The
Midas Touch
The
painter in the east was in a fiery mood today.
Splashing
fire – red and yellow,
sprinkling
the Zabarwan Hills with golden lentils,
filtering through the pine trees,
falling
on the weeping willows,
and
on the pristine white fur of the back of a lost baby goat,
bleating piteously for its mother.
In the gold- splattered Dal Lake,
the
old boatman rowed his boat
singing
a melancholic song,
his
cap fringed in gold.
The
Night
Jaws
clenched, eyes bloodshot,
the
night could not sleep, tense.
It
had the look of a drunk with a hangover.
Cowering
in fright, the insomniac night,
plodded
towards me, in a somnambulistic trance, lackluster.
It
peeped through the window [or was it I who was peeping out?]
“Can’t
you sleep?” it asked me in a hushed whisper.
Tongue-
tied, I could not even lisp,
but
the empathetic night smiled,
looking
at the agonized expression on my face,
struck
an instant rapport with the darkness inside me,
and
put a soothing hand on my head.
I
nestled close to the night, the trees outside the window
rustled
a lullaby.
I
put my head in its lap, and slept.
The
demons crept out, spewing fire.
The
night also slept.
Nature
Can Be Vicious Too
Nature
can be vicious too , not just calm and serene
If
it deems fit , it can even throw a frenzied fit , mean ,
howling
in strenuous notes , bent on drowning
folks ,
uprooting
trees and submerging ships .
Under
its vile ministrations , the sea water
shoots out of the chasm
with an upwards twist, like some vicious
gorgon,
shaking
its grey matted locks,
frightening
away the flock of geese and gulls
The
storm rages on , unabated.
Nature
watches unfazed , as people choke by its
cruel lashes ,
flipping
, tripping , gripping them with airy
talons,
evoking defensive snarls from the watery chasms,
making
foam flakes fly about like frightened
feathered friends ,
scooping
up armfuls of watery crest ,
splintering
tarpaulins , knocking people off their feet ,
beating
a sinister retreat – thud- thud - thud…
delivering
blow after smashing blow , not going slow .
Not
going slow
Santosh
Bakaya
Dr Santosh Bakaya is an academician- poet- novelist - essayist and
Ted speaker , with many books to her
credit ; Ballad of Bapu, a poetic biography
of Mahatma Gandhi, [Vitasta publishers, 2015, Delhi] Where are the Lilacs?
[Peace poems, Authorspress, Delhi, 2016] Under the Apple Boughs [poems,
AuthorsPress Delhi, India, 2017 Flights from My Terrace, [essays, Authorspress Delhi, India, 2017]. A Skyful
of Balloons [ a novella , AuthorsPress , Delhi , India , 2018 ] Bring out the
Tall Tales – a collection of short stories in collaboration with Avijit Sarkar,
a writer - composer- artist -cartoonist from Sydney, Australia. [Authorspress
2019] Some books which she wrote as
Santosh Magazine : Three Mystery novellas for young adults: The mystery of the
Relic [Indica Publishers, Delhi] She
translated this book in Hindi, adapting it for the stage and it won many
laurels as a stage play on terrorism. The Mystery of Jhalana Fort [Indica
Publishers, Delhi] The Mystery of the Pine cottage [Yak Publishers, 2010, Jammu
and Kashmir]