When the koel sings a lullaby
In the early hours of dawn
You know it has finally arrived
Your favourite Sunday morn

The morning stretches seamlessly
Amidst endless cups of tea
As you read the Sunday news
With an extra ounce of greed

The afternoon lifts your spirits
In ways more than one
Sumptuous lunch followed by siesta
A unique, sublime combination

Finally, when your near and dear ones
Raise your productivity to doing precious nothing
You know you have entered the precincts
Of a gentle Sunday evening

Subir Chakraborty / 1st April 2018

The muted light skims your face
Imparting a magical quality
Half shaded, hushed, yet visible
Revealing a sublime tapestry

Subir Chakraborty / 14th March 2018

The smile on the lips
The outstretched hand
Beckoning a destitute
With comfort and warmth

Hesitation can occur
When you give only a part
But when you give it your all
It promptly deserts

To be suitably replaced
With divinity and grace
On a frail old woman
With a glint on her face

Not to be misunderstood
As a sign of weakness
The epitome of tenderness
Laced with firmness

Mother to all humanity
Compassionate and caring
A living saint in our midst
Courageous and daring

Many accolades, one lifetime
Magsaysay, Nobel, Order
But for the dying on the streets
Only a deeply loving mother

Subir Chakraborty / 20th March 2018

The poetry of daily life
Consumes my very existence
Each word, comma, exclamation
Describes my being in continuance

Each activity blends harmoniously
To a rhythm in my heart
Each pause a minor interval
Prior to a refreshing start

Daily existence is a concert
With notes high and low
Can be a replay of Brahms Rhapsody
Or even a Bach Concerto

The symphony continues uninterrupted
Undisturbed and unabated
For me to enjoy every moment
And live life to the fullest

Subir Chakraborty / 24th Feb 2018

When pleasure lies
On a bed of pain
When to lose is to win
With a sense of gain

When to conquer the peak
Is to actually surrender
As you finally summit
It makes you ponder

Going down the aisle
With your daughter’s arm
Are you losing a daughter
Or gaining a son

Making that kind gesture
To an elderly couple
May cause you inconvenience
Perhaps some trouble

But that feel of satisfaction
You derive in the end
May more than justify
Your temporary pain

Can gain exist in isolation
Without any underlying pain
Still being contemplated
Still unexplained

Subir Chakraborty / 3rd March 2018

When the gods shall paint a rainbow
Across the arch of the sky
I shall tiptoe down your heart
Without a shout or a cry

Subir Chakraborty / 28th Feb 2018

The narrative of the revolution
Runs deep through the veins
The unshakeable self belief
In the ideology of change

Change for equality
Change for justice
Change to classlessness
Change for freedom

Scores of lives are sacrificed
Near, dear, not so near, unknown
Those who could mourn
And those not old enough to bemoan

And yet when change happens
The narrative begins to ferment
Over a period of time
Unnoticed, slowly, silently

The rot seeps in
Surreptitiously through the system
Initially in ones and twos
And then as an avalanche

Humans demonstrate once again
That ingenuity and creativity
Can always find ways and means
To subvert idealism, ideology

The detritus begins to stink as years pass by
Till there comes a time
To dream of another ideology
A new revolution

Subir Chakraborty / 4th March 2018

I lie in silence looking at the ceiling
You too lie in silence, sinews taut
Our fingers crave for the touch
But they fall short, miserably short

Subir Chakraborty / 16th Feb 2018

I stand in the echo of
Myself
Waiting to decipher
To discern

My true self
Undiluted by sophistication
Unsullied by rumours
Unhurried by punctuality

My image bounces off me
My sounds I strain to hear
The echo crisscrosses the distance
Befuddled, in deep despair

What I can see
Is not the true me
What I can hear
Is a voice unfamiliar

What I project
Perhaps not what I am
Unknown to the echo
Hides the true man

Subir Chakraborty / 14th Feb 2018

When youth decides to fade
And the halo begins to dim
When the leaves start to fall
And autumn seeps in

It’s not the big successes
Which make you gasp
Nor the big ticket events
Which adorned your past

Time to take in the small things
And begin to savour life
Time to shift gears, and enjoy
The non-events in your stride

Time to watch the butterfly
Emerge from the caterpillar
Time to watch the birds
Sing with rare ardour

Time to try out new hobbies
Time to uplift your mood
Time to reconnect with friends
Time for a renewed childhood

Subir Chakraborty / 18th Feb 2018