SELECTED POEMS : 3

SELECTED POEMS OF DR. MAHENDRA BHATNAGAR — 3

Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar

Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar’s is one of the significant post-independence voices in Hindi and Indian English poetry, expressing the lyricism and pathos, aspirations and yearnings of the modern Indian intellect. Rooted deep into the Indian soil, his poems reflect not only the moods of a poet but of a complex age.

Born : 26 June 1926: Jhansi (U.P.), Edu. : M.A. (1948), Ph.D. (1957) from Nagpur University; Retd. Professor.Several volumes of poetry in English and other languages are published, viz.
In French ‘A MODERN INDIAN POET : Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar : UN POÈTE INDIEN ET MODERNE;
In English  Forty Poems of Mahendra Bhatnagar  After The Forty Poems  Exuberance and other poems  Dr.Mahendra Bhatnagar’s Poetry  Death Perception : Life Perception  Passion and Compassion  Poems : For A Better World  A Handful of Light  Lyric-Lute. etc. Poems are translated in most of the Indian languages.

Published research & critical studies :
(1) Living Through Challenges : A Study of Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar’s Poetry
(2) Poet Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar : His Mind And Art.

Adviser — ‘POETCRIT’. At present — Research Guide in many Indian Universities.

Contact : 110 BalwantNagar, Gandhi Road,
Gwalior — 474 002 (M.P.) INDIA
Phone : 0751-4092908/ M - 098934 09793
E-Mail : drmahendrabh@rediffmail.com

Appealing Poetry
– Dr. Narendra Sharma ‘Kusum’

Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar has a large corpus of writings to his credit. His prolific literary output has a wide range. While going through his poems one cannot miss the fact that the poet is endowed with an extraordinary poetic sensibility coupled with a high degree of poetic craft. His poetry does not seem to be a laboured one : it is marvelously spontaneous. It appears to have come to him as naturally as leaves come to a tree. He exudes poetry as a flower exudes fragrance. There is an uninterrupted flow of emotions and feelings cast in an inimitable poetic mould, which not only delights the reader but also enthralls him for a moment. The poems like ‘To My Pen’, ‘Faith’, ‘Sing’, ‘Cyclical Occurrences’, ‘ Recognize You Can’t’ and a few others bear out my opinion :
O Pen mine!
Move on the canvas of time
So as
Fear-lorn shredded world
Is built up anew!
× × ×
O Pen mine! Move -
To the asleep
Harbinger the rising sun!
And to the stranded
Make path newly lighted!
(‘To My Pen’)
Water
Water with dedication of the core within,
Maybe, breaking rocks some where
New sprouts sprang up,
The womb of earth barren
Were vibrant with life new!
Water,
Each land has warmth
Each land is issue-oriented!
(‘Faith’)
Sing, so that life a lyric became!
Sing, so that each particle a friend became!
Sing, that defeat victory become!
Sing, so that suffering music became!
(‘Sing’)
We wished not
Those sweet melodies
Of this abode
Be silenced
On this land
Some one
Poisonous seeds
Of hatred, revenge and violence
Sowed!
× × × ×
But
All undesired
Went on happening before us;
And we
Could only see,
All before us
Successively
All battered, shattered, demolished!
(‘Cyclical Occurrences’)
Thus passes away life
With just
Pitiable world of
Even routine, monotony!

Rare -
Music cadence
Sounds thrilling
Joy fragrant
Love rainbow-like!
(‘Recognize You Can’t’)
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar has a vast canvas and as such his poetry embraces varied experiences of life marked by various moods and emotional states. He perceives life in all its facts and forms and transforms it into a thing of beauty, which is undoubtedly a joy forever, to use the oft-quoted phrase. Though unrhymed, except a few, the poems are distinguished by a natural rhythm, music and cadence. At times there is gloom, anguish and melancholy in these poems but the ultimate voice is the voice of optimism, strength, universal brotherhood, love, national fervour and humanism. He mostly uses traditional imagery but he is equally well versed in the modern poetic idiom. This gives an added dimension to his poetic art. Objectively speaking, his poetry has an enduring quality, which is a rare attribute of a poet.
As to the English rendering of these poems, one may like to observe that the translators have very ably approximated to the poet’s perception and its transformation into an excellent poetic form. Despite various ingrained limitations of the process of translation, the translators have succes1sfully attempted to give us the taste of the original poems. It is needless to reiterate that all poetry defies translation because it is very hard to translate the soul. At the best, we may only catch the reflection of the soul, which may enable us to have a kind of vicarious experience, that too in a limited measure.
In my final estimate, I should like to observe that Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar’s Hindi poetry deserves wide reception and audience by virtue of its intrinsic worth equally evident in its translated form in English.

 


(1) TO MY PEN

O Pen mine !
Move on the canvas of time
So as
Fear-lorn shredded world
Is built up anew !

Dismantled, skeletal, dismayed
Man’s dried up veins
Are infused with life-blood !

O Pen mine ! move -
To the asleep
Harbinger the rising sun !
And to the stranded
Make path newly lighted !

To the caravan
That is restless, bent up under sands,
To it give ever ascendant
New vigour !

To the scared
Give unshaken faith !
Light up face in tears
With silvery laugh !

