Thursday, 30 June 2022

Malla Sahitya || june || Bibhu Padhi

|| Malla Sahitya ||  Bibhu Padhi



A LONG NIGHT’S SLEEP

The night carries itself

far into the day.

The cellular dreams continue

despite daylight sounds.

 

The eyes open and close;

coffee waits.

 

In the dark, shadow figures

move, awakening from sleep

every little spot of wish,

persuading each to its fulfillment.

 

There are rootless smiles

that flower around

the body’s exquisite folds,

reproducing every human sleep.

 

The eyes open and close;

coffee waits.

 

The body begins to remember

each small thing lost, as if

in a dream, including

its own doubts and fears.

 

Then delicate fingers

find their ways through the hair,

a small tap on the shoulder,

a loving word whispered to the body.

 

You open and close your eyes;

coffee waits.

 

A pair of keen lips

perch on the eyes that open

only to close for further

dream and sleep.

 

In the kettle, steaming

coffee waits for

you, eager to be your

mouth, your lips.

                                               

And then, the quietly emerging

feeling that you are not alone

even in your longish sleep.

Someone else waits just like you.

 

Coffee waits.. Black coffee.

You take your first sip.

 



NOT BEING WHAT THE WORLD IS

 

The white clouds move away

towards another place, another time.

The day-light blue appears and lingers.

 

Somewhere you feel the weight

of the world, its responsibilities

filtering through your mind’s thin,

 

transparent layer of skin to its

very centre, asking you to be

what you have never been.

 

You review all that you have done,

all that the past has pushed into

its own future, try your best to find out

 

what went wrong, where.

All explanations seem to be only

an extended illusion of what you

 

promise yourself to be, every day,

every hour. Now the big world

looks at you with a suspicion

 

that challenges your small achievements

and pleasures, your inherited right

to remain yourself. And then, suddenly,

 

you begin to notice what life is, how

feather-like, how much sincere to itself, how

clear, and you, so difficult, so incomplete!

 


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