Saturday 31 January 2015





LIQUID  WONDERS



Stars in your eyes  drink deep in the river of my soul
awakening strange ripples ,
inviting past images to fall before dissipating
to the bank  where I sit as a cool spectator;


the shadow of my body lost into the smiley waters
as I try to watch the miracle of  merger and catch it
on my cam that with some cool thought shivers
perhaps at the discovery of life’s big secret spelt
as to how hearts are supposed  to melt—


 by each ripplet nestling inside 
the folds of  mother ripples
awoken to  liquid wonders on river’s dimples
that promise a big sea for my union with eternity
now at this moment of my truth and integrity
when I ‘m with myself in one simple entity
in search of my real identity .


@copy right : saroj k. padhi ---01/02/15







EARLY SPRING


Why does this early Spring tantalize me
with its light ooze from mango buds
that does not sink deep down my nose
to our familiar garden for the cuckoo in me to sing ?

Why are these buds caught in a dilemma
between the fog and an aging Sun’s first flickers
when the flaming Palasas’ cores are caught
in the grips of beaks of some thirsty birds
that suck nectar from half-lit lips of petals
who are all very willing to fall with abandon
at the slightest flick from cool morning breeze ?

Why is the cat on my quietly warming roof,
who curls up to winks,  touched again and again
by  grey leaves that fall on her furs to elicit secret purrs ?

Why does the river so frequently delete
rhymes written on her body’s  rippling Timeline
by a wind amorous and insistent
but wavering  so often without taking a beeline ?



@ copy right : saroj k. padhi. 31/01/15

Friday 30 January 2015





NAVEL



Wind, a little cool, across the trees
gently calls me ,
leaves fall to call ,
beams stroll along my street
calling me ,
from books to balcony,
to night’s scented ebony
where I meet myself
over a drink of breeze
and talk to self with ease -
about thousand questions that
sought me to reflect
which during day I could not relate.



But now I look within
with beams peeping in
to find metaphors
melting
into my navel
that overflows with honey
in each secret pore
inspiring hues of rainbows galore…




@ copy right : saroj k. padhi. 30/01/15





CLOSE  IN
                     ( Published in ‘The Phoenix’ in Summer ,1999)



Between you and me there falls
the shadow of a fractured  remembrance ;
between then and now the silhouette
of a frightened embrace.

Here in this mind there reigns
a century of chill and disgust
smokes from brackish blood
feed ghosts of dead lust .

Isn’t it a pity that fingers  so creative
try to catch ecstasy at the dead end
lips utter but indistinct words of love
at  the river’s  dark bend !

‘Betrayal ‘ is a vague word
In the corridors of heart
now  I have to move from stalemate
for a new  life to restart .


@copy right : saroj k. padhi . 31/01/15








MIRAGE !

Why do the hands of wind intervene
in affairs of my heart
like scribbling a dash of your name across 
the thin layer of dust
on glass of my car at the bust
inspiring a silent love lyric in my car’s heart
leaving it unmindful after the unwilling start
and scripting an epic of poetry in my mind ?

I look into its mirror to find your image
and the mirror blushes in humour
at such a funny imaginative encounter
between nuances of feelings merging 
into a subconscious self’s romantic other !

Looking still deeper into your eyes
I see how I’m caught in the storm of the sighs
that raise the sea of my wavy emotions to swells
at the centre of which perhaps true love dwells.

@ copy right: saroj k. padhi. 29/01/15





SANDS


Ecstasy of sands that sang under your feet
as we trudged those sunny miles on the shore,
travels right to my core
transporting noises of waves , storms in the heart
and the unspeakable agony of dead cells
spelt by wind across tall Casuarina trees
into a strange silence in my soul ;


transforming pebbles into pearls,
common waters into cascading falls,
tears of rivers into curls of smiles of red Palasa in ooze
waking up fishermen from  their old, habitual snooze
on the marine drive of our meet where we like two fishes
nestled long in the net of our redeeming wishes .


Now sands applause still louder to cheers of wind
When intimations dawn from a radiant sky
devouring  all  pestering  ‘why’
to land us in body of some secret glory
lying awake on fins of fishes  in unusual flurry
at the sea’s secret floor
opening souls’ closed door ;
flowers lovingly kiss dust in the air
for petals to fly in riots of colours new
to cheers of only a perceptive few ,
consuming  lumps of flesh and bunches of bones
in fires that end in a still white flame
at the centre of the sanctorum that begins our new game !


