RELIVING RAIN!
A poemvolume (part 1)
by RISHI
1.IN VAIN…
Half-slain
Scorching
Slippery
Misleading
Morbid
Ailing
All alone
Have to move on
Shouldering the burden of something unbearable
The climate remains unfavourable.
Somethings have no variables.
By and by
Time slips by
Turning untraceable
Moments too precious
There are things
Never to be regained
Maimed
Pained to the core
Standing at razor’s edge
Pledge losing its potential
Bruised
Bleeding
Bemoaning
The heart reels in a swirl
Ringa-ringa-roses
Falls down from a terrible height
The fool of an ass it is
Attempting to sleep in vain
With the spirit broken
Hickory Dickory dock
2.BEYOND THE REALM OF LANGUAGE…..
Words for Verse;
Cell for Sell;
Right for Write;
Night for Knight;
Die for Dye;
Bye for By;
Try for Tri;
High for Hai
Sunny for Sonny;
Mini for Many;
Weak for Week;
Wage for Rage…..
Even Entry for Country;
Number for November;
Ganja for Ganges;
The list goes on.
In the heat of brain
at boiling temperature
Spelling turns nonsense,
Meaning losing its substance
I keep taking down
the dictation
as an ‘out of control’ automation.
“What’s wrong?” asks the boss.
Why and how to share with him
the extent of my loss?
Taking leave I set out in the afternoon.
Having a moon-lit walk under the 106°C Sun
somewhat mitigates the impact of the
Inferno within.
Though I keep trying to zip in a poem
the all too expansive files of my travails,
beyond the realm of language remain
My ravages and full-throated wails.
3.LOSING THE ESSENCE……
Indeed a very pathetic sight it is -
Seeing the butterfly without wings...
and struggling to fly;
to soar high……
The strenuous effort
taking away the sheen of its hues,
left high and dry
so softly it cries
the sound of which escapes even those nearby.
Standing away and witnessing its plights
I merely sympathize,
sporting even a bemused smile.
But, metamorphosing into that very insect
I turn bruised to the core;
could barely breathe…..
Has it lost its heavenly wings _
Oh, when and where….?
Or, were they always
a mere semblance?
‘Better to have had it and lost it
than to have never had it at all’
They say….
Perceptions do change
on the brink of collateral damage….
Growing in age
is no gateway to heaven….
Wings intact
is what constitutes
Paradise Perfect.
4.CRUELLY ENTHRALLING
Getting inside the room hastily
Taking the seat
He glanced at the doorway accidentally.
An all too tiny worm stood there
Rising in a delicate swirl.
For a moment he took it to be
Its dance of ecstasy….
Then it dawned….
It was on the throes of death
crushed under hurrying feet…
Worlds apart
wondering what to do
He turned away – appalled
Bemoaning
O, what a cruelly enthralling Vanity Fair
Life is…..
5.SUBMISSION
rishi
A glance, a touch
– the Magic begins!
Time takes a quantum leap backward!
There is no room for anything awkward.
All apprehensions evaporate
Just the rhyme and rhythm linger.
After all, Age is but a state of mind
Despite limbs weakening
They are always attuned to
No matter how long it’s been blowing
Forever gracefully cool
is the breeze!
Where there is a will,
there is a way
– they say;
Let’s second it;
and submit.
6.RAINY MOON!
After days of heat unbearable
It is raining today!
Indeed a blessing from above.
Behold!
Through the blur of heavy downpour
there glows a moon creeping
made possible by the mellifluous movie song
being heard inside brain….
Melting the membranes
The pining female voice
Yearns for reunion
Seeing the moon….
‘It seems to have come to me alone’
says She;
‘To carry my memories
to the heart faraway;
Oh moon, welcome
let togetherness be wholesome_’
So she goes on…..
The song and myself
the rain and myself
the night and myself
start walking down the memory lane….
7.(ZODIAC) SIGNS
Earth and Water
Sometimes complementary,
Sometimes at loggerheads.
