Forever New

Forever New

 "The old order changeth

yielding place to the new,  

when I remember this childhood line

from my school days ,

now in my mature years

I ask, what is new?

If tomorrow is new 

today gets old by midnight

what order do they talk about?

I am new every moment 

my new sun rises in the new sky

when I open my new eye at the 

new dew soaked hour.

What I read is new

What I write is new

What I remember  is the new moment

What I forgot was also new one day.

Life means memories

 which I make

fighting nightmares

I make my dreams 

new and fresh.

My mirror is always new

shows me my new face

aging in grace yet youthful and divine.

I am my own divinity

I have no profane desires

what I wish I don't  get

but my wish never gets old

for I wish simple love

simple lines of divine truth

and a simple fare

in the arms of love:

Always new like a dove

soaring the new sky.

Sabita Sahu

I Came Back

I Came Back

 

I saw, I inhaled

I turned back

the gardener raised his brows

the flowers in ignorance

continued to be flowers,

I turned back.

 

Why bow my head

offering flowers

the world is in me

smell beauty and touch

all are in me.

 

I'll  stand before my deity room

and exhale:

rest I don't know

I don't care.

Sabita Sahu

 

India

  

 

Marauders came to loot

Aggressors came 

Hypocrites came to loot and rule

but my India stands proud

like Himalaya  tall and strong .

 

We are free to choose

our varied destiny, free to love

nature’s beauty, her trees , rivers

singing and painting India’s soul

in rhythmic ecstasy.

 

India is our world our family

all seven seas the sun and air

resonate our faith in man

we are sparks of life

each illuminating the world.

 

We never greed for territory

we protect ours with love and sacrifice

we never bend when bullets fly:

Buddha, Ashok, Gandhi have made us

wise resilent and independent

we love all in inclusive faith

we work hard to grow and prosper

to fly our flag of knowledge

all over the world.

 

We trust man, hate war

but never tolerate enemy’s evil eye

we love all values to stand apart

like a star over the world sky

we are Indians the divine breed of Life.

Sabita Sahu

 

Shame

When enemy blasts  at the gates

the homegrown enemies hold the grail

to collect the blood of their countrymen

for future thirst relief like thieves

who have no shame looting their parents.

These saboteurs ask: What have you done?

for they have nothing to show or speak of

they know how to troll on social media

also know how to betray their mother

and play Cain to all their brothers.

O' you who merely ask and pull legs

my mother is your mother too, the same

miserable woman raped, thrashed, looted

over centuries by invading marauders

the cry I hear is also in your ears

now  when enemies are poised to loot

and kill your mother's  own, have shame

rise up as her children to save her

or mask your face, chose your voice

and stay covid struck indoors:

But no, you will shout and scold

and revile the hand that protects you.

Borrow some shame from the vanquished

and show your anger if your blood

still flows in your deceitful veins.

Sabita Sahu

Charcoal

Charcoal

I am no diamond or gold

I am a frame of coal

my heart is cherry red

when heated in fire,

my soul beats unmusical

but love reigns all over me.

 

No one touches me for fear

lest he- she should be black

none sees my pure heart

none perceives its crimson glow,

so be it I say and burn with a smile.

 

Oh dear they do not know

it’s me who burn to turn into Diamond

poor fellows do not wait and watch

my fireborn transformation.

People lay heap of roses for me

after I am out of the fire cell,

they adorn me with pride and prestige

Kings, Emperors, lovers present me

as Love to their loved ones

in million ways and billion moods.

 

So be it I say, and I am ready

again to go into the fire cell.

Sabita Sahu

 

Green Shoots At The Horizon

My pen is chocked by the pandemic

under self quarantine she lies numb

making my being lame and dumb,

but my mind is awake and alert

to the rise and fall of the kings and crowns

long lines of knights and clowns

legions of honour and ignominy

I am the receptor of history

the preceptor of mad reveries.

 

I have seen and felt the gloom

of mighty men rolling in blood

inviting doom by bravery and ego,

floods of tears I have swum

and walked on the debris of civilization

counting the great follies of mankind .

 

Wounds oozing pus grieved me,

men and women howling in pain

teeth grinding revenge have pierced

my soul billion times changed hue

from green to red and pale yellow

yet I am here alone and hurt,

should I give up in despair

shaming my Maker forever?

 

No I will rise and collect the bones

whisper life into them with my burning love

bring glow to their faces, wipe tears

pour in them the sauce of life

and shout with all my life force.

Arise O fallen and vanquished

life is not a grave's mold.

breathe and infuse the vital grace

into the retro the listless and start

fighting to beat the end again

make all ends your new beginning.

 

   

My Secrets

 My Secrets

 

The night eavesdrops at my window

the stars with greedy eyes 

wink there in the firmament

spying for my secrets!

My life is open like the wind

I touch every pore

my story is bright and blind:

I hum in silence

shout at nothing

I romance with the fallen flowers

every morning at sweaty dawn.

 

Yes, I have a secret

I have locked it

in the heart of darkness

and thrown the key at the sun

don't ask what letters

words and sentences are under seal

my life is my secret

as the lily hides in the moonlight

as the new moon night

hides the moon to savour it.

