I discover my own strands of silence
Which pervade my entire being
And which gradually expand to all living, non-living
The earth, stratosphere and ultimately the cosmos

A silence so unique in character
That it can communicate eloquently, uninhibitedly
Without speaking a single word
Without creating a hint of a sound

Where my existence is not dependent on my physicality or form
Where abundance exists without being sought
Where the gentle music of the soul
Flows mellifluously through eternity

Where desire has lost its meaning
Where tranquility is turbulent with possibilities
Where the senses have dulled into a coma
Where the spirit glows with iridescence

Where the power of choice
Reveals the sublime pathway
Where cessation of earthly knowledge
Leads to beginning of awareness

Subir Chakraborty
11th Nov 2021

My body hollows out to reveal a zone beyond space and time
Beyond the contours of causation
Beyond grief, ecstasy, happiness, unhappiness
Beyond desire, anxiety, pleasure, pain
Beyond perfection, imperfection
Beyond the unknown beyond
Immersed in sublime transcendence
All pervasive, all encompassing

A unique state of existence
Where my body has ceased to exist
My mind non-functional
As I surf the gentle waves
Emanating from a vast ocean
To which I belong
And which is truly my real identity

Subir Chakraborty
24th Oct 2021

What I cannot see, touch
Smell, feel or hear
Is considered non-existent
Irrespective, far or near

Our limited faculties
Operate within boundaries
And still we strongly deny
What is outside our periphery

Calling it as intuition
And without any base
We term it as superstition
Devoid of a case

Yet we choose our partner
And fall in love headlong
Without much of objectivity
To really fall back on

When in extreme danger
And we need to outpace
We trust our instincts
To keep us safe

We do similarly
For most life changing events
Preferring our guts
To what data can attend

Isn’t this a contradiction
Of himalyan proportions
A denial of human capability
For holistic perception

Subir Chakraborty / 30th March 2018

What is it about the heart
That the mind cannot comprehend
Why does the mind need to
Repeatedly feign and pretend

What the heart can see
The mind cannot always understand
The heart is a continuing enigma
With the mind liable to misunderstand

Where the heart knows the truth
The mind tends to calculate
About the effect down the line
Once the reality percolates

While the mind is weighing the risks
The heart is the embodiment of innocence
Trickery not part of its character
Subterfuge alien to its presence

Subir Chakraborty / 27th March 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you can see the distance
Without looking afar
When you can feel the distance
Without your eyes kept ajar

When you can smile
With the innocence of a child
When you can empathise
Without really having to try

When you can be detached
From all your worldly gains
When you can be attached
To your values, despite pains

When you can meditate
Despite all the surrounding noise
When in the face of adversity
You do not lose your poise

When you have the strength
To face the bitter truth
When you can wait patiently
And not jump the queue

When you can look upon friends
As true compatriots in this journey
When you do not wish ill
On even your staunchest enemy

When you can appreciate an opinion
Not in congruence with your own
When in the face of a terrible loss
You do not despair and mourn

That is the time life shall change
And begin to have the power of healing
Develop some worthwhile substance
And impart to it a brand new meaning

Subir Chakraborty
22nd August 2021

‘Mind the gap’, came out loud and clear
On the public address system this time
As the train screeched to a halt at Bank
London Underground, Central Line

Minding the gap, thought I
That’s what we do all the time, don’t we
It is the time between birth and death
And all that comes in between

Which we fill with anger and frustration
Joy, ecstasy, happiness and exhilaration
Tears and laughter flowing in torrents
Misery and pain hugging in vain

Sitting in a park one day
Was lost in daydreaming for a while
‘What are you doing my son’, asked an old lady
‘Just minding the gap’, said I

‘And how do you do it my son’, asked she
‘Really quite simple’, said I
‘Look for the dreams that keep you awake
And let them soar like a gull in flight’

‘Don’t bother about the terminal ends
Merely two events in a lifetime
It’s the gap in between that really matters
Giving meaning and substance to life’

Subir Chakraborty
20th August 2021

All that I have, ever had
Lies scattered at your feet
For you to pick up or tread on
Choose or reject as you feel

If you do desire to tread
Remember just one thing
That you tread on my thoughts
Laden with fragile feelings

If you choose to gather
Those throbbing shards
Remember that you pick up
Tiny pieces of my heart

Which way you shall go
I do not know your call
All that I know presently
I have given you my all

Devastated by your refusal
Or enwrapped with your love
Either way I stand destroyed
Divested, denuded of my trove

Subir Chakraborty / 12th April 2018

My greatest tragedies do not occur in isolation
But in the innermost being of my thoughts
Laced with surreal discomfort
Cradled in my own notion of the self

Never in the absolute, never alone
Gauging, measuring, weighing
Against my own illusion of the standard
Delusionally deviant from reality

And when one tragedy passes
The next one quickly fills the vacuum
For the illusion would have moulted by then
Into yet another illusion of the self

Thus we live from one tragedy to the next
Praying for heaven some day
Chasing an illusion really, yet again
For that elusive heaven in our Milky Way

Subir Chakraborty
14th Aug 2021

If only I could build a road for you
That starts with my desires and yearnings
And meanders through my being
With slow, throbbing steps
Winding through lanes of laughter
Of ecstasy, euphoria, joy, mirth
Navigating through puddles of anxiety
Of bitterness, anger, mindlessness, tears
Leading you to me
With only one longing, only one want
To be just with each other
Without the trappings of wealth
Or the entanglements of power
Without any of the heady stature
Or slippery reputation
Or worthless net worth
Just the way when we started
With little to call our own
Save the two of us
With dreams in our eyes
And precious love in our hearts
Together on a nowhere road
In a nowhere land

Subir Chakraborty
8th Aug 2021

Your imperfections blend in with mine
As mine joyously embrace yours
Creating a rare crescendo
Of chaos, ecstasy and pathos

For what would life be
Without that touch of bedlam
Fleeting, feathery to the feel
Delusional, dreamy to the touch

Imperfection. Ah! Those subtle nuances
Those minor flaws, a faux pas or two
Once in a while, every now and then
Which enthrall and shake me up

And the more they come, the more I evolve
Creating a halo of disarming disquiet
Unleashed in a playground of silent disharmony
Weaving a tapestry of gentle fallibility

Subir Chakraborty
2nd August 2021