The Winter Wind

It’s sharp, it’s piercing, it’s punishing;
The cruel winter wind

My soul shivers as it whips!
I sit wrapped up within the layers of the furry blanket
Sipping slowly from the glass of rum
Seeking warmth
But nothing helps!

The only fire that would work
Is the touch
Of your skin
The only drink that would intoxicate
Is the poison from your lips

I wonder!
How I would love you to cling to me;
Like a comma to a word!
I wonder!
How I would love to be imprisoned in your arms;
Like the pearl in an oyster!

To be away from you at this
Is the severest of crimes
Perhaps that’s why
I’m being punished
By the cruel winter –
Bitter-cold wind!

Written by: Santosh Kumar

EMOTIONS

Anger as hot as a ball of fire
Often burns yourself on the bed of pyre
Unbearably your nerves are squeezed
When your dead-cold fear is unreleased

At times you want to scream and shout
Breaking all rules, you want to laugh out loud
There are times when you lose the radiant spark
And you prefer to sit undisturbed in the dark

You would cleanse your burdened eyes
With the unshed tears once or twice
Don’t hold back, let your emotions go
Within your fertile self before they choose to grow.

-by Santosh Balmiki

HIDE ME O MUMMY!

Hide me O Mummy!
Hide me in your arms or hide me in your womb.
Keep me in the safest place or build me a tomb.
I’m scared of the devils – six in the count!
My flesh cringed from my bones as each did mount!
Like a cup of beer they passed me around.
Their scornful laughter – Oh horrifying sound!

Hide me O Mummy!
Hungry wolves, they ate out the heart of this doe,
See, they stamped my face with hard-fisted blows.
I’m now cursed with this life-long woe.
I screamed for help but none could hear!
I pleaded, I begged, I wept in fear.
They murdered my soul with lustful spears!

Hide me O Mummy!
I lost my strength; my skin numb, my inside cold
I sweated the pain my body could not hold.
They left me clothed in blood by the road side,
Dead but alive, with a rod half inside!
Yes, I envy of those who are dead
Oh, someone make a pyre from my bed!

Hide me O Mummy!
I’m bleeding blue; my blood is no more red;
All that’s red in me has been fully bled.
I see their faces in that of every single man;
It is the face of demons, of horned Satan!
So dear Mummy, hide me in your womb once again
And release me for good from this pain…

-by Santosh Balmiki
NOTE: This poem was written in the memory of Nirbhaya, based on the shameful incident that took place in Delhi on 16 Dec 2012.

SHE WAS EIGHTY SEVEN

 

Her quavering voice touched me;
Said she was eighty seven
And she stays on her own.
She fought with cancer;
He took a quarter of her lung
But she won the battle!
Now breathing comes tough
Yet, she embraces life everyday!

Her phone was dead,
The only window to the outside world;
She was disabled
She needs support to move around;
Her Christmas and New Year
Are days spent all alone!
For the care taker is her only friend.
But this mama still enjoys life!

She spoke, like one starved of talking,
And I lent her my pricked ears;
She smiled, wrinkling her wrinkles!
“Call me grandma,” she said. She blessed me,
Tears welled in my eyes and I wondered;
When my bones fail from age, would my children
Leave me in such a house,
To live out my remaining days alone?!

LOVE AGAPE

A birdie lays eggs in a nest
Keeps them warm under her breast.
To bring these tiny shells to life,
A mother she becomes, was just a wife.
She flies from north to south to east;
Feeds her infants the daily feast.
Vultures and eagles up there in the sky
Waiting for a chance, would mother defy
Until her children learn to fly.

Mothers love is an austerity
Love in the purest form of serenity.
Strongest of all bonds at all age,
I would rather call it a Love Agape!

– Santosh Balmiki

Pic Source: Flickr

HOMELESS

They art selling my house to strangers,

Tomorrow it’s up for sale…

The auctioneers would bargain to win it,

My efforts to protect would fail.

They want to get her a rich owner;

I curse myself to be so helpless!

With a prayer in my heart I weep;

Oh! Never before I felt so homeless!

-Written by Santosh Balmiki

Dear Dad

Holding your finger I learnt to walk
Imitating your speech I learnt to talk
Whenever I was down you gave me mirth
On your shoulder I felt on top of the earth

I’ve fallen again, like dead leaf on the ground
You were my superhero, I need you around!

Whenever my body temperature did rise
Pain would cause tears in your eyes
You hid your agony to make me smile
What an actor you were! So full of guile!

I’m hurt again, are you watching from above?
Where are you my superhero? I need your love!

No school could teach the lessons you gave
How to fall and rise and how to be brave
You taught me to be a human and live for others
How to be kind and respectful to my mother

Do you see? I am sinking in the seas of pain!
Come, my superhero, I need your lessons again!

I grew up watching the affection in your eyes
I never knew I would witness your demise
I wanted you to watch me fulfilling your dreams
But you left for heaven…that day remains grim

It was I who laid you down on the pyre-bed
Where are you my superhero, my dear dad!?

-By Santosh Balmiki