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

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 Secret

 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