SUMITRA MISHRA

 

 

In Calm Or Storm

 

I know not how much

I love you

Nor if I hate you as much

For my heart bleats and bleeds

As I go from loving to hating you

From adoring to scorning you,

Sometimes you smell like a breezy aroma

And then fade into a smoky factory of disdain.

 

Do I love you because you are as you are

Or hate you because you are not as I want

I have tried to fit into the jigsaw of your whims and fancies

Yet my inner being sulks at the thought that

What you may utter or conceal

You do not love me

As blindly and deeply my loving heart wants to be loved.

 

One day when the dazzling petals of my youth

Will desiccate in the cold wind of old age, or

When the glowing light of my loyal heart

Will dim into a dying diya

Consumed by the flames of your passion

Or the snowstorm of your doubt

May be my loving heart will still beat

Like a gong at your call

As I will forever sail into the world of calm

Because I love you, love you, be it in calm or storm.

Shadow Clouds

 

That day I saw the clouds following

Your steps and shadows

As you straddled

Across the empty street

Littered with dry leaves,

Discarded baby diapers, and

Whispers floating in the poly-chocked drains

Bottles and cans rolling under dimly-lit electric poles

I felt a thunder groaning in my heart.

 

The trees started creaking

Under the blows of the storm

Scattering the discarded gutka pouches

The earth quailed like a fishing boat in the roaring sea

As the lightning cracked the hot whip on the damp soil

My heart started jumping like a frog prisoned in a box.

 

Your tottering legs

Threatened the shadow of the dark clouds

In the pit of my soul

For you seemed to have forgotten the whistling

The tunes of the romantic songs you sang to me

Or did I miss the flute , the smiles and the sunshine?

 

SUMITRA MISHRA