Posts tagged ‘Poems’
Dear Jungle Jalebi
Tears fall with you
As you fell
Last night
In winds that revved
Up a mighty squall
Your roots uprooted
From the earth
Your branches entangled
In electric wires
Bit by bit you
Are dismantled
From all that upon
Which you rest
Your weary limbs
And taken away
The cat runs up your
Huge, sloping trunk
One last time
To flex his muscles
On Nature’s post
The parrots busy
Gobbling your summer-ripened
Red fruit – so much you
Showered this year….
You enriched my life
By your presence,
Doing nothing,
And yet so much
And soon I will have
To learn to live in your
Absence
This time there is no sorrow
Only acceptance of
Nature and her forces
Yes, my friend,
I will miss you
And so will the cats
And squirrels
And birds and all
Those who came
And sat in your shade
And tasted your beauty
New Delhi
May 15th 2013
The dear, old Jungle Jalebi had probably been around for over 50 years. Our house was built around it. Like a friend that must go, it went. Funnily enough, it is still lives on…
a tree never leaves you…
LISTEN
Listen to birds
Listen to children
Listen to words spoken
Listen to that which is unspoken
Listen to open skies
Listen to clouds
Listen to falling rain
Listen to the rhythm of the universe
Listen to the space inside you
Listen to the space inside others
Listen to that which is unheard
Listen to that which is not thought of
Listen to stillness
Listen to nothing at all
Listen with attention
Listen with sincerity
Listen with love
Listen to silence
For God’s sake
Just Listen
Every one wants to be heard
Let’s live in the silence between words
Let’s abide in the silence of knowing
Let’s be the silence of it all
Rupa Anand
March 29th 2011
At the feet of the Master by whose Grace we learn to truly listen!
Is
A movement
of images
A dance
of words
A ballet
of feelings
A kaleidoscope
of impressions
A cloudburst
of emotions
My naked
thoughts
in party attire
To delight
Amuse
Surprise
and render
speechless sometimes
A few words written
without music
Yet in tune
and always
an offering
April 14th 2011
(By the sheer Grace of my Teachers)
Why do you rush about so much?
Because I have work to do, not laze around like you!
Have you ever tried to pay attention?
Pay attention to what?
To whatever it is that you rush about doing?
I must be paying attention, otherwise how would I accomplish anything?
No, I mean, REALLY pay attention?
I just answered that, you know!
If you were truly paying attention, you wouldn’t rush.
Really, how have you come to that conclusion?
Because then you would savor every moment!
You know, Cat, I don’t have time for your silly purrifications!
That’s just it, you are not listening. You never do.
All right, try me this time, for a change!
Let’s see now – look at you rushing – can you slow down a bit?
You mean as I walk?
Yes. We could begin from there. Presently, you are walking.
What do you want me to do – the cat-walk?
Be Present in your walk.
I want you to put your foot slowly – one behind the other.
But I am doing just that – you idiotic feline!
There you go again – ranting and raising your voice. Be quiet.
Fine – here I am, placing my fee t – s l o w l y –
That’s better. Can you please smile, also, as you walk?
Here, can you see my pearly whites, now, you dumb nitwit?
Stop being judgmental and calling me names, please!
All right, I’m sorry.
Much better, you are developing awareness to my feelings, now.
Okay.
Can you feel the earth beneath your feet as you walk?
Well, I’m certainly not moon walking, you silly thing!
There you go again. Walk with intense awareness in every step.
An awareness of what, please tell me?
An awareness of all there is in this precise moment.
Do you feel the earth come up to meet you in every step?
But I thought I was walking ON the earth?
Yes, yes, you are. As your toes press down, can you feel the earth pushing
up to greet the soles of your feet?
I am trying; I’m trying to feel just that.
Good, because the earth is a living being, just like you.
O yeah, then I’m a dinosaur!
It feels your weight; it feels your thoughts; it feels your feelings!
O yeah, and I’m a flying wombat!
