“Unfading Beauty” and “Mass Exodus: Back and Forth,” Two Poems by Bhaskaranand Jha Bhaskar

1.UNFADING BEAUTY

 

Almost withered, the lean, leafless flower 

Smiles in half of twigless green

Like an aged woman

Banished from the heaven of beauty–

 

Smiling as a gesture to shower, in vain,

The sprinkles of youthfulness of expired skin,

Rusting in ageing bony pits 

As if left in lurch like an exploded balloon!

 

Smiling in hope of regaining the lost world 

Or painting the little beauty 

In the hues of joy and happiness

To replicate those young budding days.

 

So what if lights of the day bruise the skin

In the flickering twilight of life

The beauty of life ever glows with hopes

Even if darkness folds it in its nighty gown. 

 

2. MASS EXODUS: BACK AND FORTH

 

Millions of legs, tight and stout, step out 

Of their weak doorsteps

With their empty but mighty hands;

They never shirk working anywhere,

In any way, or so many ways

In any circumstances

Melting even Dallol, the hottest

With their cool-mindedness

Or heating even Oymyakon, the coldest 

With their hot blood.

They leave no stone unturned

Even for meagre means or daily wages

Just to quench the flaring fire in their belly, 

All stuck to the bony back

With parched tongues never seen by others. 

 

Days and nights matter not!

Far from the trajectory of joy and pleasure

They, remaining stoic, keep working

Untagged from their safety and security, 

Losing all stately tags and badges 

Forgetting their own true identity 

As human beings!

How strange! Even dogs get a better treat

In the land they till and toil. 

 

Sorry state of affairs!

Where human chains get loose or broken

By iron or golden rods of high-handedness

Pathetic! Apartheid rules the roost 

In other way round

Maybe sound to some affluent insane

Flaunting their power or fear

Against mute, dumb, numb, homeless bodies.

 

Forced and scared! Fleeing legs head back

Back to the hell—

The beehive of evil and suffering,

Yet protected from the volley of abusing stones 

Hurled on their faceless faces

Dreadfully defaced in the new valley of violence.

Let their conscience be hurt and bruised today

For tomorrow their heart hurt and mind wounded 

Are sure to discover a healing balm

For their long rusty blues–

Under their own bright and blue sky

With the green bed spread out 

Resolving the conflicts between hands and mouths.

It is better to find the ground under the feet

Than build the sky over the heads

As Milton’s Satan was right to say-

“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”.

 

–Bhaskaranand Jha Bhaskar

 

Bio of the poet: Bhaskaranand Jha Bhaskar is a trilingual poet (Maithili, Hindi and English), short story writer, critic and reviewer. Regularly published in various national and international magazines, both printed and online he has to his credit three collections of poems in English: Soothing Serenades: Straight From the Heart (2018), Two Indias and Other Poems (2019) and Thoughts in Solitude (2020). One of his poems on Nelson Mandela is included in the academic syllabus prescribed for the school students of Philippines. Besides, he is also a contributor to journals like The Criterion: An International Journal in English, IJML (International Journal On Multicultural Literature), The Anvil (Forum of Literature & Academic Research in English) and Harvests of New Millennium, The Interiors, Taj Mahal Review, IJES (The Indian Journal of English Studies). He is also a part of several anthologies like ‘Epitaphs’, ‘Purple Hues”, “Whispering Winds”, “Just For You, My Love”, “Heavenly Hymns”, ‘I Am a Woman”, “The Significant Anthology”, “Umbilical Cords”, “A- Divine-Madness” (Five Volumes), “Poetic Prism” – 2015 & 16, “Searching For Sublime” (Australian-Indo Poetry), “She the Shakti”, “Whispering Heart”, etc. He is also the Review Editor of Asian Signature, a literary e-journal, managed from Kolkata.