LILY SWARN
WAR
The fragrance was overpowering
Gunpowder blending artfully with
incense from the Mazaar (grave)
An air of desolation hanging like
teardrops on a rag-picker's grimy cheeks
Vultures playing dead -dead on the
biting winds up high
Kissing the azure with blank stares
Wooden, beady eyes ajar
The guns belched and broke wind
Traumatizing and terrorizing
The toddler with his hands on his
ears
War was the evil witch that would
take away his sisters
War was the elephant's foot that
would trample his toy car
War was the step mom that snatched
away his bowl of gruel
The piteous sound of muffled sobs
shook the hut
Rain splattered through the torn
canvas roof
As his best friend's head was blown
off
Making a bloody pattern on the
ground
Bees buzzed around delightedly and
the world went about its business as usual
The rickety clock groaned out the
time
War bared its fangs and smiled its
sinister smile.
Copyright Lily Swarn 20.10.2017
LOVE, HOPE, BETRAYAL!
Love hope betrayal
Betrayal is an anguished word
It reeks of rancid emotions and
dead feelings
It's an abomination on the pure
alpine grove of love
A vanquished prince
A cowardly warrior
A wayward son
Betrayal is the scar that no tears
can wash
It's Lady Macbeth's little hand
that could never be clean again
It is hot with the fresh blood on
Caesar's heart
Yelping in pain at Brutus' unkind
cut
Betrayal bangs its battered skull
on Iago's chest
Betrayal beats its breast
Hope is the cactus flower that
blooms unseen and un serenaded in the desert sand
Hope hides in the last corner of
your throbbing heart
Singing songs like "we shall
overcome one day "
Hope is the lone Koel that calls
for it’s mate on the blossoming mango branch
Hope is the questioning look on
your mother's face when you come home from your
first assignment
Hope hums melodies
Love is lonesome
It crawls into crevices of longing
And waits for the sound of music
Love lets itself go to hell in
return for
A taste of heaven
Love shimmers on your beauteous
visage
Inebriated with the incense of
divinity
Love is the intense yearning in
umpteen dreams of lyrical laments
Love is life.
Copyright Lily Swarn 15.4.2017
MY TREE
I think the tree that I gaze at
From my kitchen window each morning
Is perhaps my closest confidante
It sees my slumber dazed eyes
Open up languorously to clasp
The first glass of water for the
day
I smile indulgently at its
seductive blooms
Perking up my mundane existence
with
Their brash brilliance
The green is comforting
Mossy and cool like the stream that
flowed in the quaint red roofed village in the hills
The long brown pods that are its
fruit
Dangle deliriously in the scorching
breeze
I wish I could shin up its inviting
branches as I did
On the mango tree in my mother's
house
Surreptitiously peeping into the
neighbour's garden
Girlhood is far behind
My knees might creak in protest
I am sure I will get breathless
Besides its not the same tree
This Gulmohar is my friend
It knows me by name
It hears my heartbeats
It tells me tales!
Of loves long lost
Of promises unkept
Of lives unloved
Of buds that wilted before
They could blossom!
It bids me goodnight
At unearthly hours
How comforting is its
constant presence in a world
Of make believe!
Copyright Lily Swarn 23.5.2016
O LOTUS PADMA!
Kamal, Neeraj, Pankaj, Saroj, Jalaj
With your puffed lotus seeds the
Phool makhaane
Your delicious stem the kamal kakdi
Loved by Kashmir as Nadru
You exotic flower rising above the
lakes and ponds
Beauteous as a divine painting
Symbol of feminine beauty
The eyes like kamal nayan
Bewitching all who gaze enraptured
O ye Seshen of ancient Egypt
Symbolic of Sun and rebirth
Blossoming as the sun rises and
closing at dusk
Aren’t you the magical lotus that
can be transformed from a dead man
Charmed with spells and
resurrected?