O Pen mine ! move —
That the atrocious world’s
Strong iron-fetters are all shattered,
And culture-civilization statues all
From the tyrants’ deadly cruel clutches
Are freed for good !

On debris
Give new creation clarion call,
Give to each person’s throat
A forceful dulcet song of toil!

In every heart
Fill love-ocean,
To the bedimmed eye
Give light in every family!



(2) DESTRUCTION PLAY
(On the blast of Hydrogen bomb)

In the hands of dollar-drunk man
There is the hydrogen bomb,
Beware ! O makers of a new order,
Beware ! O aspirers for the age of populace,
Beware ! equality, peace, justice-loving Man !

This so-called custodian of humanity
Lately, with hydrogen-bomb
Has played on Bikini island,
Poisonous smoke of which
Has covered the Pacific Ocean
thro’ and thro’!

This is that very supporter of democracy
That on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Blasted atom-bombs,
That stamping on the Japanese people
Unbecoming dirges had sung,
That on humanity’s fertile fields
Had raised leprosy,
That all around
Fire-fumes had poured !

That very, today again
Powers of Hydrogen-bomb measures!
For singing unbecoming dirges
Mouth opens!
With the initial velocity of which
Man’s planet in the ether swings !

O life-architects, beware !
Dreamers of happiness-dreams, beware !
Lovers of smiles, beware !

 



(3) FAITH

Water !
Water each particle !
Give water to each dry plant,
To broken uprooted shrubs
Give renewed vigour
Fluent flow to grow again and again !
Give water to each dry plant !
Give naked branches
Ornaments of dew-drop pearls,
To ever barren land
Give water-embrace
Give cool embrace!

Maybe, under deep - deep layers
Life lay asleep,
Lost in the by lanes of murkiness
Water
Water with dedication of the core within,
Maybe, breaking rocks some where
New sprouts sprang up,
The womb of earth barren
Were vibrant with life new !
Water,
Water each particle !
Each land has warmth
Each land is issue-oriented !


(4) MAN AND DREAM

Man’s love of dreams
Is eternal !

Even facing death
He, rapt, dreams on !
As if,
Dreaming
Were life’s emblem ;
Were a tale of Yama’s1 defeat !

Dreams to man
Give smile and eagerness,
Give him tears and sighs !

Filling heart with moonlit-tide,
Creating craving for living,
To autumn
Colourful scenes of spring
A fresh present give !
Victory laurels, give !

Cherish gift of dream
costly !
God-gift bestowed
Deck it in eyelids
Day and night !
The term ‘Dreamer’
Is definition of being ‘Human’,
Of movement and progress
Inspiration-fount ;
In trouble-sea
Of world-boat
A mighty rudder !

Glorious most beautiful attribute.
Dream-craving and attraction
Is eternal, is eternal !
Love of man for dreams
Is eternal !

1 God dispensing death in Indian mythology.

(5) LIFE

Our life
Like a Harsingar2 flower
That blooms today
Shall tomorrow shed!

As such,
Each moment rare
Be full of
Merry-making,
Of honey-love !
May each heart ceaseless swing
With overflowing tide of raptures !

One day,
At last
Each shining ray
Shall flicker away ....
And
On all sides
Sheer
Pitch-darkness shall prevail !

Our life
Like a Harsingar1 flower
That blooms today
Shall tomorrow shed !

Close not
The lip-doors
On glowing milky smile,
Be there no restraint
On life-song
Being played on breath-veena2!

One day
Everything shall fly;
To return no more !

Our life
Like a Harsingar flower
That blooms today
Shall tomorrow shed!

1 A famous flower (Parijat) 2 Indian lute,lyre.

(6) RETALIATION

O heart !
Respond
The world’s bitter bite
With tune-gladdened
Nectar-fragrant breath !

Acceptable -
On life-path ...
Pang of each disregard
With calm bright laugh !

Worth receiving -
Clouds of darkness
At door,
With golden rays
Of doubt-free hope !

Worship able -
Thunderbolt god
With the music of heart,
With love outburst
With sportive love-dance!

O heart !
Respond
The world’s cruel fraud
With loving feeling,
With faith !


(7) BREAK NOT

O heart wounded,
Break not !
Bear calamity’s dire hammer-stroke !
In blazing
Mighty cauldrons of pain
Constant calmly burn !

Alone
In the bubbling river of whirl pooling poisonous
hot-currents
Non-stop, unyielding flow !

Slighted heart,
Break not !
Dark and dusky clouds,
Strong noisy winds ....!
Fiery waving,
Pent up stunned atmosphere !
Cruel,
As though presently, there were
Yea, presently,
Ram1,
Sita2-kidnapping !

O heart !
Break not !

Not distant any more
New coming morn,
Might it not be
By dry, sad, pathetic, black shadow
eclipsed !

Smiling
March on,
O heart !
To make reconciliation meaningful,
New undawned Morn,
Close by !

1 The incarnation of god Vishnu. Eldest son of Kaushiliya-Darshrath. 2 Wife of Lord Ram; daughter of Janak, king of Mithila.

(8) RECOGNISE YOU CAN’T

Even routine, monotony
That is what life means,
As though poisonous serpents entwined
Were the sandalwood tree !