Earth
containing Water
Absorbing,
Acting on it or reacting to it _
All in a positive manner;
Allowing it to remain still,
Admitting it to flow on....
Water
Wetting the Earth,
Turning it cool,
Congenial for crops to grow,
Strengthening the roots,
Quenching the thirst......
Each having unique traits;
Volume and Expanse;
Attributes distinct;
Complexities chaotic;
Split personality of sort _
What not….
Serene Water, Stable Earth
Turning into
Flood, Earthquake
Leaving in its wake
Dreams shattered, hopes belied….
Wounds aplenty
Deadly
Draconian
making
Today maimed
Tomorrow defamed….
Mankind can’t survive
Without Earth and Water
Though not all Tales on it ends
‘‘Happily Everafter’.
Earth , Water
Though poles apart
rely on each other
in more ways than one;
Together, they form an integral part
8.EXPERIENCING RAIN!
rishi
As least expected gifts Rain drops are felt.
Not drizzlingish; Not heavy downpourish;
Hastily finishing the hot plate
from the roadside eatery
I start walking with a lilt,
through the avenues.
The same trees that bless me with shade
on hot sunny days
sprinkle on me sweet little rain drops.
With each drop my wrinkles vanish
one by one!
And I await in anticipation
Rain’s carnal hug and the grand communion!
With the heat gone the heart goes melting;
ready to forgive the pair of spectacles
sans wipers
standing in the way of
experiencing the rain in gay abandon.
The onset of rain, its unique touch,
the sudden change in climate
give everything a sheen
so surrealistic!
Memories
hitherto simmering deep down
surface in all splendour!
Visualizing another to act as an atom
now wave, now particle
playing the dual role with ease
the body – stiff; frozen
grows supple; flexible, with a finesse!
‘No time to yearn for the days bygone
Enjoy it Here and Now’
says Zen, accompanying me
all the while
with a Monalisa smile!
Each poem a CODE :
For some to decipher;
For some to stand bewildered.
Each rain drop, each of its bubble _
Treasures invaluable.
Every rain the same
An Open Sesame!
9.ATMOSPHERE
Summer gone -
Yet, the adage ‘hot’ stays on….
The usually bright 5 o’ clock in the evening.
All too suddenly it turns dark all around
Looking up I could see the silvery sky
with clouds hurrying past.
Dry and parched roads
glisten in velvety black!
Average faces acquire features celestial!
Stepping into the street
We offered ourselves an awesome treat!
Feeling one with Nature, walked a few steps
A few raindrops fall on us - a friendly forewarning.
Retreating we become wet – Oh! The bliss of it!
The rain goes on, without and within
Empty hands now full, caring, caressing;
Images of yesteryears flash on their own
in the inner monitor…
Despite pressing hard ‘delete’ works not.
Pointer is keen to open all folders
that all along remained tightly shut
With each click left and right
the ‘mouse’ lets many a cat out of the bag
the woman lovelorn, ragpicker-like, oh damn_
feels grateful for the warmth of rain
unconditional, wholesome, with no reservation
nor having any count of loss and gain.
With each passing moment
the yearning to entrap the elusive rain
swells inside
as a singular pain.
Of the RAIN
Ø
In anticipation do I remain….
18.SOMETIMES RAIN…..
20.RAIN READINGS
as a singular pain.
10.FORECAST
Finishing the day’s work well in advance
seated, I remain
in anticipation….
Washing my limbs that have turned
rough and sticky with day-long chores,
moving to a different shore,
seated, I remain
in anticipation….
Keeping my hands wide-opened
without a care of ‘the four’;
the After and Before –
seated, I remain
in anticipation…..
With bated breath I wait
to receive and entwine;
to have it all mine -
no matter for what a tiny particle of Time.
The signs are all there _
Dark clouds;
Chill wind;
The peculiar smell;
Birds screeching;
Dust dispersing….
