MIRROR

 

MIRROR

 

 

Writes about the expressive heart,

Heart mercurial reflects feelings,

Silent introvert observes minutely,

Life prefers seclusion, thinking intensely,

Focus mind eyesight distant analyses,

A spirit so passionate chooses a pen,

Deep within experiences soul mirror-perfect,

The mind projects a colorful world, changing,

Time is the player changes course of life,

Shifts goal of a person plays cruelly,

Little understood rule of the game,

Destiny deviates, progress, fate, finish,

Failure turns to success luck decides,

Life plays dramas, tragic to climax,

A trillion human stories in paints,

Each painting is a life story, gets famous,

People engrossingly discuss events,

Surprises, turn of life twists intricate,

Succulent parts of a story capture the mind,

Reader hooked, addicted to thrills,

Landscapes provide background,

Horror interlaces with fear socks,

A sudden change of ground lightens,

Lightens a human heart with the dawn,

Glorious moments life sparks touching,

Adulated with love, kindness, care,

The author devastates the reader's heart,

Anticipations killed brutally linked,

Sadness grips life tension clad story,

Life, if ever can escape from the nightmare,

Night covers pages patience on trial,

Inks morning glories wink smiles to read,

Page after page, a book hooks with interest,

Curious about outcomes, life in the end,

Hello reader, halt here, please, look at,

A writer's mind catches those reflections,

Reflects mind myriad such mirrored,

Ink flows mirrors images perfectly,

The intensity of thought mind concentrates,

Finds suitable words coined to please,

Pleasant reading, every word chosen,

Lines carry meanings life reflected,

Here the great writers send messages,

Message to humanity provides solutions,

Studies social evil, prejudices, wolves,

In between lines of the pages hidden,

Deep analysis of writing projects,

Each heart understands differently,

The fact negated diverse opinions,

Ultimately a book is understood,

It becomes famous wins time reprinted,

Book in several languages printed,

The world community finds the story,

Surprising it matches social issues,

Ideal solutions life depicts as shared,

People love to view cine motion,

Life, written by a pen fictional only,

Actors portray a lively real-life story,

The world community gives standing ovations,

The writer in a dark room once wrote,

Looked at urban life, rustic people,

Mingled in nature, experienced in detail,

Crossed oceans toured continents,

People before his telescope noticed,

Human emotion reactions searched,

Under microscopic scrutiny remembered,

Natures vagaries, panorama puzzling,

Ink reflects duly, the book is transparent,

Ink is a mirror that captures life in images.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra.

REBORN

 REBORN

  

The day I was a witness, observed,

Imprinted in my heart is a tragic event,

Brokenhearted, I couldn't withstand,

A young girl in our neighborhood,

Deceived by her lover, fled from a locality,

Pregnant, she was condemned by the public,

Females were beating her mercilessly,

Scolding, addressing, lowly character,

Her mother was slapping her own forehead,

Scornful, men were looking angry,

Her father was sitting on the road,

Holding his head, looked down,

I wondered if he was crying in shame,

She was thrown out of her home,

She sat under a nearby tree,

Next dawn, she vanished totally,

No one could see her in the town,

I remember that evening starkly,

The event churned my heart,

A young girl, pregnant, is missing,

No one is concerned about her,

Her parents tried to forget her,

She was the point of gossip, nasty,

Even young women criticized her,

Elderly persons called her a prostitute,

The topic came to my home, heard,

My wife and daughter were commenting,

Felt extremely bad for society, then,

What should we teach my daughter,

Never love a young man in life,

In a split second, I knew paralyzing,

Tell daughter to keep disciplined,

Truth, humanity faced, a reality,

Unwanted pregnancy, killing fetus,

To save dignity from a failed marriage,

Murder a life in the womb innocent,

I dignified the girl in my heart,

A mother in the future protects her child,

Betrayed her lover, her cruel life revealed,

The soul of an unfortunate girl loved,

Trusted a human, I contemplated,

Who exhibits love and care, cheated,

We loved university campus girls,

Dared to express a loving heart, knew,

Many friends stamped their affairs,

To love-marriage resulted in a relationship,

How many boys had gone to prison,

Tell my turbulent thoughts, so natural,

Simple a Youngman loves a girl,

Naturally, human nature exhibits,

A thousand Novels the motion picture,

Applauded by viewers, a box office,

The man, who made his girl pregnant,

Fled, the cowardly act, a serious crime,

He gets married, gets prestige a lot of,

The hypocrisy of civil society is bare,

A shelter home philanthropic helped,

Funded by my capability to search,

They found her begging and admitted her,

Took care of the baby and the mother,

A year after, I visited her, enquired,

How are you feeling, dear child?

