Chrysanthemum Poem by Somnath Sarkar

A despondency manifest in the prayers,
Drifting from the village ossuary in squares-
The dead pass as the tired sun leaves the way…..
Amidst thankfulness for life, for the day;

The crescent moon sedulous tumbles sway-
The fun and thrill of pastimes after school,
The wistful childhood in the memory spool~
Life breathes… as a green leaf sprouts,
A little too early perhaps for spring, in doubts-

I find myself entombed gormlessly in words,
Interned in muteness of the trodden paths -
A low ensemble of the first chrysanthemums vanishing -
The scent of stimulant odour where the blossoms stood~
Receding waves in the gushing creek of balsa woods,
Washing away my footprints in the sun, which too leaves,
As a folk-song seeps in with the breeze in the sheaves;
The soft roll over of rhythm of raindrops on the wet eaves -

Faces falling out from memory with the evening agleam……
A field of white chrysanthemum flows in endless dream,
Inaudible waves form in the silent depths of my thought…
Flounder, riding the waves, my librettos seem to be lost,
Dragon flies buzzing in the callous air, fleet on the plain-

In my mind, a question crops, how long till the first rain…..
First dropp on my face, redeeming the coldness of that pain~`
Hourglass oh! ... these sands of time leaves memories behind,
You always seem to recede refulgent through the twilight wind;

The lovely flowers, rearing strong, amidst colours of crotons…..
The lovely chrysanthemum bruised by many human impressions,
Boundless life as infinite as the sand, impossible to count, pure~
My imbriferous eyes spur me on into a sleepless hope, adjure! !