The Stage is all set
for a fulfilling Drama
with an auditorium so grand
and an ace music-band!
There pervades the fragrance
par-excellence _
of Life, which through evanescence
ensures
Permanence!
The bells chime.
The curtain would be raised any time.
Oh my!
Seated in my shell
lock stock and barrel
I remain
In anticipation
11.TEMPERATURE
Can’t even say ‘slightly better’-
The heat persists with a morbid vigour.
The state of being congenially warm
seems a distant dream.
But
these days ‘Climate Change’ comes
all too suddenly
with such unpredictability!
No harm in trying
to make things Absolutely Perfect;
Perfectly Absolute.
Is this empty rhetoric?
Or, the outcome of a seeking so esoteric?
How to decode these two?
Is there a ‘readerly text’ in these too?
Phonemes, Syntax. Semantics
Etymology, Phraseology, Rhymes, Rhythms _
The permutations and combinations of all these
Leaving you enthralled; appalled,
make Life a veritable hell….
or Heaven?
‘To Be or Not To Be…..?’
The question rages along with the
more than 1060 Celsius all around.
All kinds of horns sound
increasing the heat with a vengeance
making you travel through
a temporary desert;
Can’t say so….
It could turn into permanent too….
Amidst all wagons hurrying past
No camel in view;
Nor even a mirage.
Feet acquire blisters.
Eyes on fire.
Sweaty all over.
Struggling to retain
some semblance of composure….
I can’t help wondering _
Can anyone ever decipher Nature?
None can succeed in making it dance to our tune;
You can’t mold it;
You can’t hold it.
Either we accept it as it is,
and adapt ourselves to its dictates,
or remain all the more frustrated.
Shelley’s Spring is there for ever.
Remember….
Nature has always been a partaker in our lives;
Not a mere preacher; passerby.
By and by
we might find a magic wand
with which the mirage can be turned into
marvelously cool pond.
The desert, a treasure island!
But, for the time being
no way out
except wading through this suffocating stretch
Within and Without.
12.TIME ON A DIFFERENT PLANE….
Almost exactly at the moment when I thought
of the sentence
that poets have a different Time-Zone
my wrist-watch stopped showing the correct time
and began to run erratically.
Though I could attribute it all rationally
to faulty mechanism
an eerie feeling did creep in.
Since then I have been travelling along
a different plane.
The time-zone, different plane –
are these actual terrains
or mere fantasies of the brain?
Once again
I look at my watch
wondering whether it was Borges’s Aleph
or just a ‘whiff of breath’….
Right – Left – Right - Left
Turn About _
Guided and misguided by Time
the march continues topsy-turvy.
13.STAGE
On the dais
and in the rows of seats _
everywhere men and women,
including those invisible in the empty ones,
each a separate horizon
simultaneously, in unison
each intent on playing the assigned role
to perfection….
Friend
Foe
Freak
Fool…
Hole after hole we dig
deep and deeper
but to unearth never
the whole….
Curtain raises;
Words flow -
Torrential;
Terribly superficial;
Heartfelt;
Hyperboles;
Sensible;
Sweet nonsense;
Slightly sarcastic;
Sugar-coated;
Bitter-tinged;
Hope-filled;
Heartrending;
Faces with hearts reflected
Wholly or partly
Fill the auditorium....
Accompanied by melting moments
As everything else
this show too comes to a close.Accompanied by melting moments
I step into the lane;
with night glistening
start walking in the rain.
14.RAINY REMINISCENCES….
No more a mere drizzle;
or just a shower;
This is real downpour –
voluminous; torrential;
Intensifying more and more
with each passing hour.
Remaining inside doors shut
I could still visualize it
with all my ears.
The unfelt raindrops hold me
in a fierce embrace,
caress,
drenching me all over.
The longing to plant a tender kiss
upon the ‘might be dozing’
or ‘might be moving’ feet
that bear the chest wherein the heart
brimming forever with passion closeted…..
that carry the head
inside which the skull encasing the brain
of a Magnificent Muse resides …..
engulfs my whole being in a delicate warmth.
