RAJASHREE MOHAPATRA

 

 

The Tide And The Deep

 

The tides know no bounds. 

They rise to dance with a smile, 

then die carefree. 

Maybe human life is no different.

 

We are adept at skimming 

the horizon of hope, 

tracing the branches 

of the family tree.

 

We choose not to guess 

the undermining fear 

that lives in bleak darkness. 

Instead, we laugh at the night, 

and at nightmares.

 

Every depth knows the strength of the tide 

by its push and pull, 

and balances the weight 

of their rising heights 

beyond care.

 

We chase the crest, breathless, 

call it freedom, or call it fate, 

ignoring the hush of trenches 

and the sinking echoes 

left unnamed.

 

A carefree rise above sunken burden, 

a dance with no fear of the vortex. 

Still, the sea of hope remembers, 

and quietly compromises 

with the deeps and the waves.

 

Dark

 

The sky that smiles with a bright moon 

gets covered under a canopy of clouds. 

So also, is life.

 

Care and fear separate 

duty and responsibility by a 

single breath 

that often struggles to take different forms.

 

With fame at our feet and 

wealth in our hands, 

man feels invincible, eternal

ever omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.

 

Then changes whirl around with no knock, no warning, 

and start emptying hands 

that once held him, tight and 

magnificent.

 

Grief crashes through the living room, the lounge, and the lungs in the night, 

and the ache knows no bounds, 

no name, no fame.

 

Despite that, dark sheets melt. 

The moon returns. 

If we remember we were never the sky,

 

RAJASHREE MOHAPATRA

 

RAJASHREE MOHAPATRA is a teacher by profession, and poetry, painting, and journalism are her passions. She is a bilingual poet whose Odia and English poems have been translated into numerous national and international languages. Her work has been published in prestigious anthologies, international e-zines, and journals.