Rukkulu[7]

 

A puppy

A matchstick

And a toilet soap

 

Don’t look down on anything

They are all full of poetry!

 

A piece of bread,

A banana peel,

A log of wood

 

Stare at you

Challenge you to measure their depth!

 

A door bolt

An Aarti[8] tray

A horse’s rein

 

What is not worthy of poetry?

Yes, the style is unfathomable!

 

Only you should have poetic inspiration!

Go on create poetic delights!

Can you not find a thin string of grace?

 

See if you have the sight

Write if you have the word

 

The world is a maze!

And Poetry is an unquenchable thirst! (14-4-1934)

 

Incarnation

 

The metallic bells of Yama’s

Buffalo clanged

Behind the clouds!

 

The ferocious canines of 

Hell pounced

Breaking free of their leashes!

 

The seven horses of the Sun’s

Chariot ran

Frothing at their mouth!

 

The angry lion of Goddess Kanakadurga

Yawned shaking its mane!

The elephant that Indra rides roared, challenging!

 

Nandikesa jumped and shouted

Giving his mane a vigorous shake

 

The Great Boar who rescued the Vedas

Stretched his tusk and trumpeted!

 

Labor pains for mother earth

Heralded a new birth!  (14-4-1934)

 

(The rebelling vehicles of the Gods, signify a new revolution)

An Ode to Childhood

 

Sins, virtues and the ways of the world

Troubles, comforts, associated meanings

You are the flowers unaware of these!

The children of five six years!

 

If there is lightening

If there is rain

If there is a rainbow in the sky

You are the young ones

Who think that all these are for you!

 

Birds!

Children!

Who with no aim or destination,

Whistling away, fly

Here, there and everywhere!

 

On the green meadows

 In the lotus filled ponds

In the fields, playhouses

In the arms of the father

In the lap of the mother

Dusty bodies, heavy hips

With fingers in the mouth and milky cheeks

Wherever one sees you are there

Your cosmic presence

As divine creatures

O young children!

 

Yours, and yours is the whole universe!

You’re the destiny of the world!

Your smiles shape the

Bright dawns of tomorrow!

The queen of seasons, the spring,

Opens it magic window, for you!

The metal buffalos breathe

The hot winds of the summer, for you

And the rainy season which

Engulfs the fields, villages, and all else

The clear nights, moon filled,

The snow filled winters

Cold and shivering

They come and go,

Playing hide and seek

For you

Today, like every day,

The Sun moves on the sky

The winds blow, the flowers bloom

I see multi-starred

Multi-colored ethers

Songs from all sides

You are the inheritors

For all these!

They shine on your lives too!

 

I look for the echoes of the tunes

Of my lost past,

The forgotten footprints of

My bygone childhood,

I sit here alone giving

Breath to the moving breeze    

As the stringed veenas sing in unison

As I cajole the streams and the deer

Taking somersaults in the hell

Measuring the depths of vaitharani[9]

With no peace of mind

And with a lonely heart

In wonder-filled restlessness

Do you feel like laughing at me!

 

The little squirrels

The young children

This is my song!

Will you listen? (9-6-1934)

The Traveller

For work and for food

To live in a city

Started one traveller

Turning a deaf ear to

The words of his mother

He walked for three days

Without respite, not knowing

Where to go

He wandered, lost

Like a boat tossed in an ocean

Depressed and piteous

He wandered aimlessly!

 

Heat of the severest nature

Rising temperature

Raised his body temperature too!

Scared was he,

Talking in dementia 

 

Dark clouds

Ferocious winds

Rain and flooding waters

Darkness surrounding him

How tough was it for the traveller

Who had lost his way!

 

The mother who

With eyes glued to the door

Must be talking in her sleep

His eyes burning

The heat rising in flames

Aching head like needles piercing,

Night like a black boulder

Sitting on his chest

He dreams of his mother calling

Her form in his mind’s eye

Listening to the calls that do not

Reach the ears

His disturbed mind ruminating

 

How tough it is

For the traveller,

who was upset, disturbed

And lost!

 

That was the end of his life!

The owls screamed in the dark

Rain stopped, giving way to a

Streak of lightning in the sky!

The roosters heralded a new morning!

One comet mocked from the

Clear sky

The clear wind plays

With the traveller’s corpse!

The mother woke up

From a nightmare, her stomach churning! (18-5-1934)

 

An Old Beggar Woman

By the roadside, under a tree

Like the coals that have gone cold

Sat one old woman,

Groaning, and annoyed with the

Flies that surrounded her!

 

Her head is like one covered with lime

Wrinkled body

Eyes pale and lightless

A corpse seemed better!

 

She was laid up with disease

Not in a position to even beg

Winter was going to set in

A hapless old destitute woman was she!

 

Growing old, with her joints in disarray

Losing hope all, for future

Like a boulder on the roadside

She was lying there, on the roadside.

 

“If that granny dies,

whose fault is it?”

The mad winds moved on

Asking the question.

 

The dog did not reply,

Chewing a piece of bone.

One while pushing a fly off its course

Did not say anything!

Darkness engulfed

Dust rose up suddenly

One used up leaf[10] claimed

“It is not my fault”