Morning comes
With troublesome rays of depression,
With flared up suns of wants
Having troubled unsuccessful rays,
Body slack, languorous, wounded
Unattached, wraith-like mind, slack,
Bygone, mangled

Day, cripple-like, trembling
Riding dismantled chariot
From wilderness listless
Bearing pain unbearable, unending
When evening, in night’s cave
Is sunk
You will not realise
How bored accursed life feels!

Night comes
As though cruel mirage
Embodied as bride were
From colourful, shot-silk
Dream-curtains
The newly-wed peeping
Gifts of biting swindling
In arms just drops !
Untouched feelings, like fluid waves
Dashing against a hard rock
Bring a flood-tide of pain !

Thus passes away life
With just
Pitiable world of
even routine, monotony !

Rare -
Music cadence
Sounds thrilling
Joy fragrant
Love rainbow-like ! 


(9) NIGHT SHALL PASS AWAY

Darkness
Night is inveterate
Night is deaf !

Exhorted [heart] passionately
To sleep!
O heart
Tired sad heart
Defeated in the game of life
Misfortune-stricken
O heart destitute
Sleep !

Night is for sleep
Dreams to cherish
For moments few
Existence is for being non-existent
Starletful this night
Is for lying in bed with fairies
Sleep !

There is pain
And desolate night is cold extremely !
Life no more is mine,
There remains no dream any longer to realise!

Night ....
To keep awake is

.... In cauldrons of restlessnesses
For smouldering again and again !

Night ....
Night deep
Night deaf
We spent
Keeping awake !

This same shall morrow see
Darkness will descend
Calm
Slow
Dead slow
Shroud-like
Darkness shall descend again !

O heart
For keeping awake
All silently
Close your eyes
To smoulder inside
Life-long ashes keep !

Night
Black night
Shall pass away .... shall pass away !


(10) AGAIN, AFTER AGES ….

After ages,
All of a sudden isn’t you?
Lost in the world of dreams
Head, pillowed on arm
On the berth, you sleep !

Won’t you wake up?
My journey’s almost done .... !
Open your eyes
Open your eyes,
Utter not a single word
to me, tho’
Have a look at me
And then
Feign sleep again.

After ages,
Now again
Getting new colour and sap fresh
Will bloom
Sun-withered flower !

After days numberless
Suddenly, so you are !!


(11) SING

Sing; so that life a lyric may become !

Man is helpless at each step,
Each silvery love-dream is shattered,
Sunken in sea of tears
The sun of hope is far, far away,
Sing, so that each particle a
friend may become !

Surrounded on all sides is darkness dense
Hurt is each heart, full of pain,
Shall mute cover of troubles life-long
For ever remain thus overhead?
Sing, that defeat victory may become !

Breath is overcast with helplessness-suffocation,
Smouldering is life smarting-burning fed,
Full of poisonous dense-dust particles
Is sky of man’s wishes,
Sing, so that suffering a music may become !




(12) MOSQUITOES’ MUSIC!
[An irony on the Experimentalist Poetry]


At the fall of night every day
The chorus of otherwise dumb mosquitoes countless
Resounds and resonates the room !

Having not the least
Grandeur of feeling and imagination
Blowing merely
Buzz, buzz, buzz !

Driving away slumber
What lullaby is this ?
What symphony is this ?

Better it were
D.D.T.1
Sprinkled on them
Swish-swish, swish-swirl, swish-swish !


1 Abbreviation for dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) a colourless chemical that kills insects.


(13) NEW BHARAT

Amidst strifes’ flames
Sportively,
Songs of new creations
On cords of ecstasies
Sings one and sing all !
Bharat
Her dreams realises !

With intentions strong-willed
Toils each man - each woman,
Steel from Bhilai1 shall overflow
And each flower-bed will sway to and fro !

Changed is each and every particle of Bharat,
Changed is the very life-style of Bharat !

Fled have shadows of dumb depression
Suns of raptures have come up
Dejected oppressed from ages
Withered faces are radiant !

Now lies misfortune buried,
Now is the sky liberated !

Buds that pined for bloom
In overladen mango-groves
The innocent cuckoo, that
Couldn’t pour out its heart in wistful songs,
Henceforth —
What a season greets each courtyard
Buds dance
Cuckoo sings pleasant songs !

Life has fresh thrills,
Like sandal-wood, buoyant bubbles
are spattered !

Furious Chambal2
Laughs-babbles
In arms of dams
Like a damsel
Enfolds herself !

Lo ! from Indian Ocean
A cloud sprang up,
Dressed in sari3 green
The Earth waved its veil !

Life-seeds new
Now Bharat sows,
To the welfare of mankind
Devoted is Bharat !

1 A town in Chhattisgarh province; the site of a famous steel-plant. 2 A river in northern India. 3 Length of cloth worn by Indian women.



(14) ASIA

Organised, striving, the whole Asia new
Awakened, enlightened each man of Asia
From the clutches of imperialism is now being freed
Having civilisation-literature-culture-wealth-grandeur Asia !

The lamp of China-Bharat amity in all hearts is lit
Which this era with love flame illuminates
Situated in valleys, inaccessible mountains, forests and deserts
Made each village-community a gods’-habitat !

With strong security sense, on foundation of Panchshila
With head raised sky-high, stands unshaken uniting all
With peace, with co-operation, non-stop up to its destination !
To be true, the caravan of new age architects shall reach.