The exquisite quiver travelling from head to foot,
along the whole length of spine
proves pleasure and pain
so closely entwined.
Longing surges as a perennial flood
gushing forth towards
a land afar
on a distant shore
that can still be reached in a matter of hours _
a little after 6 a.m., or even before!
15.RAIN: REAL AND SURREAL
Yet again a Rain
gathering momentum…
gripping; wholesome.
gripping; wholesome.
There
wishing for Love Infinite
some hope…. some despair….
some ecstasy here…. some agony there ….
some expectation…. some frustration
some leap…. some halt….
Caught entangled in the labyrinth of words
some longing indescribable
some loneliness incomprehensible….
The heart melts; freezes _
taking turns….
Rain Real _
Rain Surreal _
On the terrain _
In the brain _
Gains galore _
Pains aplenty _
Nature can’t be fixed
as a ‘twenty-twenty match’
there lies the catch.
Golden eggs are hatched
with each little Rain-drops!
By and by
Rain turning delirious
does a ringa-ringa roses;
with Lightning and Thunder
providing the backdrop
filling the heart’s parched rivers
with successive showers!
From deep down surges
the Spring;
Rain’s Offering!
16.INTO THE RAIN…..
Work for the day is over.
(Is the expression ‘at last’ appropriate – I wonder…)
With the taste of black coffee still lingering
(associated idea: black day, one might say….)
I step out and start walking….
Within a short distance
Rain commences in right earnest.
Several stray drops
soon turning into sturdy ropes of water
swinging from the sky,
landing straight on to my head
soaking the whole,
including my soul….
Strong twains of raindrops encircle me
going round and round;
Having no umbrella at hand
(can it be called a real loss ? I muse…)
I get more and more thoroughly drenched;
Even big trees are not big enough
to spread a canopy over my head.
In fact, nothing is there to provide shelter.
Men, women, children, wagon run
helter-skelter….
Realizing with a shudder
that a tree with an electric post standing near
is always a deadly combo
I choose to move on.
Get –Set – Go!
Into the Rain -
ever a mysterious terrain!
Mesmerizing to the core
as ever before!
Wiperless spectacles
make me wade through wilderness;
voluminous waterfalls;
each step I take into the rain
terrifies me as intercepting a speeding train….
leaves me standing at the
(razor’s) edge of a lofty mountain.
The fall into an unfathomable abyss
looming large
Life stands enlarged!
The Rain resembles a fairy-tale!
I proceed, with wings and tail!
A wide-screen image of a vacuum
pregnant with the possibility of
atoms innumerable!
Beyond the outer layer of fear apparent
caused by the craving
to reach the safety of home
there lurks another down under
so inherent; insistent;
having a code name!
Hurling the choicest abuses
at the target
the realization that stoic silence
is what makes one the worst-hit
strikes me as Truth Fundamental.
Its raining Cats and Dogs.
Nay – Lions and Tigers;
Whales and Anacondas;
Antarticas and Saharas….
I continue to remain in Rain
inside the four walls of my cabin.
17.RESONANT RAIN!
Though the sky turns grey Rain stays away….
Will it or will it not…?
The heart is all set to start the countdown
One to ten? Oh, when ? and then…?
My ears strain to catch its resonance.
Tears, Rain, Microcosm, Macrocosm _
Association of ideas keep accumulating on their own.
In the midday heat while translating ‘Possessed’
From nowhere a visual surfaced within…
A supple female hand travelling through
a sturdy torso in honey-hue
lying in the nude, somewhat relaxed,
with its mind ever embarked.
Indeed a Zen Moment
with dozen undercurrents…
Kind of a split-personality
I went on writing,
simultaneously into the scene…
‘Yet to come’ Resonant Rain _
18.SOMETIMES RAIN…..