 

My secret is my history

historians can never record,

for the truth of my life

is simple mortality

with a beginning, middle and end

sealed for ever to be unsealed

at every new birth.

 

God is A Woman

 

I am the President of the mortals

I have the powers

of breathing life into the dead

raising up the fallen trees.

I produce the midday shadow

lengthening to depleted forests

defying the scientific theories -

I paused here , capped my pen

came up to mirror

and smiled at my smiling shadow:

 

What's wrong if I replace the almighty

the Omniscient, Omnipotent!

Should God always be a male

and who is God's wife?

If saints write about God's family

and make him only a Male

I too wield the pen

WOMAN is God

-Not Goddess-

she who creates life is God.

 

I am a mother

I have given suck

I have mothered worries

miseries and all triumphant joys:

So here is the logic for you.

 I am the President of mortals:

Of course my mortality

may be questioned.

 

I returned from the mirror

and uncapped my pen.

Sabita Sahu

 

Space and Earth

Floating in outer space

I see the earth planets moving

In variance beyond imagination

The earth is only a deflated ball

I watch it move elliptically

Feeling earthless for a lifetime.

 

But when I move on the earth

Knowing my routine rounds

I don’t see anything beyond the sky

Sun moon and stars:

Are they not for us

They only taunt our errors

Mock us when we slip on muddy floors

Why do I then waste youthful nights

Waiting for the stars, the lonely star

 to fall on my lap

renew my long-abandoned love

in the silent feelings?

 

The Earth is not space

Life is no grace

I am a mere animal

Walking on two legs

Leaving the hands

to fold in prayer.

Sabita Sahu

What do you know what you are for me! IX

 

What do you know what you are for me! IX

                    

 What do you know what you are for me!

      You live in infinity

      the bejeweled sea

     you are my time’s bride

     my Venus in the sky

     constellations fall apart

     the angels bleed

     but the love in my heart

     will create new breed

     you are my divine womb

     to carry the future seed

     for more than I wait

     you are all I need.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     When vultures fly in circle

     to scoop on my body

     you shoot them down

     and take custody

     waiting for the dew

     to let fall a seed

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You will create a new spring

     a new world of love

     like Adam and Eve we’ll

     make a hum loud cove.

     take our walks along the shore

     on bird wing’s we shall fly

     soaring voidal high

    creating love’s amity.

   We will sing peahens of love

     to make God sleep

     never to rise again

     to create mortals meek

     our story will never end

     no moving finger will write again

     of life’s lost and gain

     we will put the stop

     on anxiety and hope

     man will never be born

     to suffer immortal pain.

 

Now you know what you are for me!

 

What do you know what you are for me! VIII

What do you know what you are for me!  VIII

                  

 What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my pen and pen hold

     you are the poet of my world

     you are my savior sunbright gold.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my morning light

     auspicious smile

     you are my noon bright

     fashion and style

      you are my life maker

     love’s cool balm

     you are my pain healer

     sprightly and calm.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my role model

     ambitious hope

     you are my pole star

     love’s Penelope

     you are my sweet Helen

     Aegean strife

     you are my triple pledge

     flop and hope.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

      You are my crest jewel

      dazzling crown

     you are my divine gift

     luminous fortune

     you are my prayer song

     evening serenade

     you are my Pegasus

      victory’s jade.

Sabita Sahu

What do you know what you are for me! VII

 What do you know what you are for me! VII

                  

 What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my Prince at dawn

     King at noon Emperor at night

     you quench my fire all night.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are the spring of romance

     my summer solace

     my autumnal caress

     my winter’s grace.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You cause me misery

     my poetic fury

     you are my boon to life.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You keep off vamps

     with your impish tramps

     your charms keep me in trance.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are the judge and jury

     but I never plead guilty

     Your judgment is reserved

     and my pleading incomplete.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You guard me from fire and pitfalls

     you save me from the Albatross

     and hanging false.

 

What do you know what you are for me! VI

What do you know what you are for me! VI

                          

 What do you know what you are for me!

     You are the bliss of my past

     the precious gift of god

     the jewel of the holocaust.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my loves virgin land

     I‘ll never walk on the quicksand

     of deceit and pretence

     you are my life’s sense and essence.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my Gita Bible

     you are my moral principle

     the serpent and the apple.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     When you fume in seething anger

     my world burns in flaming roar

     I run to pacify my heart’s core.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my bow and arrow

     you are my conch and flute

     I learn the difference of wide and narrow

     from your war –peace route.

 

What do you what you are for me!

     When I shall be ready to go

     I want you alone to bid me adieu

     when my breath ceases to flow

     I will enter only you and you.

 

What Do You Know Are For Me! - V

What do you know what you are for me!

                                 V

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my long nights enemy

      thief of bonhomie

      moony night’s dream.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     your smile awakens my soul

     your words make me roll

     towards my goal.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my garden path

     soul’s benign worth

     and my divine wrath.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

      You are my victory garland

     you are my honour highland

     and my river bend.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

      You are my rosy love

      you are my cooing dove

      you are my deep life’s treasure trove.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my life’s stone wall

     my nightmares stall

     my beings end all.