@copy right : saroj k. padhi. 30/01/15






Thursday 29 January 2015





IN THE EYES OF THE RIVER


Shadows of trees ask the river of the morning
about stains of  tears  in her  half closed  eye
to which calmly and sweetly  does she reply,
‘Look here a little deeper into my dark floor
wherein sits the image of my lover in prayer
with determination to reach the sea quite far
from here, when I have stumbled into a trickle
with my hesitant flow’s  continuous tumble !
How can I fulfill his dark image with such love
that the sea can give to a seeker of salvation
when I myself am caught in deprivation ?
But as you know he won’t go leaving my flow
Into which he has dropped his silent tears,
feelings of rejection and unwarranted fears
his hopes , dreams , pains and cool pleasures. ‘ 

‘Tell me dear shadows how can I fulfill this guy
when I myself am wandering like a shadow shy
unable to fulfill myself in absence of lover rain ,
burning inside this transparent plasma of pain,
how can I stop his obstinate tears’ flow into marrows
of my bones with their effects in my eyes’ dark hollows ?’


@ COPY RIGHT : SAROJ K. PADHI. 29/01/15


HOLLOW MEETS


No wonder meetings with you are very rare these days ,
and even if we meet in the back of our familiar garden
with our souls caught in a wild maze unable to awaken;
we meet with our minds lost in some twilight thoughts ,
we talk but in empty , endless chatters inside unlit slots
with tongues hurling pearls of construed  stray metaphors
at the broken doors ;
when meanings fall  to crawl on some slippery floors
even without the shadow of mythical fire being there
to assuage hearts infected with time inflicted sores !


Where is meaning gone from the word
 caught by misery at the core ?
Where is love lost in the labyrinth of arguments
that our wits simply bore ?


What are we now in this concrete jungle ?
Are we specs of meaningless dust on window panes
to be swept by random gusts to end  hollow pains ?
Are we just  tattoos pasted to hands of wind ?
Where else should I search
for each other to find ? For each other to find ??



@copy right : saroj k. padhi. 29/01/15

Wednesday 28 January 2015





SLEEPING ROSE


My Rose sleeps there near a fresh rose from the garden
with no thorns of secret pride in her white twigs to unburden.

Petals of her cheeks dazzle  in the mirror of the  full moon
peeping with intense midnight beams , her face to brighten ;
nuances of smiles lurk on her lips, suffused with  pink dreams
when she moves leaves of her hands slowly towards heaven .

You don’t  know how much the rose in repose on the  pillow
envies you  but to slowly fade into its own hate-burns below ;
and  as the lilies of your smiles unfold  into full –night- bloom
to shredded petals of vague fears, the other withers in gloom .

Crushed  under foot of an unseen time it dies in just a little while
and  lies crumpled under weight of shadows of your radiant smile ;
when your dreams stretch out to infinity to catch bliss from eternity
after moon has cleared its way out of ephemeral clouds of anxiety .


@ copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 28/01/15


Tuesday 27 January 2015





LOVE IN JANUARY



Seasons change here rapidly
with changing weather of your eyes
one complete day ,
four seasons invites :

The sleepy cold Winter under the lids
of your dreamy night brow hides ,
before night grows still deeper
to hug lovers surfing in warm tides.

Spring is mad in the morning to kiss
the sun of desires awake
in their cloudy moist corners ,
unfolding rainbows of soft fires
and streaming love’s wings .

Summer sets in the day
as waters evaporate
from rivers of sadness
to cool down
under the boughs of your eyes
where hearts of  birds  build nests
with  dry leaves tucked to their breasts.

Autumn takes its colours
from the afternoon sky of your eyes
under whose serene brood
paints of different nature
take their own signifying dyes.


@copy right : saroj .k padhi
27/01/15



Monday 26 January 2015




SPRING SETTING IN !



Leaves of all hues trapped in an unknown ecstasy
Kiss a passionate wind with love that softly arouses
buds from  Winter’s deep sleep to a new hue and cry
that informs cuckoos to descend from far distant sky
to come to sing , and mango-buds to boughs, to  bring
with echoes of Nature’s new pageantry in ears to ring ;                                                                     


when news of a possible terror attack at joints near
startle breaths of morning flowers with a strange fear
tucked into their petals that fumble before they open
when others allay in their efforts such fears to soften
and slowly morning with lovely images does brighten;
 with peace drizzling from flags saffron, white and green
and on faces of all, freedom shines in bright new sheen:


breezes wear anklets to dance many classical beats
fountains move still higher to fall from great heights ;
birds paint their plumes with many sweet soothing dyes
clouds  stare at all this glory with wonder in their eyes,
crows laugh louder at jokes from sparrows’ little beaks
in much an enchanted spirit this lovely morning speaks .


@copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 26. 01.15



Sunday 25 January 2015





REUNION


Moments from past erupt from under my ruffled skin
to kiss the sleeping present and lie brooding therein ,
when like dry leaves of Autumn from trees around
your shadows all  real, my thoughts softly surround ,

I can listen to words craving to sit on soul’s lips
before they whisper a secret to my finger tips ;
words spreading to the full, those half-smiles,
unspoken  dreams, screams, fears and wishes
making this life more real perhaps with kisses
from hearts glowing in realization of that truth
that never ever in history of life true love loses .

Now I know you are proud of so many fetishes
when this wind weaves love for us in new verses;
there leaves scribble elegies on Earth’s wet skin
flowers write lyrics on branches’ cheeks and chin,
all rivers of passion flow into navels of realization
honeycombs crack into depths of imagined union
sky rebuilds billion images of our sweet reunion,
 and into ears of flowers  grass sings of salvation.


@copy right : saroj k. padhi/25/01/15




ROAMING RIPPLES

Alone as I listen to her heaving bosoms,
the ripples of the morning river begin
to knuckle under wind’s passionate blow ;
but there is a short ebb in my blood stream
before its tides take a turn in their flow
to give meaning to all of Nature’s blooms
resplendent in their first morning glow .

Birds from afar fly in for long hours’ stay ,
to dip, drink, drench, dance, sing and play ,
their nests dancing in tune with waters ,
with the sun awoken to plumes’ flutters ;
and the river endlessly whispering secrets
of love, lust, passion, compassion  to ears
that care to listen to her with true cheers  .

Now my boat comes in to be caressed
by the ripples clad in a light blue ecstasy
with reflections in swims  of wild fantasy ;
flows  everywhere melting moss of grief--
in blood , inside boat and in waters as well,
transport time to heights of love’s new spell .

@copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 25.01/15


Saturday 24 January 2015






IN LOVE AGAIN !


OUT of the Night’s  dumb, dark womb
to a fine, new dawn was I slowly born,
fed with milk of dew on sunny grass
I lay on Love’s new, green wet  lawn--
in new dawn after first love had gone;
when my charmed body was touched
by magic of rays from a beaming Sun--
with thousand colors of rainbow basking
my mimosa body in drops of cosmic fun !

Wind started scribbling new verses
on shiny pages of my  healing mind to soothe--
an agonized soul, crushed to ooze and roll
like a jasmine under the Night’s heavy sole.

Soon there came some stars rushing in
to relish love drizzling from the sky’s brim
tucked to a  wounded heart in wake of a turn
with only a single desire for the soul to burn ;

where rustles of leaves sang songs of joy
sands  kissed my face with a lover’s ploy ;

dust smeared my soul with musk of wood sandal
quenching parched throat with dew’s wherewithal

and I rose back to live again a life of my new love
with showers of mystical delight from the above;
telling me to go back to threshold of that old door
with my windows open to light from heaven’s floor

for, after all I live on the bank of blood’s stream
with ever renewing cells of flesh in warm dream.


@copy right :  saroj k. padhi ,24/01/15


Friday 23 January 2015




FALLING OUT OF LOVE


Don’t know why I fell out of love,
but I remember how painful it was
to listen to thunder of her big ‘No’
after which  the blow lost its edge
soon to merge into life’s daily flow…

Reasons advanced like seasons were different :
Night said I was not potent and had not learnt
how to meet moments of climax at the horizon
being caught in vague philosophical confusion ;

Day said my dreams did not match so very well
with desires of  Sun that turned complete pale ,
in wake of a  Spring that to bouts of failure fell .

Moon said I hadn’t courage to fill her with beams;
Stars said I stretched talks of love to extremes ;

Trees said I hadn’t taken her to their warm shades
to show how in absence of gloss love simply fades .

Rain said I was not with her when it showered
Buds said I did not notice when they flowered…
Like this one day love had slipped out of my fingers
Leaving them all crossed to face Love-God’s angers .


@ copy right : saroj k. padhi –24/01/15







THREE SIMPLE WORDS


You may be wondering why all these metaphors?
Why so many pauses, excuses, pains and tremors?
Why commas, colons , bufferings and exclamations
rehearsals, monologues, solitude and  reflections
before making a simple, sincere declaration of love
that resounds in the entire being with vibrations ?


Why does one churn a sea of thoughts,  fantasies and fears ;
burn all energy enervating time with strange anticipations !
Why does it cut with convention’s shears, distancing the dears !
Why this trauma of youth and drama of dreams in interiors !


Is it an eternal symptom of youth or a syndrome of the age ?
Whatever be the ways,means, causes or  the consequences ,
unaware it strikes each us in life at some mysterious stage !



@ copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 23.01.15

Thursday 22 January 2015




IN LOVE

I know you’re smiling at me in a new mirror
in that very cute smile of those sunflowers
from whose shiny petals the Sun gets born
in a flash out of their wide dreaming eyes
every morn, as their thoughts to you turn ;

miracles melt into simple everyday belief
bringing an end to all ordinary, worldly grief
as clouds of ‘kajal’ shortly darken the sky
of the world under the lids of your deep eye
offering a sunny drizzle of love from above ;
with what an end to my soft, silent sigh
for always in your sweet thoughts to lie !

It seems there is no end to your rising dreams
as the wind weaves sands of mosaic desires
into arts of vibrant love, on the growing shores
of our love’s singing seas, opening secret doors-

deep into the fathomless bottom of a strange quiet
where moments of eternity are in a primordial wait .

@ copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 23.01.15






WISH


Let me drown into depths of soulful music
of the enchanted night wind blowing here
perfumed  by your presence somewhere ,
let me lose myself into neon lights in flood
fusing thousand darker images in the air
for I know you are there, but elusive as air;


for  I no more want to stay as the sad sea
with new hurts sinking into the coral hills ,
its dark surfing surface terrifying the stars
to  jump off their old cosmic spaces of love
and hide in  jungle  behind tall tree- bars .


Stretch out your warm arms, dear night
eat me, engulf me but end all my fright
fill me with dreams in every  little pore
letting me fully lose myself before I soar.



@ copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 22.01.15




Wednesday 21 January 2015





BONFIRE



Leaves and twigs dry like our selfsame bodies
burn in the morning  bonfire of hearts in hills
awakening  dormant glimmer of our lost game ,
of our fight for right to the jungle’s old name ;


defeated, now we are in the outskirts of woods
burning in bouts of jungle fire  here and there,
with miles of uncontrolled flame and its rough ire,
across mountains, that tried to ignite greater  fire …


as we sit in front of our huts open to bites from cold
poverty staring at us thro’ our tattered blanket holes
perhaps waiting for another Mahatma to be soon born
to redeem our minds tired after  heat of battles torn
to give relief to outlandish, rusted Mao- guns outworn
as morning Sun mixes fog with  smokes from bonfire,
to point to trails of a new  hope in the distant horizon .


@ copy right : saroj k. padhi/ 22. 01.15







LIPS

Lips of leaves awakened
to speak
in words of a lover- sun,
towards light take a turn ;
with smiles on cheeks
traversing miles
in all possible direction;
with a secret wish
see how eagerly, silently
do they burn !
With kisses of a slow breeze
arousing memories to churn
moments of delight all sweet
in not too distant a past,
when young leaves nestled
around your cheeks ;
wet with desire to speak
about feelings in my heart
bursting into waves of ecstasy ;
when speechless I listened
dumb like the petals
of a nearby pansy
as if stricken with a lunacy .
Leaves today announce your presence
to this mad wind with their tips
tickling my mind ,
and in these leaves
my love in hue of green do I find .

@ copy right : saroj k. padhi. 21/01/15




SAINT ARAKSHITA DAS

Today the Om shaped old Olasuni hill 
vibrates with chant of your holy name 
and river Gobari is in her annual thrill
despite January’s usual morning chill ;

this memorial day of your salvation
does this holy shrine with joy illumine
with devotees galore enjoying rice cakes 
and dry fishes for which they dearly pine ;

a few remember your love of truth divine
that turned you from a prince 
to a mendicant in the shades of wild vine
in search of perpetual bliss

that led you from royal comforts to crises,
a disguised life of meditation in caves
where the human soul only for God’s love craves .

We are but now a generation of religious tourists
with little understanding 
of lines from your ‘Mahimandal Geeta’
we’re rather lovers of a new living
as prescribed by a consumerism ‘Geeta’.

@ copy right : saroj k. padhi 20/01/15


Monday 19 January 2015






WHY TAKE TENSION ?


Why do I take tension so often ?
When yellow leaves quietly slip off
the golden boughs of a lazy afternoon
to find themselves cuddled 
by an eager loving brown earth 
ready to gulp them down all so soon ;
I awake and wonder
gripped by tremors of an unknown fear
to find the leaves of my body
falling off into shadow spaces 
beneath fallen leaves all so very dear !

Why do I take tension
when multi-coloured petals silently fade
wounded subtly by a scorching sun ,
as flowers change hues
in tune with rhythms of a breeze
whizzing past my fingers crossed
as I wait for Spring behind the shrunken trees ?

Why do I take tension?
Tell me why 
when fields look less green
and crops ripen to assume colours of bright gold ,
and drops transpire into a plenitude 
of a too distant rain beyond time’s near hold !

Is tension my second nature ?
Or the culture of my mind ?
Is Nature my sole love 
which everywhere I do find !


@copy right: saroj k. padhi/ 19/01/15