Sometimes a distant dream;
sometimes a flooding stream;
sometimes a terror-struck scream;
sometimes a tasty ice-cream!
Sometimes making you feel so secure;
as part of the Great Grand Universe;
sometimes leaving you shaky to the core;
at the receiving end of a bitter curse.
Sometimes serene;
sometimes a violent hurricane;
sometimes your eyes can see through it -
sometimes you stand thoroughly blinded.
Sometimes it turns everything anew;
sometimes it leaves you feeling so blue;
so transparent, yet so mysterious
so soothing, yet so unsettling.
Sometimes a watery wilderness
sometimes caves chaotic;
sometimes roaring flood;
sometimes rhythmic circulation of blood.
Sometimes a benign fairy;
sometimes a dinosaur in fury;
sometimes a solemn empress!
sometimes a demon deranged!
All said and done there still remain
similes in tons, images millions!
Hen or cock ? is this empty rhetoric?
Who to tell? What to yell?
Why ? How? Which? When?
Do pour in this region
My Own Rain
that belongs to all _
Woods, Hills and Plains
weaving heartrending visuals,
with its magic wand, time and again!
Now and then, or all too often
do pour Rain, cooling my terrain
turning it fertile,
causing green to happen;
crops to grow;
grains to harvest;
North South East and West!
Keeping my fingers crossed,
I stand at the Day's threshold…
Little Lizzy wants to play
Oh, Rain Rain don’t go away!
19.BRAINRAIN
Hardly a few drops and the Rain is off;
Haunting disappointment beyond words….
What stupid fantasy is this ?
A fallacy indeed -
feeling romantic about Rain
which comes and goes as suits its whims and fancies.
Why crave for it
when it is never known to have changed its course
for anyone, ever?
Never once has the rain poured for you alone…
Then why nurture this feeling of communion?
Has it ever knocked at your windowpanes
when you yearned for it
with wide-opened arms?
Oh, let’s face the truth – no harm…
But unfortunately truth too has an other side
just as the rain playing Dr.Jeckyll and Mr.Hyde!
And, no matter how far away you be
It is sure to entrap you with its cool and warmth
and wakeful lullaby!
Thunderous or littlefairy- like _
Rain casts its spell alike!
Poem for Rain or Rain for Poem…?
The query remains, hanging suspended
Or rather, open-ended….
All the same
the two prove one and the same
in my present mental frame.
As I continue to run on
in a never-ending marathon
Drizzle, Shower, Monsoon, Downpour _
Rain unravels itself, stage by stage
With each passing hour….
All along the mid-sunny lane
besieged I remain
experiencing the pleasure and pathos of BrainRain.
20.RAIN READINGS
No trace of Rain….
Raging heat seems to have
ascended the throne
once again.
Having no power to bargain
with the conspiring
elemental forces
elemental forces
this day wades along
an arid terrain
an arid terrain
through horrid hours,
saving itself from swooning
aided by the fountain
inside the brain.
inside the brain.
Is the Rain waiting for
an opportune moment
an opportune moment
to shower its blessing
or stays away with intent -
to keep me guessing…?
Oh, why so?
Why not Come, See and Go
without turning into something
‘Long Long Ago…’?
To and fro
oscillates the pendulum
The micro-monitor screen
stays mum….
stays mum….
Yet a few more hours
or the day’s farewell…
or the day’s farewell…
With tolling bells
the yearning for Rain
swells…
swells…
Caught in a quagmire,
hope tends to wane
hope tends to wane
so the heart keeps bemoaning,
woebegone,
woebegone,
with eternal thirst for Rain
ingrained….
ingrained….
Half-cup full;
half remains empty -
half remains empty -
In between these
two refrains
two refrains
Life hangs
Humpty _ Dumpty….
Humpty _ Dumpty….
Though appalled,
I quickly take refuge
I quickly take refuge
in the Weather Forecast,
[Far more reliable these days,
at last!]
at last!]
that there would be rainfall
without fail…..
without fail…..