Sabita Sahu

 

What Do You Know What You Are For Me! IV

What Do You Know What You Are For Me! IV

All rivers seas and streams

dew drops on the dry grass

your shadows and images 

are all real to my senses

true and trustworthy always.

What do you know what you are for me!

Your worries and hurries

laughs and mood swings

provoke me to love you more

I fly on your wings.

What do you know what you are for me!

 I envy the road dust

on your feet

I rise to wipe your sweat

from your lovely feet.

What do you know what you are for me!

You are the last horizon

on the edges of ocean

you are the surge of passion

in my dry bones.

What do you know what you are for me!

I love the sheen in your eyes

the rose in your lips

when you stand apart as nature

my heart mirthfully leaps.

What do you know what you are for me!

Sabita Sahu

What Do You Know What You Are For Me! III

 What Do You Know What You Are For Me

                                 III              

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my church you are my temple

     you are my prayer my bell and bugle

     you are my palace serene humble.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     you are my verdant alley

     wide open lawn

     you are my honey moon

     crimson dawn.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my wine jar

     strong heady wine

     you are my deadly knife

     rude sunshine.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my love lyric

      lone mute call

     you are my demoness

     fangs of gall.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my bridal bed

      love’s holy fire

     you are my crematory

     flaming pyre.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my friend sweet hot ripe

     you are my salvation

     you are my life.

Sabita Sahu

 

What Do You Know What You Are For Me! II

What do you know what you are for me!

                         II

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my cosmic hunger

     my Manna dew

     you are my dream maker

     and dream breaker.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     you are my fire cauldron

     the fire lit there eternally burns

     life after life for my last sleep.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     A lily half seen in  night’s haze

     a moon half eaten by fate’s rage

     a night sweet and full of revenge.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are the goal road and speed

     you are the chariot and the steed

     you are the surplus you are my need.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my joy my toy

     you are my highness you are my guide

     you are my downfall and

     you are my rise.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my anger you are my hate

      you are my luck you are my fate

     you are my poison for heaven’s gate.

Sabita Sahu.

 

What Do You Know What You Are For Me! I

  What Do You Know What You Are For Me!

                                        ( I )

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my morning star

     the glistening pearls on grass

     first rays of the rising sun.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     The primal wave on the shore

     the rising birds first twitter

     flamingoes soaring the sky.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     The first sight at temple door

     the first prayer of true love

     clashing cymbals and throbbing heart.

 

What do you know what you are to me!

     Beauty’s bold statement

     carnal energy and music of spheres

     the signature of holy fragrance.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     You are my soul’s otherself

     a naughty divine elf

     the pathway to salvation  

     the medium of reincarnation. 

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     My blood’s scarlet flow

     my lovelorn soul’s limpid flow

     my love’s gallows blind sacrifice.

 

What do you know what you are for me!

     The energy of my life breath

     the life blood of my health.

     the warmest lap for my death.

I Have To Say Something

 

Today I wish to say

I am full, complete

swelling with my wants

desires, frustrations

the ebb tide of my oceans

are spilling over the brim

of my suffocated soul.

 

If you ask me how I am full

then listen -

My sentences are complete

with speech rhythm

mind rhythm vast and full

overflowing with a lull.

My treasury of pain is full

untold unshared voided splendour

my splintered life's sorrow too

is brimming full.

 

What's not there in my world:

conflict between truth and falsehood

love and betrayal

and the joy of tears

in the endless night

of endless worries

my heart is filled

like full moon tide

when and how in the

full moon night

I never know...

I myself cannot count

the numerous zeroes

in my bank pass book.

 

Then why should I say

I have nothing

I have the hulla ballu

in my daily life

of issues and themes

beyond your dreams,

it's my own property

not stolen nor borrowed

my evenings are crowded

with friends and relatives

the evening dies in chats

and swollen faces.

 

This is life:

somewhere the river dries up

elsewhere the storm

sweeps away life

the heart cracks

and again joins

with the new fevicol of compromise.

The desert sands sway

in the aroma of the thorn flower.

 

My body have

spring and summer

a touch of snowing winter

I am the queen of seasons

unblemished offering for deities

How can I say then

I am incomplete, empty?

 

My emptiness is also full

like gods unseen tears

I am full in love and separation

if anything is incomplete

that is absolutely my own

there is no word for it

no language is yet invented

No regrets for all that.

Sabita Sahu

 

 

 

 

Life Will Win

God never made any promise

to keep the humans hunger and disease free

never promised happiness

may be a bit of sadiastic humour

prompted Him to keep man

under the leash.

Man defied all his decrees

ran sat his world

lighted up his nights

bridged his rivers

built roads to his prosperous heaven.

God's eyes turned red 

Man's world became bloody,

all his engines of growth

cyber mobiles get hacked untimely

Man tries to outwit him

he counters with Corona, Ukraine

He watches the fun to our vain protests.

Who will win God or Man:

What a laugh

Life will win, 

Life will win,

Life will win.

Sabita Sahu