SWAPNA BEHERA

 

SWAPNA BEHERA

 

Someone Hides Under The Ground

 

Someone hides under the ground

May be the blood of our ancestors

Their stoic silence hoots the glory

 The corn trees manifest the secret diary

 

Someone hides beyond the clouds

 May be a sensible thinker shines

The eyes had to go through the tears

To see the rainbows

Rocks of the Himalayas crush for new soil

As everyday a new prayer traipses

The hilly hamlet sings the hymn

 

Someone hides in the wood

May be the moon sprints

And texts are predefined

To save the last breath of nature

 

 

Innocence On The Palette

 

the calendar delivers

the paramount truth

few steps to the silent valley

speaks, twits, cries, shouts

maybe ; it celebrates ... 

 

 golden paddy stems

or the pigeons on the temple

extended hands of the school kids during the short break

the Sun rays on the grave yard or in the courtyard of a sex worker

innocence thou art the virgin eyes

a vision or a mission

millions of tear drops together or a crescent smile

 mirror of the galaxy

some moments

river in the ocean

a diagram or a diaphragm

each innocent soul fixes multiple

 do or die agendas

                     yes, innocence is the rainbow on the palette

 

Pour Some Sugar On Me

 

Pour some sugar on me 

Ahh! my sentient dreams

I, the indentured labourer

Migrated from my root

A traveller having the blue sky

But no soil of my own

No flags to bear

Carried away at the age of twelve

 

Pour some sugar on me

Let me be sweet enough

Here I work all day

Damn tired;

I repeat, I like my soil 

Wish to melt in the dust of my village

 

Pour some sugar on me

Let me be as white as your tea cup

The burning sensation of my palm

The pain of Caribbean Diaspora

I lost my valley

My Paradise land, the myths

cassava porridge, songs

silk cotton trees

 rivers and tall mountains

The salt of my blood changed into sugar

My teardrops converted to concrete flood

I will be born again

From your crematorium

Fly high to weave my web

Like a spider

 

Pour some sugar on me

Let me be the sweetest sugar candy of this planet

Pray for my chunk of sky

That looks like your so-called sugar!!!

 

SWAPNA BEHERA

 

SWAPNA BEHERA is a trilingual contemporary poet, author, translator, environmentalist and editor from Odisha, India. She is a retired teacher of Kendriya Vidyalaya, India. Her stories, poems, papers and articles are widely published in National and International journals, and ezines, and are translated into different national and international languages. She has penned six books of different genres including one children's literature on Environment. She is the recipient of the Prestigious International Mother Language UGADI AWARD WINNER 2019, honoured from Gujurat Sahitya Akademi Award, Telengana Sahitya Akademi , the Golden Eagle Award from U.H.E.Peru,  .She has received the Honoured Poet of India from the Seychelles Government accredited Literary Society LLSF and from Algeria,Morocco,Kajhakhstan etc. Her one poem A NIGHT IN THE REFUGEE CAMP is translated into 65 languages.