Where does love go when we stop loving?
When we can no longer bear to look at each other?
To hear each other’s voice?
To stand each other’s touch?
To look through the person you once loved, into empty spaces within the room,
And without.

And then, when tempers have cooled sufficiently,
The introspection begins.
The dissection, the dicing and the slicing
Of where one went wrong.
At which point, at what time,
Who said what?
Who should apologise first, if at all?
Whether to compromise or move on?
Whether……

But where did that love go?
Was it always an illusion?
A delusional venture of the mind without true anchoring or a base?
Or did it dissolve into the monotony of routinised habit?
And still it haunts you day and night,
Cause you want it back in your life.
To constantly give you the comfort
Of being loved and wanted and cherished,
Treasured beyond all compare,
To continually give you a reason to be alive.

Where did that love go?
Will it come back again?
Is there a glimmer of hope?
Even a tiny one?
And so the effort begins,
Once more in right earnest,
With expectation in the heart
And anxiety in the mind.
And then who knows?
Perhaps…….

Subir Chakraborty
1st January 2026

With the passing of years
As the dazzle begins to fade away
As the mind gets slowly reoriented
To observation and assimilation, as opposed to speed reading and regurgitation
To creating a wealthy mind as opposed to mere material surplus
As celebrating unimportance becomes important
As the mind begins to treasure beauty in the smallest of things
A butterfly spreading its wings, a rainbow arcing across the sky, a child’s innocent smile
As you come back one full circle
The way you started off on this earth
With nothing to call your own save the bounty that nature offered you
You realise the difference between life and robotic existence
Between sheer pleasure and sublime bliss
Between the transience of earthly exclusivity and the ecstasy of joyful inclusion

Subir Chakraborty
23rd Nov 2025

Everything works out in the end
Doesn’t it really?
But then, which end is one talking about
End of childhood
Of adulthood
Of life?
Or maybe when a sense of completion or contentment sets in
Or utter dismay or disgust
Or maybe just a point when one starts to make a new beginning
Filled with optimism and hope
Without bothering how the end shall play out
Or perhaps, not at all
Just blending surreptitiously with the next beginning
Leaving the end as a question mark
In the deep recesses of the mind
But in the end it all works out
Cause it simply has to
Cause all chatter must finally give way to silence
Cause there’s nothing beyond nothingness other than a new beginning
Cause there’s really no end
Or perhaps no beginning
Or is there?

Subir Chakraborty
31st Oct 2025

The bits and pieces of rain
That float in through the window
Sit prettily on my hands, nose, lips
Unable to evaporate quickly
For they have developed leaden feet
Weighed down by the aroma of love
Which they carry in their bosoms

I stare at the minuscule drops
Which take my mind away
To a faraway place, an unknown world
Serene, ethereal, tranquil
Where the cosmos playfully strums
The music of bounty, of creation
Of hearts melting and mingling
Of souls immersed in a joyous melody
Singing in unison with the trees, the flowers, the mountains and the rivers
The notes of longing, of hope, of renewal
Of tenderness, of innocence, of ecstasy
Gently afloat in the air, everywhere
And orchestrating the sublime rainsong

Subir Chakraborty
3rd Sept 2025

What is this earth that we live in
Where we measure our true worth
By destroying and plundering our own
While ushering in unbounded mirth

What is it about Homo sapiens
That defies all laws of rationality
The more progressive we become
The more we embrace irrationality

Can one truly be happy
When someone is suffering and sad
Why does becoming modern
Become synonymous with tendencies mad

Why do we slide down the evolutionary scale
Each time we try to climb
Why do we seek to destroy
And periodically sever what binds

And some hope that they can escape
To another planet nice and chaste
After having destroyed this one
To barrenness and arid waste

Perhaps they do not quite understand
In the DNA lies the real devil
In the glorious progress of humanity
Humaneness lies in peril

No new planet can save us
As long as we are guided by hubris
No god shall come to our aid
To save us from our own debris

Subir Chakraborty
11th August 2025

I can hear the rain again
Falling innocently on the verdant greens
Creating a rare symphony
Of wind, light and sound
Stirring up my mind
Urging me to resonate
Not with any movement
But with my soul
So that my thoughts
Can gradually fade away
Into the distant skies
Leaving in their wake
A unique realisation
Of beauty and harmony
Encompassing my earthly being
Beckoning me to immerse myself
In the tranquility of the heavens
And to be, let be
Just be

Subir Chakraborty
18th July 2025

এই রোদ, এই বৃষ্টি
এক অদ্ভুত লুকোচুরি খেলা
যেন আকাশ মাঝে চলে নিরন্তর
শুধু মন কষাকষির পালা

রাগের মধ্যেই বিরাগ যে আছে লুকিয়ে
আবার বিরাগের মধ্যে রাগের আঘ্রাণ
বৃষ্টির টাপুর টুপুর সোহাগের তালে
আছড়ে পড়ে হত‍্যাকারি বান

কোথা থেকে যে শুরু করি
আর কোথায় গিয়ে শেষ
আদরের মাঝে অভিমানের জোয়ার
জাগায় এক মিষ্টি মধুর রেশ

তাই ত আমি দিলাম তোমায়
আমার প্রাণের মধুর গুঞ্জন
যেখানে রাগের ফাঁকে বিরাগ পাবে
আর পাবে একটা প্রেমসিঞ্চিত মন

সুবীর চক্রবর্তী
১৩ জুলাই ২০২৫

The whispers of love endear more than love
The screams of violence hurt more than violence
The shards of insult penetrate further than abject hatred
The words of sympathy only add to the agony of the moment

It’s only words and yet they count
Far more than what they describe
It’s only words and yet you cannot ignore
For what they dutifully inscribe

Sometimes words precede action
And at times words follow
And in both cases they weigh heavier
And sink deep into the furrow

But what of the unspoken and the unsaid
Which sometimes speak louder than words
A mere flick of the hand or a raised eyebrow
Can create a real storm in a cup

Subir Chakraborty
5th June 2025

I have more than one life in me
The confident, the timid, the stranger
The explorer, the optimist, the vagabond
The professional and the philosopher
Each day I fly a new flag
Wear a new hat
Think of what I haven’t thought before
Tell a new story

Sometimes there’s an audience
At times I’m all alone on the stage
But I scarcely notice
For I’m playing the role for the moment
Riding the ebbs and flows
While nursing the cobwebs of illusions
To live yet another day

But then, who’s the real me?
I sometimes ponder
While floating in the mists of my mind
And toying playfully
With my own silence

Subir Chakraborty
3rd June 2025

Sometimes we talk the least
Of the issues needing primacy
Sometimes mere trivialities
Assume extreme urgency

What is it in human nature
That compels such a stand
When wishing to remain hidden
We bury our face in the sand

When we wish to discuss topics
In our sweet comfort zone
Ignoring an urgent issue
Carrying a discomforting tone

When discomfort is disquieting
And comfort is soothing
Who would wish to take up
An issue painfully worrying

And yet there are a few
Who may beg to differ
Who would not bat an eyelid
Undertaking a challenging offer

For they are the ones
With a strong iron will, and
With a ramrod straight spine
Made of stainless steel

They are the ones who have
Changed the course of this earth
Dreaming with their eyes open
And with raging fire in their hearts

Subir Chakraborty / 6th March 2018