Wednesday, June 16, 2010

I do not love you except because I love you

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

Sonnet LXVI
---- Pablo Neruda (Nobel laureate, 1971)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Metamorphosis

Painful, it is
when life whips at you,
with lacerating blows !
And you wail, anyone will !

Unless you're blessed,
that continues.......
Perhaps, it is a test
or a lesson of forbearance !

A stage comes when,
skin metamorphoses into hide...
when you no longer feel the pangs
& tears dry before they betide !

And, all of a sudden,
they stop...the whips!
And you start missing them,
the void of pain pains!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Duels with God

God and I
have been the best of friends
and the worst of foes
We play games & have duels,
and he always wins !

In hide n seek, his favorite,
he could see me
no matter where I hid,
but I could never,
in any nook and corner.
I would then call, as
was sure he could hear,
and I felt he was near..
but he didn't answer!
Instead, he would come and
hit me from behind..
as a sign of victory, and
I would fall,
my nose bleeding !

When I desired a milieu
in which I could nurture..
he led me into one
that was good enough
only to rust !
When I'd forgiven him,
like a friend does,
years later he inveigled me
to the place I'd always
wanted to be !
Funny, is it?
To put a putrefying seed
into a fertile land,
and laugh at its incapacity?

When I craved for a company,
he allowed me none,
not even his.
I excused him, and
thought it to be
another lesson
in the 'ways of life'.
Slowly, I fell in love
with solitude, and got
intimate with inanimates !
but then he plotted to
put people around &
one fine day, stole
my best mate
among inanimates!

He has prevailed in
all duels we've had !
But there will be,
yes, a final one;
wherein I'll have all
my barriers overcome;
I'll transcend
the binding dimension;
he'll have no choice
but grant freedom;
and it'll be ME
who would've won.

(The premise for this poem is that all that happens is controlled by God!)

Friday, May 14, 2010

The Rainy Day

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast

And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.

--- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

If thou must love me, let it be for nought

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.

Sonnet XIV

-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Figments of imagination

The figments of my imagination are like wrecks sublime,
Waiting to be unearthed until I plunge into the seas of passion.
I climb a bewitched ladder into the world of ecstasy;
Where strangeness rules and reason fades into oblivion.
I become a zombie, a slave to the musings of my psyche.
The sudden unbearable urge to give vent to my imagination.
The passion of creativity seizes me by the throat.
The lines that you peruse are the only culmination.


The figments of my imagination are like wrecks sublime,
Waiting to be unearthed until I plunge into the seas of passion.
I try to mould words like clay being shaped into a pot,
The effort leaves me sweating; defeated in exhaustion.
But the elation at giving life to my humble musings;
Is more than I could ever ask for in compensation.
I ogle at these etchings like an indulgent mother,
Attaining divine content with every single adulation.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The most..........

The most destructive habit - Worry
The greatest joy - Giving
The greatest loss - Loss of self-respect

The most satisfying work - Helping others
The ugliest personality trait - Selfishness
The most endangered species - Dedicated leaders
Our greatest natural resources - Youth

The greatest 'shot in the arm' - Encouragement
The greatest problem to overcome - Fear
The most effective sleeping pill - Peace of Mind

The most powerful force in life - Love
The most dangerous act - A Gossip
The worlds most incredible computer - Brain
The worst thing to be without - Hope

The deadliest weapon - The toungue
The two most power filled two words - 'I Can'
The greatest asset - Faith
The most worthless emotion - Self Pity

The most beautiful attire - Smile
The most prized possession - Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication - Prayer
The most contagious spirit - Enthusiasm

Life ends when you stop dreaming
Hope ends when you stop believing
Love ends when you stop caring
And, friendship ends when you stop sharing

---- Anonymous
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Poetry and prose by Avishek Ranjan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License