Her answer was crisp and touching,

Reborn, sir, I never believed.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra

 

MENDING

 MENDING

  

Silent moments awestruck life,

Fled with fear, tension, worries,

Enough, enough ghastly scenes,

Modern turbulent world violent,

Intelligent, literate learned nil,

Empty heart sans love kindness,

Angry world ferocious life beastly,

Hatred rules the mind evil performs,

Closed windows, shaken, sit quietly,

Looking at the heart of a human, felt,

Life passed so soon, decades long,

Fighting with impressions love exists,

Torn clothes females mending alert,

Designed patches save a cloth,

Needle stitches, threads colored,

Attractive get worn-out clothing,

How similar human care softly,

Mending wrecked lives, stitching,

Careful, conscious a heart bleeds,

Invisible under microscope reality,

Amaze the heart experiences,

Subtle, shivers in fear in midday,

Mind projects lurking spirits cruel,

Stalks behind senses heart trembles,

 The reason is dark past hunted longer,

Tortured, beaten black and blue,

Humiliated by being treated savagely,

Self-dignity is violated repeatedly,

Molested at lonely hours, insensible,

Shame forces the tender soul to hide,

Assimilates inhuman treatments,

A heart pressed everything tightly,

Never allow a leak to surface,

Little teary eyes, biting lips stays,

Remorse hello spirit ever observed,

The person carries the heart rare,

Aspire immensely to live but drawn,

Under the dark bottom of an ocean,

The ocean of infinite sorrows exists,

Her heart, desperate to surface, breath,

Suffocated to inhale the fresh air,

Wishing to live, escape a dungeon,

God all merciful, soul pray not,

At least find the cause of agonies,

Believed never committed sins,

Knows not as a cursed human,

Knows not abnormal behaves,

When cries out, look at vacantly,

Sobs intermittently, then laugh,

The smiles felt weird resting body,

Does not know a crowded place, malls,

Sleeps on the pavement under a hot sun,

Sleeps at railway station bus stand,

Walking with luggage at midnight,

Where the soul goes, a destination,

I surmised God, sure to liberate,

Demise will be the blessed gift of the Lord,

No, life is miraculous never ends,

Someone picks up the tattered limbs,

Takes the ill-fated life to a shelter,

Washed bruised limbs carefully,

Dressing the person feed slowly,

Holding the head reclines the body,

Sleeping if an endless age in a lap,

The day begins, life restarts socked,

Fights between reality or unreal dream,

Looked at the hospitality intensely,

Silent never speaks but obeys,

Have you seen torn heart mended,

Needle pricks skin with a soft touch,

Thread is empathy consoles soul,

A deep wound is healing up slowly,

A deadwood watch leaves protrude,

Deep green stems growing faster,

Tearful, feeling in my room, thinking,

Angels move to suture torn lives,

Selfless, mending wounded heart,

Mending keeps life reborn again!

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra

 

 

 

 

CONFRONT

 

CONFRONT

 

Confide the story that wounded,

Insulted media, people, my country,

Humiliated constitutional head freely,

Devastated social fabric torn, angered,

Attacked media, unbiased posts, facts,

Journalists feel insecure, face laws,

It means vogue freedom to publish,

Coin democracy or the constitution,

Equal-right and fighting for the right,

Liberty, linked to intentional, a provoke,

Read news national and state issues,

Conflict controls communities,

Long arms law fails to trace a few,

Invisible to public  and police acts,

Foment trouble, peace, amity, affects,

Speak the fact, face troubles,

Be alert, decently spirit, keep silent,

Check the swaging tongue angry,

Evade arson, loot, burning, be safe,

If knew, pretend ignorant evade,

Who is right or culprit is confusing,

Guise, not easy to crack, ignore,

A citizen under the lens is watched,

Traffic, internet, public places,

Under surveillance hook interest,

Complain media will censor,

A viral cyber circuit will be booked,

Notice under offense trouble,

A generation back, tell me frankly,

No intimidation or prosecution,

Civil liberty respected, published,

Healthy discussion amity prospered,

Trust between tongues, cultures,

Tolerance was visible to all faiths,

Attack on country, rule, minimal,

Based, really, on corruption, delay,

Fiery comments inflamed the public,

Respected writers, authors praised,

Bruised with satire, caustic views,

Threats communicated on life,

Current scenarios point to safety,

Security ensured if non-reactive,

The freedom life enjoyed vanishing,

Forced arms of law restrict all,

Festival an issue violence-prone,

Keep within doors, enjoy home,

Walking alone on the road is unsafe,

Equally dangerous at day or night,

Write this unpleasant world, reality,

Dangerous environment polluted,

Air, water, food, the human mind,

Poisonous beware of the soul be aloof,

Democracy is the biggest joke, laughing,

Source of crime, power, and the rich,

Bends arm of laws at whims,

Confides to you be silent, timid life,

Fearful of light, cyberspace, media,

Watch floods, cyclones, and fires, pray,

Pray for the country, safe, united,

Pray for peaceful land, be happy,

Prayer for the poor, sufferer, innocent,

Pray for rulers, safe, function,

Pray for the media, the honest, help people,

Pray for a university, truly autonomous,

Free from politics, religion, and conflicts,

Pray, better confront the loose tongue.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra

   

DENIAL

 

DENIAL

 

Fascinating entertainment exists,

Ceremonies ancient is a tradition,

Generations, forefather pilgrimage,

Having a dip in rivers felt sacred,

Offers drops of water, hands lifted,

Cupped in palms in front of the sun,

Waist deep river water, pray heaven,

Where ever spirits stay satiate thirst,

Offered cooked rice on river sand,

Trust morsels of food meet hunger,

Lived through times and auspicious,

Immersion of ashes in river water,

Consider pious mind for salvation,

Life never will take rebirth in peace,

A permanent place to be in heaven,

Post-cremation rights sons obeyed,

Completed the duty for the late father,

Brothers accompany for rituals,

The eldest son's right is accomplished,

Immersion of father's piece of bone,

Complete with chanting and praying,

Cooked rice, offered on leaves,

Bathed on the holy river, returned,

Missing the sisters denied,

Once married, adopt an in-law family,

Not authorized to ignite the pyre,

Rights son performs for the parent,

The daughter is denied to perform,

Participates as invitee custom,

The denial is the root flourished,

Family treats for an inheritance,

Parent's assets shared by sons,

Early childhood brother sister,

Play together, fail to imagine a wall,

Grow children, a mother prays,

Entire attention son hijacks,

Prayer, fasting, holy fire ceremony,

Completed desperately inspiringly,

For long life, a good family, children,

Parents dream of  grandchildren,

Son's education cost is noticeable,

A girl child growing grows concerned,

Nothing for education career status,

A family gets alarmed daughter bright,

Highly educated, job remunerative,

Established independent helps home,

Happy parents outward, worried,

Marriage is the factor that churns the heart,

Fails to get an established family,

Marriage gifts daydream for a parent,

Love marriage by daughter is tainted,

Society ostracizes the family outcast,

No difficulty for inter-caste marriage,

If a son is getting married, parents allow,

Relation grudgingly keeps silent attend,

A daughter as if a burden from birth,

Parents seek early marriage bargains,

Gifts during marriage continue after,

Relaxed family daughters are married,

Mother's heart gets lighter, speaks less,

Fact or fiction denial rock etched,

Bride-burning tortures hunted past,

Dowry the curse of Hindu society,

How many young women suffered,

Parents beg for mercy, save a daughter,

Evil practices are crime, prejudices exist,

A daughter becomes a daughter-in-law

A daughter, why leads a life of denial?

The denial, educated life feels ashamed.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra

 

POSTBOX

POSTBOX

 

Scintillating memories evoke,

The red box at the corner road,

Visiting the place for childhood often,

Drop post cards envelop, remember,

Visible easily at every street corner,

Invaluable service for generation,

In remote villages, it was only a help,

Faithful service was inconceivable,

Only medium to communicate far,

An age absent rural telephones,

Postcard our milestone to inform,

Exchanging information needed,

Cities were growing with time,

Rural people migrating for work,

Avenues of life postcard duly linked,

Money orders, the way to send money,

Texts under money order with cash,

Family in villages, men in cities,

Children going to distant colleges,

Postbox was regularly attended to,

Postman collects letters in time,

Deposited at a post office in slots,

Post bags were transported in a van,

Far-flung areas sent by train,

Mail through flight for urgent one,

Telegram is possible in the post office,

Looked at a postbox near home,

Stream of thought passed linking,

Modern life is innovative adoptive,

The new method of letter travels,

Courier then email got popular,

Searches none postbox recently,

Many things are required in our life,

Vanishing, phased out gradually,

HMT watch fountain pen missing,

Lantern pillars at street corners miss,

Postbox lingers, fighting for life,

Our generation still love post office,

Need postbox, drop the parcel in packets,

Courier killer service parallel job,

Private efficiency defeats center,

 The fax was convenient for people,

Sending letter pads by digital copy,

On telephone lines transmitted,

Reprints a fax machine at the other end,

Telephone and fax transformed,

Digital age quick delivery feature,

Fewer people search postbox, thus,

Poor people require its service,

In remote villages, life needs it,

Village post offices for population,

Easy for children to drop mail,

Senior people prefer to visit,

Drop the letter and forget,

Trust for postal service nostalgic,

Old habits, dying hard,

Remember places to find the red box,

Symbol of yesteryears for mail,

Timeless, loved as a shining glory.

 

@ Bijayananda Mishra

 

( HMT, Hindustan Machine Tools

a corporation of the Central Government

Manufacturing watch closed)