‘Best of friends’ is like a huge landscape
Where the desire to belong
Is not devoid of disagreements
Where the longing is laced
With the freedom to be unique
Where the meetings are not merely meet-and-greet sessions
But a platform for exchange of ideas
Of common interest
Or even a new one looming over the horizon
Where there is genuine regard and respect
For what one stands for
Where mirth and laughter are interspersed with concern for each other’s well being
Where the past and the present mingle together in sweet harmony
And where the discarding of all inhibitions
Leads to true unburdening of the soul

Subir Chakraborty
26th May 2024

The childhood I clung to
Slipped out of my grasp
Ever so slowly
Surreptitiously
The contours of my face
Changed gradually
To a more determined me
More assured, confident
Ready to take on the world
And yet that began to change again
Almost as if predestined, preordained
Old age began to creep in
Receding hairline
A niggle
First here
Then there
And then everywhere
Slowing of pace
Faltering memory
Reminiscing constantly
About long lost days of fun and frolic
Looking back through the lens of time
Heart aflutter with nostalgia
I examine my palm closely
And notice the holes I had never seen
Through which all those moments
Had slipped away
One by one
Without the faintest of an adieu
And I gently whisper to myself
This too shall pass…..

Subir Chakraborty
1st May 2024

When the sky within me
Reaches out to the horizon dawning in your infinitude
When the fire raging within me
Seeks to be quenched with the sweet nectar of your tenderness
When the torrents flowing through my heart
Desire refuge in the ocean of your compassion
When my tribulations and doubts
Are laid to rest in the comfort of your being
I know I have not fallen but risen in love
I know that divinity waits patiently
To welcome me in its midst
At a time when I am ready
To drop off all worldly illusions
And be one with the ultimate reality

Subir Chakraborty
31st Dec 2023

I leave bits and pieces of me
Wherever I go
A little something of this
And that
My thoughts
Scattered here and there
My laughter
Rebounding from the roof
Embedded as echo on the walls
The gentle zephyr
Which caressed my long lost feelings
And left me alone in my day dream
A window through which my sight meandered
Into the faraway hills
Never to return
My mind
Which got captivated by a beatific smile
To remain enchanted forever
My soul which carved its signature
With the ink of sweet melody
On to the fabric of this charming place

Subir Chakraborty
10th Dec 2023

When I see the sun peep at dawn
And close its eyes at dusk
Only to rise again the very next morn
When I see the Milky Way appear
And gradually fade into the skies
Only to reappear the next night
In all its splendorous might
When I see the gentle zephyr
Turn into a devastating tornado
Before turning into a mild breeze once again
When I see a harmless microbe
Mutate into a deadly virus
Before becoming harmless once more
Through the same process of mutation
When I see mayhem running riot
And hope seeding in clusters
When I see dictatorships go
And democracies grow green shoots
Only for it to gradually ebb
Allowing dictatorships to grow fresh roots
When I see the present mimic the past
When I see history repeating itself
When I see cyclicality manifest itself
In events, processes and relationships
I see the one golden strand
Unifying the whole
Propelling life towards its chosen destiny
Amidst orderliness and chaos
And back to orderliness once again
Keeping pace, every step of the way
With the music of the heavens
Reverberating in tune with the cosmic rhythm
And choreographing the dance of divinity

Subir Chakraborty
25th Nov 2023

The multiple rivulets of pain
Which seem to drip
Drop by drop
Into your tormented heart
I collect in the cusp of my hand
And caress it gently
With the warm breath of my love
Drying your truant tears
With the flutter of my ‘lashes
Wanting to say ‘I love you’
In a thousand different ways
Silently
Without uttering a word
While soaking in your grief
Till you are left with nothing
But a sense of renewed freedom
And I
With a wound in my heart
Nursing your agony lifelong
And swimming in alternating waves
Of ecstasy and sweet suffering

Subir Chakraborty
3rd Nov 2023

Can you not hear
The pulsating resonance of my beats
Conjuring an ever expanding weave
Of crescendos and decrescendos
Calling out to you
In the only way, I can
Not with mundane words
But with my feelings
Throbbing through my veins
Imploring you repeatedly
To be mine
And only mine
Can you not hear

Can you not hear
What the mountains can hear
From their lofty heights
Through the susurrations of the icy breeze
What the oceans can hear from their depths
Through the music of their ebbs and tides
What the trees of the forests can hear
From the whispers of the gentle zephyr
What the the stars from afar can hear
In the midst of their cosmic dance
Can you not hear my calling
Can you not hear…..

Subir Chakraborty
29th Oct 2023

The perpetrator and the victim
Two sides of the same coin
Roles which get switched
Without one being aware
Sometimes the assaulter
And at times the assaulted
Repetitively cyclical
Or cyclically repetitive
Whichever describes the situation
A vicious cycle of murder
And atrocities
And death
Leaving footprints for the next generation
To rise up again in rebellion
And repeat the cycle
Over and over
All over again

And yet it can very well be
A virtuous cycle of give and take
Of reciprocity
Of sanity
Of coexistence
Of living together in diversity
Embracing accommodation
And giving peace a chance
Without allowing the tyranny of the past
To tarnish the present
And corrode the future
Giving space to love
To flourish and to nurture
Creating ripe conditions
For humanity to evolve

And yet……..

Subir Chakraborty
17th October 2023

If silence can scream
If silence can rein
If silence can seek
If silence can reign

I carry all of it within me
All those sublime vibrations
Playing hide and seek
With my delusional mind

Which is yet to evolve
To a state of supreme calm
Where my material self
Is still crying out for an identity

And yet I want to try, to explore
To go beyond the mere ‘I’
To tread the unbeaten path
To delve into the unknown

Soon enough, silence begins to act
To dissolve, to embrace, to submerge
Till all that remains is where it all began
A vast primordial sea of conscious energy

The point of divine inflection
Where creator and creation coalesce
Where cause can also be the effect
Where creation is synonymous with destruction

Subir Chakraborty
11th October 2023

Your cries and shrieks
Reach out to me
Across aeons of time and space
Travelling unaided through ether
Yet inconspicuous, invisible
Causing a rare resonance within me
Real and palpable
Making me numb in grief
Where I can feel
The pain you experience
Which can no longer be contained
Within the norms of human mores
Where the channels for tears
Have all but dried out
In valleys of deep anguish
Directing them inwards
Through unknown pathways
Searing your flesh
Seeking desperate refuge
In the oasis of time
And hoping against hope
For hope

Subir Chakraborty
29th Aug 2023