The blue lotus in hieroglyphics
with papyrus
Priest Nebsini with the flower
Rising above the muddy waters of
desires and attachments
Symbolic of spiritual
enlightenment, O Padma
From darkness to wisdom
With your roots in slush and filth
You are the Buddhist's icon
Head held high
Pure and undefiled in the sun
Most exalted state of humans
Visualize within yourself a lotus
Centered right within your heart
say the Hindu scriptures
Prajapati, from the divine cosmic
waters
Evolved a thousand -petalled golden
lotus
A doorway of the womb of the
universe
The Cosmic lotus, first product of
the creative principle
A fully blossomed pink lotus
The seat of Goddess Lakshmi of
wealth and fortune
Who holds a lotus in her right hand
Mahabharata narrates the origin of
Lakhshmi
From a lotus growing in the
forehead of Lord Vishnu
A garland of 108 lotus seeds used
to worship the deity
White Lotus is for goddess of
wisdom Saraswati
A garland of lotus by Varuna for
adorning goddess of Power, Durga
Legend has Lotus arising from the
Navel of lord Vishnu
With Brahma the creator in its
centre
Do you want to reach the highest
levels of consciousness?
Sit in padmasana, the lotus
position
Find it in the thousand petalled
lotus Chakra on the top of your head
Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita
As lotus flower and leaf remaining
dry despite living in miry waters
Smutty swamps of ignorance cannot
touch this symbol of purity and enlightenment
Earliest reference in Rig Veda
Padma pink lotus, Kamala red,
Pundarika white lotus, Utpala blue
The star of Sanskrit, Hindu
scriptures
Perform Dharma without attachment o
Ye folks
Dragged by Odysseus
to the ship, the wailing lotus
eaters
Inebriated by the flowers and seeds
of the lotus
You hypnotize me o Lotus!
Copyright Lily Swarn 15.1.2018
HAIL APHRODITE
Hail Aphrodite
Alluring Venus of April
Bunches of cherry blossoms
Secretly shielding sensational
sensuality
Hypnotism oozing from your
Voluptuous curves
Married off to Hephaestus
Myrtle, doves,
Horses and swans you adore
Pleasure and procreation follow in
your wake
You beloved of Adonis
The hills are alive to the music of
the daisies
Fields of dancing poppies, scarlet
red,
Dot the creamy butter cup yellow of
the narcissus
Moss green meadows whisper to the
winds
Their ardent desires to capture
Spring
And never let it go!
The sweet pea embraces the tall
grass in a vice like grip
Darting furtive glances like a
suspicious wife
The trees sprout tender tendrils of
lemon green
Satiny leaves open their hearts
like ardent lovers
Waiting for the blissful April
showers!
The corn flower blue of the
yearning sky beckons a darting sea gull
She swoops down to kiss the foam
Of the gushing seductive ocean
Flamingoes preen and strut around
Parading their flamboyant attire
Woodpeckers knock perseveringly
For Spring's treasure trove to open
Come Aphrodite with your magnetic
Powers of attraction
Take us to realms of peace and love
Where no life however small,
suffers!
Copyright 24.7.2016
LILY SWARN
LILY SWARN, poet, writer and columnist, won
the Reuel International Prize for Poetry 2016 and was recognised as
"Global Poet of Peace and Universal Love "by World Union of Poets
.The World Institute of Peace awarded "World Icon of Peace "title in
Nigeria . The administration of her city Chandigarh gave her the Icon Award
.She has been decorated with a "Woman of Substance "trophy .Lily was
awarded the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Award in the World Poetry Festival and
the Sarojini Naidu Award for Excellence in Poetic Recitation and composition
.Lily 's book of verse ,A Trellis of Ecstasy is
highly appreciated by the Chief Minister ,Punjab and by India Today .Her
book Lilies of the Valley which is a
collection of essays has got rave reviews .Lily's columns in international web
magazines are widely read . She writes with a poignant touch in English , Hindi
, Urdu and Punjabi .Lily has been a radio show host and believes in world
friendship and loves all humanity regardless of colour or creed.Her novel , The
Gypsy Trail , is due for a launch any day . Lily feels that the spirit of her
late son watches over her.
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