ANIL KUMAR PANDA

 

 

The Garden

 

When lilies and roses spread their 

Wings like sparrows the old sunflowers

Turn their heads towards the sun;

 

Pigeons coo inside their cotes

Like a shepherd playing its flute

And a bumblebee weeping in seclusion

 

Serrated leaves of the aged trees

Fall on the ground to make a bed

For retired men to lay and snore

Their sticks with serpent heads keep

A watch on them

 

Sun goes down like a bloody eye

Sparrows shed plumes over wrinkled faces

Pigeon stops cooing

Bony feet are pricked by blades of grasses

Dusk is reflected in their small faces

 

Television

 

I can’t feel like breathing

When you are shut and make

A dark face below the night bulb.

My ears yearn for the coarse voice

With which you correct the world,

Show it the blood and mayhem

Mankind spills in the streets.

 

We kiss each other

Before the kids and grandparents

Like two kittens in cold

To give each other warmth.

 

From under the blanket, I watch

You curling up like a worm

And straightening your box like face

To let me sleep with music

Playing in the dreams.

 

Last time you banged my head

With the hammers from Palestine

And Ukraine and I could not help crying.

 

I covered you with a dark cloth

Not to see your face again.

 

A Sea In Your Eyes

 

I can see a sea in your eyes

Deep blue and serene

Ever flowing with tides of tears

 

I come close to look

The beautiful vista they hold

Of love and compassion and care

 

I wish I could swim in the sea

Be a part of your dreams

Be in your tear drops

To fall and rest on your bosoms

I don’t feel like leaving you ever

 

ANIL KUMAR PANDA