the bed
I think of you
Your magic touch, your whispering eyes
Your loving smile

Together, we step out and travel far
Beyond the boundaries of this earth
Beyond the deep blue horizon
Much beyond our own imagination

To the fabled land
Where no one else exists
Deep in the silence of our being
In the bosom of pristine beauty

We hold hands and look into each other’s eyes
Falling in love
To unmeasured depths
Rising, only to fall again

Till eternity seeks us out
And nudges us back to earthly existence
Retracing the steps
To the frontiers of daily persistence

Subir Chakraborty / 30th Nov 2018

When the shadow of anonymity
Begins to take finite shape
When a half blurred face
Begins to find its place

When I paint the vacant spaces
And begin to trace the fine contours
With my ever fertile imagination
And my ego that matters

The shape that emerges
Is the one with which I’m familiar
And yet when I scrutinise closely
It appears oddly unfamiliar

The reality in broad daylight
Jolts me beyond compare
In spite of all my embellishments
The face looks bare

So I take to rainbowing the edges
All over again
Accentuating my make-believe world
With the colours of heaven

I cannot stop
Till the image fits my estimate
Of the way I should project myself
Maintaining the minimum etiquette

Does not really matter
If it suffers from lack of credibility
For in this age of superficiality
Perception is the sole reality

Subir Chakraborty / 7th Sept 2018

Between one event and another
Between the horizon and your landscape
Between your wisps of loneliness
Between your moments of aloneness

Between your waves of emotions
Between the gushing showers of closeness
Between the dreams in your unconscious
Between your barren layers of aloofness

Between the fickle sheets of secrecy
Between the soft tiptoeing of pillow talk
Between the leaping flames of hurt
Between the times you are curt

Between each period of waiting
Between your coffee and tea
Between your longing and madness
Between your you and me

Where exactly do I really exist
Which I can call my very own
Everything else becoming invisible
Where I can be with you and you alone

Subir Chakraborty / 26th Jan 2019

The forbidden fruit enticed man
When god was for a while away
From the paradisical Garden of Eden
Where his rule held total sway

That was supposedly the first sin
Committed by man
Egged on by his accomplice
The very first woman

Do we ever realise
The enormity of this decision
When man for the first time
Stood up to be a real man

To be able to jointly act
Along with Eve as collaborator
To decide on their fate
Without god as the mentor

For the very first time
Ignoring divine instructions
They chose to give character
To the future of Homo sapiens

Little did they know
At that point in time
That their own descendants
Would lack the same spine

Preferring to ignore
This daring legacy
Choosing to be ever mired
In religious controversy

Subir Chakraborty / 24th Oct 2018

I tiptoe silently into the room
While you lie asleep
Afraid to wake you up
Anxious not to disturb the melody of your dream

For I know when you are dreaming about me
For your dreams whisper to me
Softly, sweetly, divulging your secrets, one at a time
Like dew drops falling from a love laden leaf

And when my heart is fully drenched
With your dreamy nectar
I glance sideways and see your face
Trying to catch a hint of a smile

For I know that you know as well
Of my secret door to your heart strings
Which gently strum my name
With the rhythm of your dreams

Subir Chakraborty / 1st Dec 2018

Oh man!
What are you capable of
Oh man!
What dreams you dream of

Do you dream of an equitable world
Do you dream of heaven
Or do you lust after exploitative butchery
In your very own den

Do you yearn for your free spirit
To soar up in the sky
Or do you want to cower, afraid
To even give it a try

Do you think you can exist
While others continue to perish
Or do you want to co-exist
Where all can prosper and flourish

Do you want to continue to pollute
Till the earth loses its fight
Or do you want to see nature
Gurgle with childish delight

Do you desire the end of civilisation
With a worldwide nuclear war
Or do you desire love and tolerance
Making friendships last forever

Oh man!
Of the species designed to be the wisest
Oh man!
What makes you act out the stupidest

Oh man!
Are you following the path to extinction
Oh man!
Is your DNA encrypted with self-destruction

Subir Chakraborty / 3rd Sept 2018

What must a new year mean
To humans striving to cope
Inhabiting this unique planet
Buoyed by the winds of hope

For the rich and the super affluent
It is wish for the balance in the bank
To grow relentlessly through the year
And help to increase their rank

For those incorrigible politicians
It is the search for spoils of power
Through the bullet or the ballot
Whatever answers their prayer

For the young and the trendy
Wishing for the new year
To go by without any bother
And without a morsel of care

For the destitute on the streets
It is the hope of a meal a day
Which fills their listless eyes
As they look up to the sky to pray

For you and me and others like us
It may be just health and happiness
And some camaraderie and brotherhood
To celebrate in a spirit of oneness

Subir Chakraborty / 1st Jan 2019

Life is not about how well you plan
But how well you cope
To events which arrive unannounced
Without throwing you a rope

You may feel
You have planned it all
The master blueprint in finest detail
And alternate ones to fall back on

And suddenly, out of the blue
A calamity might hit you
Turning your life topsy-turvy
Forcing you to start anew

When all that you have planned
Lies tattered on the shore
For the assumptions you’ve made
Do not hold water anymore

How you respond then
Will determine who you are
A man standing tall
Or a weakling below par

These jolts, not curses but blessings
From nature enveloping you
To help you to evolve your character
And lace it with the freshness of dew

Subir Chakraborty / 30th Aug 2018

Will it be possible one day
For the world order of today
To abandon the downhill bay
And course correct midway

Will it be possible one day
When the green shoots of creation
Shall not recoil with trepidation
At the noxious fumes and pollution

Will it be possible one day
For the rivers and the oceans
To gurgle in sheer merriment
Without the load of the remains

Will it be possible one day
For the common bond of humanity
To encapsulate all religions
For permanent peace and tranquility

Will it be possible one day
To institute a new political process
Where genuine causes are redressed
And the wayward brought under duress

Will it be possible one day
When all surplus food wasted
Reach the needy and the hungry
And the ones truly dispossessed

Will it be possible one day
When the infirm and the aged
Are not left to rot on the streets
To wait for the mercy of death

Will it be possible one day
For humans to surrender to the natural
And seek wholesome happiness
In preference to just being material

Subir Chakraborty / 1st Aug 2018