No more shall the dream of man’s love shatter
And confidence of his victory shall grow and grow
No more shall the ruler of tears snatch away
From women-inmates melody-tunes of
shrawan-song!22

22 Songs (mostly folk) sung in Shrawan, one of the 12 months in Vikram calender, a rainy month.



n

(15) HINDRANCES
ARE CHALLENGE

Hindrances —
Leave us not desperate,
Every moment makes us
Energy conscious !
In confrontation with difficulties
Legs
Waver not,
Instead
Having electric wings
Measure the earth-sky expanse !

Hindrances
‘Terrible, insurmountable, invincible’-
It is sheer nonsense !

Hindrances -
Dependent make us not,
Hindrances -
Make us not in the least miserable
Unlaborious.

They evoke
All latent capabilities inert
Neither fear nor helplessness remains!

Lightning flashes in mighty body
New resolutions rise in mind !

Hindrances : challenges are
To accept them -
Synonym :
Of humanity-greatness !
To accept these -
Clarion call :
Of life’s transcendental force eternal !
To accept these -
Cognizance
Of the prowess of man
Magnanimous, ever moving !
To accept these -
Feel :
Of tireless toil
Long familiar
Human history-evidenced !
Hindrances -
Never leave dismayed
Hindrance-killers !
They make
Beliefs even more firm.
Intelligence
Confronting the difficult
Is never defiled,
Instead
Full of emergent urge
Sharper it becomes !
Each hindrance
Shall be feeble,
Destroyed
Shall in the void vanish !


(16) MY COUNTRY

In all directions
Beyond hope
Taking progressive long strides,
Taking ‘Vaman-steps’1,
My Country
Constantly on and on, goes non-stop !

Of a global man perfect,
Of a happy, well cultured rejuvenated man
Round the clock chisels
Icon!
My country
Constantly on and on, goes non-stop !

Ever wary
Of ideals great ,
Of reason-tested
Beliefs !

My Country
Amidst all nations
Of lots of co-operation and mutual welfare,
Lays
Foundations strong!
Darkness shrouded
A great many horizons
Illuminates!
Giving amity definitions new !
Unfamiliar
Numerous paths
Of equity
Inaugurates !

It has battered all
Distinctions of ethnicities and colour,
And of breeds and creeds.

In the real sense of the term
My Country
Man’s glory
Establishes top-most !
Human grandeur
As good as dead
In all hearts
It resurrects !

My Country
To begin with :
Owns
Nations with government systems diverse !
Proposition non-pareil
Of peace and love
Resonating the world over
Faith-abiding
It makes humanity
Scorched with fires of wars horrendous !
Piercing thro’ dense fog
Of doubts
She raises suns
In the sky
Of devotion and dedication !

Ascending
Stairs of progress
My Country,
Constantly
Variedly
Marching
My Country !
Pledged is -
To annihilate inequality,
To drive poverty !
To take salutary
‘Ganga’2 to every house and home !
To bloom blossoms of smiles
On the lips,
To make life
Worth living !

1 Long steps of Vaman — one of the several incarnations of god Vishnu; in Indian mythology; though a dwarf he covered the whole earth in three strides. 2 A famous holy river in northern India.

(17) OR ELSE

If
In country mine
Persons as Gandhi and Nehru
Had not taken birth
Then -
Clamps of beastliness
Round our hands and feet
Would have been fastened !

Here
There
Everywhere
Death-dealers would have been living!

We
That today
Advance apace,
To new strong and beautiful Bharat
Unbent like steel
Give shape,
Emitting
Rays of new enlightenment
Waging war
Against darkness ignorance -
Should have been bogged
Knee-deep
In quagmire of communalism,
We all
Should have been defiled,
Should boundless
Have been narrow-minded !
All our dreams of unity
Would shatter,
Supporters of jungle law
Would plunder
All prosperity !


(18) OUR AMBIENCE

In my country
O ye crores of the oppressed!
Ye
Are not rid of
Foot-paths still,
Swimming
In the sea of boiling blood
Got not the shore !

Even in this eighth decade
Of twentieth century
Overhead yours
Is the open sky
Beneath
Is the bare earth !

Desolate looks
Cold sighs !

Crippled helplessness
Winter, rain, storm !

In the mouths of
Rotund and fat
Khadi-clad
Evil character
Businessmen-capitalists
House-owners, colonialists
Pleader-leaders
As before
Abides - ‘Gandhi’

In bungalows and palatial buildings
On walls
Is hung Gandhi !
(Or on the gibbet is suspended Gandhi !)

Of manoeuvred brain
Ill-tempered
These ‘destiny-makers’ of new India
In ‘Ambassadors’1
Blowing dust
Spitting on the oppressed
Trampling on humanity
Loiter carefree
Those desirous of petty conveniences
Touch their feet!2

Amazed is my whole generation
How dishonest leadership is !

1 (here) Name of a car. 2 A highly respectable Indian mode of salutation.

(19) ONCE AND ONCE, ONLY

Loving wandering eyes two
Should see me -
Once and once,
Only !

Two
Love-shaken hands
Should take hold of me -
Once and once,
Only !

Serpentine arms two
Should enfold me -
Once and once,
Only !

Two
Inflamed blazing lips
Should kiss me -
Once and once,
Only !


