Alien I Today Poem by Amitava Chakraborty

The scorching sun above the leaning peepal tree
Plays hide & seek through weird leaves like me beneath it.
Sudden ripples on tranquil pond by a kingfisher
As it plunges on the pray consuming skill a bit.

The intoxicating serial call perhaps by a dove
Conveying from an unidentified branch of a palm tree nearby
An intensified influence even to those circulating gnats
Humming round the pitcher with palm juice in their joy fly.

Sensational touch of soothing breeze in mid summer
My drowsy eyes with decrepit physique by mundane pain.
The hypnotic beats by a woodpecker beyond
Beckons me to the sleep-land in my native village again.

The haggard looking kids with bare body
Drenching in the crescent brook blowing leisurely.
Absorbed in funny water game beside bathing cattle
Reminding my vague childhood days from the worn out frame piteously.

Rushing like a meteor by the arid mustard field
A refined kid of high born in his frisking race
Chasing a butterfly towards the infinite horizon
When all hues of that insect painted in his eyes fasten pace.

Brighten face at picking down chicks from treetop nest
Victorious hunter taking away prey home to make them pet.
Look! Bringing them back very next day with blessing by mother bird’s rare smile,
No wonder when Buddha’s compassion infused in vein for a child mindset.

Reviving that hearty hospitality of innocent tribal
With invaluable love & care in utmost poverty.
But broken stool seemed then a throne in their hut & coarse meal ‘Amrita’ (nectar)
Like a stable progression of hearty imagination from futility to eternity.

Thirty summers with thirty new Bengali years
Give grayish lash to my thin hair like these dried up grasses.
Dream in eyes, corporate urban fellow I come back here today
But alas! The difference bleeds my heart for long recess.

Why such unwanted modesty from these simple villagers
Like shrunken leaves of the mimosa by human touch?
Where gone that jolly kid upon a tribe’s affectionate shoulder
When myself is saluted by same fellow revering me much?
Can’t I bring back that passed by flow on nearby river?
Affectionately used to tell the tale of my golden days.
Alas! Had got everything if I could be of my own
Filling heart up to brim like overflowing river through bays.

How close I am to this ever green nature here today!
Yet alien enough to the hearts of earth-sons for bloody left phase.
Let me forget my urbane ease, pray to thou almighty,
Bless me with rebirth on my native land again fulfilling this only craze.



18th December,2008

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