Two bodies
Entwined, enwrapped
Interlaced, twisted, entangled
Mingling, mixing, fusing
Swathed with wild heat
Draped with uninhibited passion
Propelled by raw energy
Sweat for sweat
Groan for groan
Gasp for gasp
Breath for breath
The peak, the pinnacle
The crescendo

And then…..

Whisper with whisper
Touch with touch
Kiss with kiss
Tenderly, delicately
Cooing, murmuring, cooing
Again, again
And again
Eventually
Nesting in each other’s arms
Lullabied
By each other’s breathing
With sleep tiptoeing
Caressing the eyes
Ever so slowly, softly, finally

Subir Chakraborty / 8th May 2018

Money was initially created
As a means of exchange
An alternative to barter
Facilitating interchange

Then people realised
Of the unique benefits
Of hoarding some money
To take care of life, its titbits

In this process of discovery
Money continued to traverse
In people’s minds and hearts
Till it bordered on the perverse

Leading humans to believe
By throwing around some bills
Anything can be purchased
Happiness, morality, even ethics

What they learnt much later
That it is a double edged sword
While it gives, it takes much more
Peace of mind, values at the core

Humans chasing their bank balance
Which in turn builds their hubris
Accumulating, stumbling, accumulating again
While searching for happiness in the debris

Only a human can do this unto himself
Allowing a mere tool, a convenience
To take total control of his life
And become a slave to its jurisprudence

Subir Chakraborty / 21st March 2018

Flights, meetings, hotels
Not necessarily in the same order
Each time I travel on work
Each time I’m a blip on the radar

There are those in-between times
Those pauses, the leisure hours
When I am not swimming in work
And the deadline showers

When wisps of loneliness descend from the heavens
Taking possession of my feelings
Floating in my mind’s dusk
Like feathery snow on a wintry evening

I miss you immensely in these moments
Feeling the trajectory of pain
Splitting my tormented chest apart
Striving for the tears to be reined

I must do what I have to
To continue to retain my peace
With myself as well as with my work
And suffer my heart on a leash

Subir Chakraborty / 27th June 2018

The caste system is undying, imperishable
Blessed with immortality and a rare sheen
Cast as it was aeons ago
Not in copper but stainless steel

The edges are being honed
Getting sharper with age
Causing a bruise or a cut occasionally
Tormenting multitudes in its cage

Those fortunate to be born high
Enjoy the cold, steely shine
Which screams from rooftops
Your status is lower than mine

The razor sharp rays on steel
Reflect with magnified intensity
Blinding one and all in its grasp
Daring to question its rigidity

Creating a mirage of orderliness
History and golden heritage
While the vultures swoop down
To devour the morsels from its garbage

Subir Chakraborty / 24th March 2018

The thunderstorm, untamed, wild
Swept me off my feet
When I saw you waiting in the corner
Getting drenched in sheets

Your eyes caught mine involuntarily
Across a sea of vehicles and more
As you were waiting for a bus
On the opposite side of the road

A split second and a second glance
Was all that it took
For the thunderstorm to vanish
And roses to bloom

Not on the busy street
But in our innocent hearts
Bubbling with trepidation
Trodding the untrodden path

The rain was still beating down
But then who cared
For the moment was precious
For the feeling that we shared

Who cared
That we were wet to the bone
Who cared
That we were far from home

Subir Chakraborty / 25th March 2018

Death of a friend hurts in inexplicable ways
Reminding me of the departed
As well as those in the queue
Waiting for the cue from up above

Removing me from the transient
And placing me in the permanent
The mind under free float
Where the present assumes irrelevance

Where I begin to analyse the basis of this life
And all the accumulations, I’ve fought so hard to gather
To protect and to preserve
So as to trumpet my name endlessly in the plazas of posterity

For the belongings shall finally gather dust of uncared years
And my name shall remain just a whisper, if at all
In the minds of those I loved and those who loved me in return
Ever so silently in the woods of anonymity

Subir Chakraborty / 11th June 2018

When humans embraced humanity
Over a long period of time
Arts, Literature, Philosophy, Science
Continued to flourish and shine

And then came Technology
Followed by Management
To ease human workload
And make systems efficient

For a while it was good
And increased human leisure
Till it went overboard
And started to create pressure

Turning humans into robots
And the earth more polluted
Humanity perhaps superficial
And humaneness attenuated

Using the tools of Economics
To search for heartless rationality
And maximisation of personal gain
At the cost of values and morality

Did we miss a trick or two
In this mad rush to develop
In order to turn into super humans
Without a plan or a prop

The real danger to humans
Comes from within rather than without
Lurking danger of an unliveable earth
And sans a God to doubt

Subir Chakraborty / 1st March 2018

The dry dust of Pompeii
Whispers to me softly
Of the days gone by
In a long winded story

Where valour was deep
And labour was cheap
Where Greeks and Romans
Mingled within easy reach

Where mosaic and frescoes
Achieved remarkable artistry
Where politics and bureaucracy
Attained unique mastery

Where prostitution prevailed
As though mandated by fate
Where the rights of women
Were curtailed by the state

Where city planning skills
Accomplished rare distinction
Where gladiators were induced
To fight to extinction

Where theatre and arts
Existed in harmony
With spa and sports
Without any acrimony

Where a furious volcano
Reduced them to dust
Where Pompeiians got coated
With the earth’s molten crust

The bodies in plaster
Tell us only one tale
Of human vulnerability
In the face of a gale

One angry Vesuvius
Fuming with fury
Destroyed a civilisation
At the height of its glory

Subir Chakraborty / 30th May 2018

The Gondola of my mind
Navigates through the emotional waterways
Trying to dock at thought jetties
While coursing through life’s bays

At times the joy of a Rialto*
Takes me on a high
And at others, what stares
Is the Bridge of Sighs

The beauty of a Murano**
Indescribable to the eyes
For it is only the heart
Which can feel its vibes

When human cruelty torments
And literally consumes my torso
My only place of refuge
Is the Basilica San Marco

The Venice of my life
Rings with bitter sweet melodies
Emanating from the strings
At the Teatro la Fenice***

Subir Chakraborty / 23rd May 2018

*Rialto Bridge // **Murano Glass // ***Venice Opera House

The mild zephyr in spring
Reluctant, indolent, tame
The rustle of the leaves
Whispering your name

Swept me to a time
Many springs apart
When the gentle breeze
Blew a gale in my heart

Escalating to a thunderstorm
As you alighted the steps
While I waited for you
Patiently, without haste

And then your smile
Would worsen matters soon
As the gale would heighten
To a full blown typhoon

It would take hours thereafter
For the storm to subside within
For my heart to return to normalcy
And beat its usual rhythm

Subir Chakraborty / 8th March 2018