As The River Flows

I know
long ago
the river used to speak.
But when he realised
every drop of pain
flows above horizon of words
he surrendered to silence.

People came to his bosom
creating to destroy
and named it civilization.

People came to his bosom
looking for the meaning in destruction
and called it history.

More the time flows
more the time remains still.
More the things change
more the things remain the same.

The drops of pain
mounting on the bank –
will it overflow…
as the River flows?

It is written by Bidyut Kotoky making a movie titled Ekhon Nedekha Nadir Xipare, which literally means “Across an unseen river”. Bidyut has written his thoughts on the idea behind the film quite poetically.The premise of the film: In the India’s state of Assam, during the last 2 decades, over 15,000 lives have been lost to insurgency and an unknown number of people remain traceless till date…

Ancient Chinese Proverb

Go to the people

Live among them

Learn from them

Love them

Start with what they have

Build on what they have

But of the best leaders

When their task is accomplished

Their work is done

The people all remark

We have done it ourselves !

- Lao Tze

Prayer

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

It is most quoted peom of Rabindranath Tagore. This poem is from Gitanjali, lit. Offering of Songs, published in English in 1910.The last two lines of original Bengali version are harsher. They state:

"Lord Father, strike {the sleeping} Bharat (India) without mercy,
so that it may awaken into such a heaven."

For Iran

If the flames of anger rise any higher in this land
Your name on your tombstone will be covered with dirt.

You have become a babbling loudmouth.
Your insolent ranting, something to joke about.
The lies you have found, you have woven together.
The rope you have crafted, you will find around your neck.
Pride has swollen your head, your faith has grown blind.
The elephant that falls will not rise.
Stop this extravagance, this reckless throwing of my country to the wind.
The grim-faced rising cloud, will grovel at the swamp's feet.
Stop this screaming, mayhem, and blood shed.
Stop doing what makes God's creatures mourn with tears.
My curses will not be upon you, as in their fulfillment.
My enemies' afflictions also cause me pain.
You may wish to have me burned , or decide to stone me.
But in your hand match or stone will lose their power to harm me.

Simin Behbahani, Iran's national poet.
June 2009 Translated by Kaveh Safa and Farzaneh Milani
In this poem, she speaks out against the crackdown of Iranian government on their own people.

The sun rises

Take heed
My wounded eyes melt
Drop by drop
My rebellion my shadow
Surrenders to the light
Take heed

Everything that I am crumbles
My love’s fire surrenders
Carries me to the end
Crucifies me
Take heed
Stars hail in the night

You came from a far
From fields of scent, of light
To carry me, floating
Through clouds of ivory and crystal
Take me away my solace, my hope
Take me to a city of sonnets and passion

Towards the path of milky way draw me
Higher than every star lift me
Take heed
I’ve been set aflame by this light
Fevered, burnt by this light
Like a goldfish in a pool of night
I gnaw helplessly at the stars

How far-flung is anything
From the earth, from everything
From this crimson ceiling sky
I hear again from a distance
Your voice
The flutter of an angel’s wings
Take heed
How far I’ve come
To the stars
To the endlessness of life

Now that I’ve reached so high above the waves
Immerse me, cleanse me, intoxicate me
Envelope me in a cocoon of kisses
Take me in this night of forever young
Do not let go of my hand
Do not let me fall

Take heed
Our night’s path melts away
Drop by drop
My cup thirsty, empty, black
With you it overflows
With wine with sleep with dreams
Upon this cradle of a poem
Take heed
You utter, and the sun rises.

It is written by famous Iranian Poetess and film director Forough Farrokhzad and translated from persian to english by Ali Sadri.

Russian Folk Song

1-
In the islands, the hunter
Roams all day long
But no luck for him
And the courses himself
What's he going to do
How is he to serve
He cannot be cheerful
So what
He'll try to aim better
So the hunter goes to warmer waters
Where the fish were frolicking in the beautiful weather
There on the shore.....

2-
You, my eagle with blue-black wings
Where have you been flying
for so Long
I was flying there over the mountains
Where it all was silence.

This song was taken from the movie Dersu Uzala directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Ghazal-2

लापता लोग भी मंजिल का पता देते हैं
डूबने वाले ही साहिल का पता देते हैं

ऐसे - ऐसे भी यहाँ कितने ही कातिल है कि,
जो कत्ल करते हैं औ बिस्मिल का पता देते है

कोई जब पूछता है हमसे कहाँ रहते हो
पूछने वाले को हम दिल का पता देते हैं

आपके हंसने - हंसाने के अजब ये तेवर
आने वाली किसी मुश्किल का पता देते हैं

आईने झांकते हैं जब भी मेरी आंखों में
मेरे भीतर छुपे कातिल का पता देते हैं.

Written by Deepak Gupta. Source of this ghazal is traced to 'Sahitya Shilpi'.Weblink.