(20) TOUCHSTONE

Were some sweet-scented
Warm-ray of love
To touch
Me -
Wax I am !

Were some ‘Mugdha’1
Chakori2
Innocent
Impatient
Stray
Eyes two
Glanced
Me —
Moon I am !

1 Straight-forward youthful girl. 2 Red-legged partridge. According to the poetic lore, ‘chakori’ loves the moon.

(21) EPITAPH

None is for you
None is for anybody
The world utterly selfish is !

At our death -
Someone being aggrieved should
Sing pathetic songs
And shed tears
In sweet memory
(Lifelong !)
Light tearful life-lamp,
To think thus -
Is disease sheer
The world is very selfish !

Give not yourself
In vain
So much importance
Should understand
Due -
Being disillusioned -
Significance
Of self-existence,
No harm in it there is !
Whilst
The world is all selfish !


(22) MISUNDERSTANDINGS

To our reciprocal bonds
To our prosperous ever-growing relationships
To our closeness and intimacy
Misunderstanding
Often shakes violently
Shatters
Us opposite each other
Turns !

The past of our amity
False, meaningless becomes
The history of our goodwill
Having proved a mere farce
All the past happenings
In the background of unimagined strange contexts
Establishes !

We
Convinced of the otherwise
Explanation of truth
To change
Are compelled,

In darkness
In deeper darkness
In still deeper darkness
We are lost !

Misunderstanding —

The implication of human faith
Constantly tramples,
One and many misunderstandings
Constantly making hollow
Absorb
Sap of life !
Falling a prey misunderstandings
Really
A curse is,
To suffer misunderstandings
again and again
Really
An acute curse-fever trouble is !
Who knows, as a result of which curses
I have got
Gifts of misunderstandings,
Gifts of false charges and scandals
Aplenty,
Carrying which on life’s back
I wander !
The bundle of misunderstandings
In its bulk
Still will how much bigger grow?
The gusto of my life
How longer shall it check?
Should I breach all relationships?
This burden of misunderstandings
All at once should throw away?
Free from worry
Of the individual and society
Should adjoin life with lifeless matter
Should I compassion strangle ?


(23) FRAGMENTED
PERSONALITY

In childhood
If somebody —
Saw not
With affectionate looks

With craving
And caressed not
Hugging
With vatsal1 feeling
Then a man’s personality
Does definitely
Crack!

In youth
If one couldn’t
Get some
Beloved
Partner’s
Love :
Unfraudulent
Undivided
Unshaken !
Life -
Dry
Burdensome
Sheer desert
Lust-born!
Then that man’s personality
Inside and outside
Certainly
Cracks !

If-
Being old
Is not heard
Speech reverential-honourable,
None is willing to hear
The tale of self-experience

Dumb
At this last step
Man’s personality
Really,
Creaks
For ever breaks !

1 Affectionate.

(24) TUG OF WAR

For years have I not seen
Sunrise,
Sunset !

The sky full of the moon and stars,
I have not seen,
For years, have not seen !

Buds bursting
Flowers fragrance-exhaling
Frantically dancing
On twigs,
Kissing
Butterflies and bees !
For years I have not seen !

For years I have not bathed in rains
Neither have I sung any song full-throatedly
Nor for years,

Have I seen
For a single moment
Mehndi1 -fragrant hands plump,
Dyed with Mahavar2
Jingling
Two - feet
Strayed
I have not seen
Ah, for years !
Somewhat to such an extent
Was I entangled
In life’s struggle -

Seeing,
Feeling,
As if not in the least
Were under control !

1 An evergreen shrub, its green leaves are used for dying hands and feet by women (excepting widows) invariably on the eve of marriage or other auspicious festive occasions. 2 An auspicious red-coloured liquid used by Indian ladies to decorate their feet.

(25) EXPLORATION

All this while :
How we lived —
We alone know !
How horrible was
The billowing-boiling-breaking
Overflow -
We alone know !

Signification :
Of life : of the world
Was mysterious
to-date
Now we
Know that well
Yea,
Very well
We know that !

Wrapping folds countless
Man
Now transparent is,

Inside and outside
We
Rightly
Quite rightly
Recognize him !
Come, let me -
The saga of
Panting, dying storm
Relate !

Striving against life on fire
The saga of man relate !


(26) INSISTENCE

Compel not
Man
So much that
Undergoing injustices -
Beast he became !

Or
Having borne the unending
Experiences of painful sufferings -
He collapsed
And a relic he became !
Compel not
Man
So much that
Life to him
Became
A sharp pricking
Ever oozing
Gangrene !

Compel not
Man
Thus -
To such an extent !


(27) WELL-WISHER

If evil wishes
Efficacious were,
Desolate
This world
Before long
Would have been !

It would have provoked
On each step
Man’s Durwasa-vanity1 !
Eternal
Fountain of love
In netherworld
Before long
Would have been lost !

Where are you
O pious Shakuntale2 !
Of curse
Live muddy reaction
Oh, where are you ?

1 A great Rishi of ancient India, notorious for his anger and his cursing nature. 2 Wife of Dushyant and mother of Bharat; the renowned heroine of Kalidas.

(28) A LONGING

Were it but once
That we
Felt ourselves risen to eminence;
Tho’
For moments a few.

