MONALISA DASH DWIBEDY

MONALISA 

DASH DWIBEDY

Problem

Tell me if the sun ever sleeps,

If the sky ever keeps its secret,

If dew drops ever cry,

If clouds choose their own territory to shower,

If a spider grumbles weaving,

If a bird ever fears its flight.

Tell me how many trips a bee makes,

To earn a mouthful of honey.

How a tortoise manages the pace of life,

Tell me if your pet cares for its career,

If you have ever met a rainbow grieving about the short span of life.

Who would give me sunrise in a cup,

If I do not wake up early?

Who built a home for my heart and shut the windows down so close my spirit cannot see?

Who would let me out some gala day, with implements to fly away, passing pomposity?

My Life In Two Blue Suitcases

When the distant tracks call me,

Opening their arms,

I walk out of my comfort zone,

To embrace red-dusted earth and blue skies.

Time waits around the corner,

For me to return

As I bid goodbye to my hurried pace of life.

Staring far along the open roads,

As long as the sun shines upon me,

I try not to look back,

So many signs,

So many places,

Unseen.

I see the signals,

Yet still forget imagining faces of the past,

A rush of bliss splits the breeze,

Where the maker of the universe wanders.

He Offers echoes of my stare.

Life does not pause,

When I meet new faces,

Exchange glances,

Wonder in the midst of

Choices made,

Choices denied,

And chances missed.

Painted and blank canvases I visit,

I am not bound to any one place.

Travelling free as a bird,

I measure my life in two blue suitcases.

The New Immigrant

Where are you from?

You ask.

I am from the land of

Wealth and misery,

The mystic range of

Himalayan Mountains.

Land of bomb blasts, surgical strikes and sufferings,

Land of love, yoga, sun and devotion,

I am from a border village of India and Pakistan.

How many of your villagers have come here?

You ask.

They are few, alive with their past misfortunes,

Holding onto their indescribable emotions,

They still fear a stranger, like an unknown enemy,

Taking one day at a time,

Grabbing every little happiness,

You will know when you see them.

That terrifying brightness in their eyes,

Tells about their life near the border of death,

They lived and died at the same time, many times,

A circle of infinite tiredness in their face,

The way they laugh, you can envision their whole life in that laughter.

No one can laugh like them.

This is a very new city, Do you feel home?

You ask.

On the hillside in the bright daylight,

I see the birds fly with same zeal in their flight,

On the grass near that lawn,

I watch the new plants being born, the same way they are born on my land.

When it rains here,

Leafs shine.

Hungry soil soaks the first rain like a sponge.

The smell of the rain-hit earth,

The smell of home.

This summer, your city with blue-white skies,

High-rise buildings,

Tulips in the spring and Mary-golds in winter

Felt like home.

Soul Of A Forest

Night did not have a death wish, but

When dawn started its rhythmic dance

Night was willing to die for the day.

I took my heart for a walk in the forest

Moon was still on the sky,

Not suffocated with the arrival of the Sun,

Soon, the Sun shined through the dense trees

I jogged listening to the magic whisper of the wind,

Blowing on my face, caressing my tresses.

On the banks of a nameless river,

With the fragrance of wild jasmines,

With the songs of earthworms, peacocks,

I chorused, singing the song of life.

As my spirit danced with the wind,

I chuckled,

On my return from my morning walk,

I knew the forest had a soul.

In Love With Life

What makes you fall in love with life?

Sunrise or sunset,

Clouds or rain,

Pleasure or pain,

Hope or despair,

A scream or a thunder?

What makes you fall in love with life?

Shades of poetic dreams or colors of prosy reality,

Echoes of darkness or reluctance of light,

The smell of earth after the first rain

Or the rusted scent of strewn summer dust,

The sounds of an ancient bell

Or the cheers of the street crowd,

The giggles of a girl

Or the perfumes of her washed hair?

The road to happiness

Will find the doorsteps to love

Let’s fall in love,

With life, even after life.

To be one with the beloved,

Forever.

MONALISA DASH DWIBEDY