It knows your positivity and senses your negativity.
Yeah, the earth is a psychic, it can read my mind.
You are neither a dinosaur nor a wombat and the earth is not a psychic.
Who am I, then?
That’s precisely what I’m trying to convey, if only you’d focus!
I’m focusing.
Focus on each step you take, focus on the softness under it.
Hmm, Hmm, Hmm.
Notice your movement; notice the earth’s quiet stillness.
Hmm, Hmm, Hmm.
There is something within you that is within the earth too.
Whatever can that be?
Remember, I said the earth is a living being?
Yes?
Well, so are you.
I already know that!
Yes, but not in the sense I’m implying.
Okay. Come on, tell me.
Look at yourself as Life, alive, without a name.
I don’t know if I can do that.
Feel the earth as Life, alive, without a name too.
What about you, Cat? Do I look at you as Life, obviously alive, without a name too?
Yes, yes, yes. Now, you’re getting the connection.
I am? I’ll try to assimilate this. Thank you.
Meow – Purr, purr, purr!
Hmm, Hmm, Hmm!
April 29th 2012
What a hullabaloo we make of everything in our lives,
All God’s creatures live frugally and wise.
Sprawled on the road I saw her, lifeless she lay,
Emerging from class late evening on a Monday.
A striped tabby so beautiful and white,
Fur glinting in the night’s lamp-post light.
Hit in all probability by a speeding car,
Its occupant not bothering to look very far.
I didn’t know this beauty one bit,
Just couldn’t bear to call her an ‘it’.
So gave her the gender feminine,
In keeping with elegant looks so fine.
Were nearby gardens her little home?
Now this dark street was her last tomb.
Did she play with friends or frolic for fun?
Laze and bask in the afternoon sun?
Was she mother or father to any at all?
What did it matter, who cared to recall?
Was she loved and would she be missed?
Was she ever picked up and tenderly kissed?
My eyeballs swam in tears so hot,
I longed to revive the life thus lost.
Life snuffed out so cruel and fine,
Her only fault lay in crossing at the wrong time.
Stepping over quickly I got in to drive
To home and people who knew I’d arrive.
Wishing I’d held her and placed her aside to rest
Not left her there so alone and undressed.
How Pompous our lives, so frail and so small?
Look at Nature’s creatures, so Grand and so Tall.
3rd March 2011
Falling
Falling
Falling
Fallen Leaves
In all hues
Mostly yellow
Ochre, dull gold, brown, yellow again
Not a place where a fallen leaf has not
Fallen
Dropping
Shedding
Replacing
Piled high on street corners
In parks and on side-walks
Under-foot and in my face
Rustle
Rustle
Rustle
Tender Crumpled Delicate
Each different from its sibling
The building blocks of forests
The laboratory of trees
Houses, furniture
Books, comforts
Conveniences
Built by leaves
Now falling
Falling
Fallen
Have you ever lain on a bed of fallen leaves?
April 12th 2011
Love is nothing to go blah-blah or shout
Rather it is something deep and unspoken about
Love is trust in an animal’s eyes
It is beauty in a morning sunrise
It is strength in a friend’s support
Solid and perennial like an ancient fort
The world, like a carousel, spins so bright
And I, the foolish idiot, grins in its light
Round and round it happens to twirl
Faster and faster it seems to whirl
“There is almost an enchantment of unbelievable magic in the method of communication adopted by nature in guiding seekers.” Swami Chinmayananda
The Heavens burst open at the fading light
With an invitation to a dance tonight.
Venue being the Pastoral Green –
Dress-code is – ‘Come as you preen!’
The sky changes its clothes from blue to grey –
Mrs Squirrel dashes off to close down for the day.
The Tree lived in a corner of the garden,
Roots firm and steady, into the ground,
Trunk solid and upright, into the sky,
Branches fanning out, replete with leaves,
Boughs laden with fruit, heavy and green,
The Quiet Sky 