Were it but once
That we might live
Life natural
Putting off the mask
of smile artificial,
Pining boundless is
Man
For hearty boisterous laughter !

Were it but once
Face to face
With the self’s expansion,
How narrow minded is
Man
Unfamiliar
With benevolence !

In darkness filled mind
Once at least
Lightning could flash,
How costly
Has become
Cost of light !
Only playing is
Each man
A jester’s role
Of a miser money-lender !

If only once we
Our dawarfishness
Our meanness
Could abandon
And could experience
Jubilation
Of getting on the summit !

If only once just once we
Though
For moments a few,
Had sensation
Of being atop !


(29) A POEM-PRAYER

Wedding man
With man,
Turning direction
Of brewing hurricanes
Of cruel violent passions,
Going forward
To break their horrific
Blind fury and on-rush
Poetry powerful
Is hymn, prayer it is !

Its voices
Freely reverberate in the skies
Its meanings
Be resounded
In innocent
Full of sweet melodies
In heart-passions ebullient !
May man love man
May all the world
His own family be !
Ours is this
Invaluable ideological inheritance !

Poem composed
In this transcendental mentality
Is hymn, prayer it is !


(30) GOURAIYA [Sparrow]

Gouraiya
Is obstinate great
Does aught of its will,
Gives little heed
To me !

Entering my room again and again
It chirps : it hops
I drive hither
It perches thither,
Not prepared at all
To go out !

At its will
In the sky
It flees instantly
At its will
Into my room
It flutters instantly !

To shut the doors and windows ?
To fix paste-boards cover on ventilations ?
But, how long should I shut
Even the doors and windows ?
How long shut out wind
From these ventilations ?

Gouraiya is adamant !
It, this time again,
In my room
Shall nestle,
Little nestlings
Shall breed,
To them
It shall give life ....feed !

I
Said and said to Gouraiya —
Man I am
Fear me
And flee away from my room !

But,
Wondrous is its faith
Afraid of me, it isn’t
Bringing straws one by one
It has piled up
In one corner of the ventilation !

No pile,
With each straw
It has constructed
Labour-room.

Surely, Gouraiya !
How skilled architect you are,
Experienced engineer you are !
This nest
Is your great artecraft
Built with co-operative
Beak and claws,

It is the outcome of your dedication!
What patience
You have, Gouraiya !
In this nest
It seems -
Life’s
Joys and jovialities
To congregate
Are impatient !

But;
This -
Decoration and cleanliness loving man
Civilized and well-cultured man
How shall he forbear, Gouraiya !
Your
Day after day rising-growing nest ?

One day he
Will throw it off
Into the dustbin !

Gouraiya !
It is man
A great lover of art, he is!
A connoisseur, he is!
On the walls of his room
Are hung your pictures
Pictures -
In which you are there,
Your nest is there,
Your playthings are there !
Gouraiya
Flit off,
Flit off from this room !
Or;
This man
Shall devastate your brood!
In an instant
Shall end up
The world of your dreams !

And you
Seeing all this
Can’t weep even !

Only -
Shall chirp,
Flit in and out,

Crazed
Deranged
Thirsty and hungry !


(31) ORDEAL

Black terrible night,
Storm
All around,
But,
Be ever lit -
Lamp ....
A jewel lamp
Of goodwill : of fellow-feeling !

Growing youth
Of the country
Shan’t go astray !
Luminous country’s
Awakened youth
Forgetting the Age’s end
Shan’t go astray
Not in the least ruined !

Wipe him off -
Who is taking recourse to violence,
Wipe him off -
Who in religion-frenzy
Is spreading hatred,
Ambushing
Shoots bullets
On wayfarers
On the guiltless !
To wipe off -
Who turned
A shrine !
Into a flared up gun-powder magazine!
From these intentions ill
Youth of the New age
Not in the least
Shall go astray !

No matter
Night were blacker still,
No matter
More fierce were
Cyclonic attacks,
But,
Of goodwill : of fellow-feeling
Stable lamp
A jewel lamp
Unshaken
Be ever lit !
Saintly life’s
Incessant devoted youth
Modern,
Shan’t go astray !

Though
Bolt-bearing cloudlets overcast,
Though
Violent storms came,
Lamp of goodwill
Lamp of righteous resolve
Being doubt-free
Non-stop
As usual
Be ever lit !
Not for an instant
Will be broken
Light-flow!
Being shaken,
Youth of the country
Shan’t go
Astray !
Destructive powers
Whenever emerged,
Humanity
Suppressed ’n’ crushed them
Every time!
Undying —
Victory confidence !
History is
Eye-witness !
Enkindled youth of the country
Shan’t go
Astray !
Conspiracies to breach
The unity
Shall fail,
We shall remain
One nation undivided
Mighty power !
Bear
Can’t we in any case
Against the country
Fraud ’n’ treachery / treason
Guilt !
My country’s
Science-enlightened youth
In dry wells
Shall never go astray !


(32) O HISTORY-CREATORS !

Without changing
Man’s destiny -
Man
That -
Is accursed
Is tortured
With life’s wants,

Man
That -
Hacked rebuked agitated afflicted
With torments, with tensions;

Without changing
That
Plagued man’s destiny
Without changing
The world’s image -

The world
That —
Full of violence,
Reprehensible,
Wicked, nude beastliness-ridden
Blood-besmeared
Rife with cruelty
Fatal arms-might pride-frenzied,
Without changing
The picture of that
Ill starred world;
O History-creators !
In pleasurable haunts
Sleep not, sleep not a wink !
Reluctant to struggle-strife
Be not, be not !

