All stories need not have an end
Any definite or finite conclusion
Or even a hero, heroine or a villain
Or a convoluted plot, moral or a lesson

Isn’t that what our lives are all about
Just a day to day habitual existence
As each morning melts into eventual dusk
To thereafter turn morning again

I seem to prefer it this way
With the passing of scores of years
Where a slice of life can prevail independently
Without any attachments, restraints or fears

The culmination of a story or a novel
Can be left to our individual imagination
To mould it the way we feel like
Or left suspended like a pendulum

Subir Chakraborty
28th Dec 2021

My moment exists in me
And I exist in the moment
Which one comes first
And which one second

I travel through time
And time travels in me
Can one exist without the other
In seclusion, without a beam

I am me
And you are you
The ‘youness’ exists because of I
And the ‘iness’ because of you

Strangely relative our existence
Where nothing subsists in isolation
Yet we spend an entire lifetime
Beating others to our destination

Subir Chakraborty
5th Dec 2021

The duel between environment and human greed
Has its genesis from prehistoric times
Playing itself over and over again
Down the ages, as the clock chimes

Unlearning, learning and unlearning again
Has been the story so far
Leading to destruction, construction and destruction
And the earth in need of periodic repair

The human mind tends to ignore
What really lies very far ahead
For the modern credo firmly states
That in the long term we are all dead

Should we have a sense of responsibility
Towards the generations yet to come
Or should we wantonly destroy this earth
And then look for another one

A good way to begin
Would be to keep our ears close to the ground
And hear the earth pleading for protection
From the marauders in the crowd

Only then would we know
Of the right steps to take
To save the earth from depredation
And all that would follow in its wake

Subir Chakraborty / 26th March 2018

 

 

 

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