Why do we constantly desire
This ring of certainty
To surround us permanently
To provide a modicum of satiety

Why do we constantly desire
The absolute opposite dimension
Of what has induced evolution
And made us intelligent humans

A strange contradiction in terms
Where we want to progress
Yet ceaselessly seek and pray
For a painless process

When we know for certainty
That uncertainty forces us to think
More so in a situation
When we are standing on the brink

When we know for certainty
That the path to an enriched future
Lies not through the ring of certainty
But through the ring of fire

Subir Chakraborty / 30th April 2018

My tryst with life
My tryst with nature
My tryst with myself
My struggle for the future

What I receive easily
I do not always treasure
And what I long for
Goes beyond my measure

What I want to give
May be minuscule, tiny
What I want to conquer
My moments, my destiny

May be the truth
Is what I want to say
But what comes out
Are half-truths everyday

Each day I rise
With a fresh resolve
Before I go to bed
I beg to be absolved

Who am I
Is the question to ask
What I might discover
Is a face with a mask

Subir Chakraborty / 6th May 2018

The past of the instant
Is enduring, enchanting, beautiful
While the instant itself
Dissolves gradually into starry ether

And the remnants which persist
Are voids of sheer beauty
Which remain entangled delicately
In the crevices of my mind

Floating daintily in my imagination
Bearing a life of their own
To flower, to seed and to grow
To embellish and to freely flow

For beauty belongs to no one
Owing allegiance only to itself
For it cannot ever be enslaved
By human greed or pelf

Subir Chakraborty
15th Oct 2020

Tomorrow we shall scale the mountain
Tomorrow we shall share the pain
Tomorrow we shall seek true freedom
Tomorrow we shall again be men

Tomorrow is just a concept
Tomorrow is just a postponement
Of what you need to do today
Of what constitutes the urgent

Tomorrow may never come
If you continue to procrastinate
Tomorrow may be just a mirage
If you continue to hesitate

Am I ready today
To face tomorrow’s question
For the tomorrow I dream of
Is knocking today at my bastion

Today is the only day
That we live at this moment
Today is the only time
On which we can comment

Live today
As if tomorrow may never come
Love today
When your heart is as yet young

Subir Chakraborty / 8th Aug 2018

Something is amiss today
Something is not quite right
There is something on your mind
Weighing with all its might

Why are your lips so sealed
While your eyes are drowning with words
Why are your steps halting
While your gaze is determinedly stark

Why do I get the feeling
That you are talking to yourself
Rehearsing ever so silently
Without being heard or felt

Why do I get the premonition
That you are sailing the doldrums
Waiting for the storm to break
Beyond the sea of calm

Why is the twilight so unsteady
With its looming shadow of darkness
Perhaps arriving accompanied
With a raging tornado in harness

Subir Chakraborty / 12th July 2018

 

 

 

 

My loneliness brings me to the doorstep of aloneness
Where there is no craving for company
Nor desire for any sound
Other than the rustle of leaves welcoming the evening zephyr
Or the sound of dew drops falling gently on unsuspecting leaves of grass
Or the gentle surrender of each day to the call of the dusky damsel
Or the tranquil awakening of each night to the music of dawn

This oneness with nature is alluring
Where you begin to see with your heart
And feel with your mind
Where the abundance within you
Gets enriched with the sweet nectar of life
Creating those precious moments of aloneness and rare quietude
Where you feel yourself entering a zone of bliss
Devoid of any stress or cacophony
Laced with the splendour of sublime existence

Subir Chakraborty
20th Sept 2020

When the fire is raging within
But the mind has to stay calm
When the beads of extreme anguish
Are gliding down your sweaty palm

When your eyes cannot betray
What your mind is trying to hide
When your heart is crying out
Tearing out your insides

When the half smile on your lips
Can also be half a cry
Irrespective of how much you camouflage
Or how much ever you try

When the inferno cannot be doused
By sweet meaningless words
When the music which wafts gently
Is cutting your flesh with a sword

There is only one person
Who can see you through your guise
The same person who loves you
And has never ever left your side

Open your heart to her shamelessly
And hear the flames whimper
Making your true self surface again
Rejoicing in the arms of your lover

Subir Chakraborty
16th Sept 2020

Sheer force of habit
Draws me to your doorstep
Sheer force of passion
Forces the fatal misstep

What is it I want or seek
In this illicit connection
What is it that I lack
In my present disposition

The mystery that surrounds you
Keeps me grossly captivated
The intrigue around your persona
Keeps me continually enchanted

Is it the person or the enigma
Which continues to attract
Will the present desirability endure
Once the charmed mist retracts

Are you filling a genuine void
That my life lacks so dearly
Or is it my unbridled lust
That is acting so queerly

Will I be any happier or stabler
Once it is all over and done
Will I be any wiser or enlightened
When I’m back to square one

Subir Chakraborty / 30th July 2018

 

 

 

Into the world of Aum I dive
Loosening my earthly bonds
Casting away my temporal self
Drowning in silent perpetuity

And from this zone of eternity
Arises my poetry
Where my words go past the letters
Creating rhythms of ecstasy

There is no god here
Nor a defining holy spirit
Only a sense of blissful tranquility
Only a feeling of total equanimity

There is no duality here
No one to call the other
Where my being is in complete resonance
With the vibrations of the ether

Subir Chakraborty / 15th Nov 2018

The roles I play are the ones I believe
Creating in the process my outer identity
Which learns to dance and sing with the shadows
Transforming mere perception into reality

Childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age
Are the various scenes in this act
Which I learn to play reasonably well
Keeping the age old script intact

Am I really the genuine I
Playing out these diverse roles
Or is the real I lying hidden
Silently nesting in my soul

I need to cut the clutter of the apparent
And dive deep within my mind
To grasp the reality of my true self
Immanent, unchanging and sublime

Subir Chakraborty
29th August 2020