The Emergent

 

I left her, a seed

When I turned back

I saw, she had turned a tree

For how long had I

Not looked at her

Turned into myself

Crying over each grief?

For, when I turned back

She had turned a tree

I had left her, a seed!

Where I had grown thorns

She had leaves

And them, she had put on branches

They would provide shade

From the blaze and the fury of the drops

Which had once torn her apart

Grown she had

But did I see fear, lurking

In her eyes, transfixed on the horizon far

For there brewed a storm

Whose winds could bring her down,

She was worried for the nests

And those who took her shade

She was worried for herself,

Her flowers may not live to bear fruits

I have grown she said

Sensing my wandering thoughts

But each storm is different

I hope I stand this out

I left her, her eyes

Transfixed on the horizon far

For where the storm brewed

Was also where her sun would rise!

I left, firm in belief,

She would stand this one out!

Possessed!

An Idea once inside the head

Will not get out

No, it will not go the way it came

It will want to be acted out!

It may bring you fame

Or put you to shame

There is nothing one can do about that!

For an idea once inside the head

Will want to be acted out!

Is there nothing one can do about that?

Punya Koti

The thought of calf

Brought Punya Koti back in time

In the darkness of the jungle

Dangers abound

Punya Koti began its lonesome journey

Homeward bound

The calf’s cry, the flying time

Getting home was the thing on mind

A lonesome cow

A tiger on prowl

The cow the tiger did sight

The cow the tiger did fight

The calf’s hunger, the ferocious teeth

The ferocious growl, the hunger cry

The lonely cow did try

With my calf I need to be

Oh, cries of hunger call me home

Oh, please let me go

To the hunger pangs I must heed

I promise I shall come back

For now I must be homeward bound

To its calf the cow did go

The calf pleaded “must you go?”

I must, a promise needs to be kept

Oh, I pray to you please let me go

I must, for a hunger awaits me

To the hunger pangs I must heed

Leaving its calf to the cows

Punya Koti began its journey

This time it was towards the jungle forlorn

In the forest the tiger lay

Cursing itself

For it was long that the cow had gone

Would it walk back to its death?

In the forest the tiger lay

Cursing itself for being tricked

A cow it did see

Walking back

Slow and steady in its track

The cow definitely needed a head check

For it indeed had walked back to its death

Oh do I kill the cow so?

Is it unto me to kill you so?

Beyond the last turn

That the cow took

A great death it did behold

For in the track lay the tiger cold

Oh, this sin I cannot take upon my soul

Punya Koti may your name be told!

[Punya- virtuous deed; Koti-  A Crore

(One deed equivalent to a crore virtuous deeds)

This is a Kannada folklore, I heard as a kid. It is usually recited as a poem interspersed with elaborations by the reciter. This has been written from memory and obviously enough, it has turned out  inferior to the original one :)]

Salt

You ask me if salt is good

I say let’s ask the pickled food

The muscle might want to share its thoughts

You ask me if the knife is good

I placed the surgeon’s knife

near the butcher’s knife

Butcher’s knife frowned back on me

I cut that’s my job said the knife to me

Blame the fellow who used me

I cut said the butcher to me

Ask the people who buy from me

My thoughts turned to the murdered souls

No, not the ones who were cut for food

Why was the knife used for murder so?

You ask me if the knife is good

I leave you with a knife that killed for good!

You ask me if salt is good

The pickle and the muscle might agree not

The sugar says forget me not!

And so flows the stream..

I want to be a stream

Flowing through the forest

Doing my own feat

I want to be a stream

Like I used to be

Skipping along rocks

And jumping down depths

Running along meeting new friends

Raising a din

Dashing along to meet the ocean deep!

All I want is to be a little stream

But people won’t let me be

They twist and turn me around

They push me into rivers and

Onto turbines great

When all I want to be

Is a stream doing its own feat

They make me run swift

Where I want to run smooth

And stop me where I want to run

I push and push trying to stay alive

When I succeed I find I caused a many to die

Lost I am, shamed are my ways

I cease to push I cease to live

Cursed am I forever?

Greatness never desired, destructions never sought

I meet at every nook

Soiled am I, never to know myself again

Roots call me, chide me for the ways I have been

See what you desired and what lies at your feet?

Will I ever be able to explain?

They were not mine

Nor the river’s, does it matter

It was not the river I was supposed to meet

It was not the river I was supposed to lead you to meet

Were not mine and your desires just the same?

I belong to you I cry in vain

You are the river they say, tell us your name

Will I be able to explain?

I am like the river but not the same

I am one with river but never the same

They took away my name

You are the river they said

No I am not cried I in vain

Will I ever be able to explain?

The river that I do not belong

Tries to take me along

The more it tries the more I feel

The tug behind

I do not want to go

I want to stay behind

I know where I belong

Will I ever be able to explain?

I am somewhere I was never meant to be

I am someone I was never meant to be

Distant memories call me home

I want to go where I belong

I want to be where I belong

When the river meets the ocean

I dread, my dreams to be

Will be shred

For lost will be the river

Myself and all

In the ocean will I be my own?

In the ocean will I be lost forever?

Will I meet my own?

For now, all I know is

I want to be a stream

I want to be like I used to be

When all I wanted to be

Was a little stream-

A little stream with its own dream!