Without demolishing
The rampart of each division,
Without shattering
Shackles fettering legs,
O History-creators
Attainable by labour non-stop
Decisive winning chance
Hey, miss not, miss not !

Without changing
Man’s destiny,
Without changing
World’s image,
Sleep not, sleep not !


(33) SIGNIFICANT

Phenomena -
Must in some shape appear
After all take some form !
We reach at least
( Right or wrong )
At some conclusion
Some abode .... door
Some destination.

Thus in wilderness
How long shall we stray?
Thus in fire furnace
How long
Shall we sizzling, writhe?

Phenomena —
Must some shape take
Take some shape at long last !
Lines of contrivances
Defined or dim
Must some embodiment have
At long last, have some embodiment !
That we could know
Directions
Distances
Expanses !

Thoughts —
Abstract thoughts
Be concrete,
In depths of thought-sphere,
Be concrete this way or that
Abstract thoughts,
So that we could make up our minds,
And could dress
Them
In some language-format.

From this where or that
Some ray of light must shoot
Darkness must diffuse
And we from dry-well
Should come out
At least come out,

Phenomena -
Must assume some outline
Be exposed to wind and sunshine !
Phenomena -
Must some body-form assume !


(34) FREEDOM-SPREE (1)

It looks -
Altered a great deal !
Unfamiliar !
It looks -
Yoke borne from years
Is unharnessed all of a sudden !
For years -
From long narrow
Gravelled-stony
Undesired roads
Bearing heavy burden
On body, on mind
Passed and passed
Like an acrobat
Day after day
On one and the same pole
Climbed up and down !

Thanks -
Free I am now
Like the wind -
Can go anywhere,
Can fly, dance, sing !

Thanks -
I am all-free,
Like a wave !
When I please -
Can ripple - twist,
Lie on rocks
Jump from hills
Can slip on verdures
Run
Run breathlessly
Or
Stretch in a pond
Drop by drop scatter !

Free I am
Somewhat thus
As if
The door of cage
Opened all of a sudden
The parrot flapping wings
Should soar high in the sky
Amongst age-group co-mates mingle,
Should fondle with life-partner
Enfold it
Peck and kiss !
Whatever it pleased
And whenever
Should speak -
High or low
Agog or stealthily !

It looks -
Entwined serpent-traps of years
Were cut
Clouds of poisonous rains
Scattered off !

Now
On sandalwood trees
Will blossom musky-flowers
Mahua1-like
Flower clusters will appear !
What never happened
It seems -
Shall happen now

Because -
A lot
Looks
New
Changed !

1 A tree with orangish-pink edible flowers.

(35) FREEDOM-SPREE (2)

Now
Carefree shall I sleep
Carefree shall I walk
Upto the Janak-tal1 I walk,
No hurry shall there be
Shattered are shackles
All chains !

For hours shall I bathe,
Singing tuneful-tuneless
Songs numerous
Shall I bathe !

Where are
Mine
Recordings of ‘Pakiza’2 and of
Gitadatta2?
In night’s stillness
Shall play on them again and again
Hum now and then !

O plants of my orchard !
No complaint shall you now have,
I shall see to my heart’s fill
Shall water
Shall enfold ye in arms !

O Kaner4, Kachnar5, Guava tree !
Be sad no more
O Rajanigandha6 ! O Jasmine !
Feel frustrated no more,
Your smell
Will be felt in every pore,
Every breath as if
Flower-born were !

Even in deliberately
Shall I not trample ye
O mine orchard’s
Green grass !
I shall live nearby,
Shall lie on velvety body
Full of primitive urge,
With hands soft shall I caress
O lush texture !
Hey-Ho
Gay faced !

Every moment is ours,
Realised
The dream is !

1 A tank in Gwalior — a historical town of northern M.P. State. 2 Name of a famous Hindi flim. 3 A well-known playback cine-song female singer. 4 A plant of white, yellow and red flowers. 5 A tree, its leaves and flowers are used as medicine & buds used as vegetable. 6 (Tuberose) A flowery plant blossoming at fall of night emanating sweet smell.

(36) REALITY

Life was a longing, but a yoke cumbersome became
Life was a firmament, but a well dry became
Fancy-formulated, feelings full, beauteous form
Life was an amatory ode (Gazal), being distracted a curse became !


(37) HELPLESSNESS

Thrust upon, undesired life, I lived
Every instant, every step, shame I lived
History, now you ask me what
Folly and dirtiness of the world, I lived !


(38) SELF-BEGUILE

Reality we concealed; life-long
Lies we told as truths; life-long
Related self-experience, as a tale
Went on humming in pain; life-long !


(39) ‘DESIRE-FULFILLED’

Hey, Ho ! What an applause I got,
Life-long only deep distress I got !
There remained a lot of wealth of pain
Sure enough, life burdensome I got!


(40) ANALYSIS

All debit
No credit
Life’s balance nil !

The remainders
Are thorns pointed
What we picked up
Are flowers colourless stale
In our possession
Lo ! dust
Dust and dust confineless !

