MALSAWMI JACOB

MALSAWMI JACOB

QUEST

Gem of rarest beauty

calls in waking dreams

morning sunset moonlight

still black night

so I must set out in quest

leaving all I own.

The way may lead me through

sacred grove

encircled by forest-walls

silent as the dead,

cavern deep and dark

washed by water’s constant lashing

churning eddies never ceasing,

mountain top

ever frozen ever white

where blue spirits sit dreaming

unmindful of ages rolling,

sky above clouds

unreached by lightning flashes

dwellings of celestial beings.

Wherever it may be found –

sea-bed earth’s bowel

beyond twinkling stars –

the treasure I must pursue.

A DANCE OF THE MUSE

On the bank of the Pampa

we swap stories and songs

throbbing with life, rainbow coloured

glimmering gold shimmering silver

sky-blue sea-blue

grass-green river-green

rose-pink hibiscus-red

dark red of poured out blood

midnight black

The green river watches us

scattering pearls born out of pain

gray sky rains abundant tears

on the gem-strewn ground

a snake boat slithering by

curious peeps through branches

to see the wild revelry

laughter songs and laments

then quietly sails away.

I’m drunk on the heady brew

images music and tales

told by various bards

sung in a hundred voices

some soft some loud

some high some low

altogether blending rising

grand harmonious chorus

joy and sorrow light and shadow

altogether chanting

cries of human hearts.

IN THE GARDEN

In the garden reverberates

songs of morning stars

heaven’s own symphony;

hearts in harmony clap

rivers dance in ecstasy

merry mirror a clear pool

reflecting true image.

Alas! In the garden

we embraced the serpent

shut out heaven’s song

desecrated the image

polluted the rivers

muddied the pool

serpent’s foul breath clouded

the mirror cracked

Defiled

exiled

dying of serpent bite

trapped in cracked mirror

how can we get back

into the garden?

CRACKED MIRROR’S ANSWER

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

tell me honest, tell me true;

am I fair or am I foul?

Tell me mirror tell me, do.

“Fair or foul, foul or fair—

it’s thinking that makes it so;

think yourself as fairest fair

when you look that’s what you’ll see.”

In that case my mirror dear,

need I look to you at all?

“Sure you do because I’m here

to confirm all your mind says

make you see what you want to see

help you feel you are all right

“Should you wish to run after

forbidden profit or pleasure

that leaves a question mark

in a corner of your heart,

I can soothe that niggling doubt

blunt the pricking thorn

wipe the unease off your mind

set you free to run full speed

chasing desires, fair or foul

till at last you grow to think

foul is fair and fair is foul.”

ROSES, TAR AND BLOOD

“Why have you gone political?”

they ask, “Why don’t you just do

your thing?”

Sure I’d love to sing of roses

blooming in the garden

and on my baby’s cheeks

It would be fun to tell

tales of sun and moon

invent fanciful stories

how they once were friends

then quarrelled one day

and parted ways

The ink I write with

should be blue as sky

flowing out freely

on paper white.

But our land is smeared with dark deeds

crimes so beastly no beast would commit

So my ink becomes tar

sluggish stinking sewage

oozing slimy lies you tell

generation to generation –

lies that justify

treading down

part of humanity

spilling blood

So my pen flows with blood;

today it is someone’s

tomorrow it may be yours

then you will find

the colours all same.

Bloom away, roses

in your ruby beauty

though blood and tar meet

in the street.

MALSAWMI JACOB

MALSAWMI JACOB writes in English and Mizo language, and occasionally translates from one to the other. She has written two books each of poems, short stories, children’s books, narrative non-fiction and one novel, besides contributing to anthologies and journals. She has lived and worked in different cities of India – teaching English to undergraduates, freelancing with newspapers and magazines, etc. She is now based in Bangalore but is still footloose, always willing to fly to Tbilisi to baby-sit her seven month old only grandchild.