On the way
On each turn
In or out
In market
At the hands of faith
Were ever plundered
From inmates
From outsiders
Ever
Under too sharp edged daggers
of treachery and fraud
With boundless simplicity
Oh, were being cut !

People’s
Created-weaved
Trickeries and machinations
Of all sorts
From their inferiorities and mean nesses
I much desired
To escape !

But
To see through
Blanketing gentlemanliness, civility
Put-on masks
Difficult
Too difficult
To understand
Designs
To escape their fraud !

There survives not
Any inheritance
Razed is -
The structure
That
With sweat of our brow we had built !


(41) A WISH : UNFULFILLED

I wish
This day
Avoiding
Life’s strugglesome strife
In a door-closed room
Slumbering I should pass !

For years countless
Being carefree, insentient
Feeling
Primordial lust and love
I slept not !

I wish
This day
Lying inactive inert still
In the art-gallery of the past
Being lost I should pass !

For years countless
On the ways of villages deserted
In arms of towns left
I strayed not !

I wish
This day
All promises, assignments, pledges
Forgetful -
In Gangetic billowy
Your remembrance-
Weeping I should pass !

For years
Countless
Confronting
Your face
I wept not !


(42) MORE OF STRUGGLE

The dream
To realise which -
A whole generation did
Struggle
Ceaseless struggle,
Life-sacrifice unreserved
That
Is come !

Left imprinted
Joy on each lip,
Shone summits - sublime !
Inflamed
In each individual’s conscience
Fire,
Novel gusto filling fire !

Sense bereft stricken country
Full of new vigour
Was awake,
Their dense desperation-darkness covered,
blackened guise
Directions changed,
Each person was in motion
Vibrant each atom !

To make helpless
Tyrannical unkind
Imperialistic Power
Beaming with new faith
Drew on time-tablet
The outline of which dream
That,
Ay, that was realised !

But then ...
Unexpected-sudden
An imminent / rumbling / tumbling all
Full of selfishness-lust
Earthquake
Demolished -
Toil-made
Sky-scrapers,
Dreams of peace and happiness
Of man tyrannised age after age!

So; again
Firm pledge we have to take,
Have to keep word,
Have to fill new colours
In dreams disfigured and dim,
Girding up our loins
We have to struggle hard again !

(43) INHUMAN

Today again
Faith is broken,
Today again
Bedimmed
Is the hope of life new !

Razed are
The fancy-palaces
on the verge of realization !
Swept are
Too fast retaliatory
Swelling tide
Gathered for ages
Splendid-life mountains of faiths !

Overcast today; again
Are clouds of doom,
The sun -
Of culture and civilization
Again is eclipsed,
Conspiracies beleaguered
This country of mine !
Today again
Is wounded to the core !

In every town is spread the smell
Of gunpowder, poisonous and fatal,
From combustibles
The earth is overlaid
Security-forts have fallen
And every rampart
Is demolished !

Racial jealousy born
Religious hatred spread
Regional-linguistic jealousy barked,
Dirty is environment!
Giant’s garb everywhere !

Breaths choked
Polluted air,
Poison-mixed water
Restless life !

(44) A PAGE FROM HISTORY

It is true -
Beleaguered are we
On all sides
On each step
In the Chakra-vyuhs1 of cannibals,
In piles
Of corpses and bones
Staggering we stand !

It is true -
Besieged are we
On all sides
On each step
In net laid far and wide
By cannibals
In their heinous moves
of treachery !

Fastening with gunpowder tunnels
Have made inactive
Our iron feet
Our mighty stout arms !
Filled with fatal poisonous smell
With foul smell
Winds from the directions four !

It is true -
Their cruel claws
Have suffocated throat
Have suppressed
Blazing blood-red lips
Make every injustice known !

Each nerve of brain
Is bound to burst out,
Astounded we are !

Cracked prowess
Existence / Ego of entity!

It is true that
Of aggressive-retaliatory powerful hands
As if capability agility were snatched
Neither do we challenge any more
Nor scream,
Voice strangulated
As if it were the sunset
Of hope, of movement, progress,
Of humanity, victory, confidence!

No more in our wit
Does the thundering quick lightning flash
Of revolutionary faiths and feelings
As if consciousness
Were inert like matter !

We were effortless / Are helpless
Are stupefied,
Are overpowered by excessive tiredness !

But
No more now
Shall stable remain
The course of violence and cruelty
Of man against man !

We take a pledge firm
To make sturdy strife
To come out of this plight !

1 Circular labyrinth strategic deployment of army.

(45) CYCLICAL OCCURRENCES

We wished not
That in golden-silvery azure sky
Of this home
Rained fire dense,
We wished not
That ignorant-innocent childhood
And immature simple youth
Of this abode
Longed passionately for love!

We wished not
That sweet melodies
Of this abode
Be silenced.
On this land
Some one
Poisonous seeds
Of hatred, revenge and violence
Sowed !

We wished not
Clouds of doom should overcast
And wash away everything,
Roaring storms should come
Shake and ravage
Glittering rainbow
Dream-palaces
In a moment!
But
All undesired
Went on happening before us;
And we
Could only see,
All before us
Successively
All battered, shattered, demolished!


(46) SELF-EXPERIENCE

Everyman
In his calamity
Is alone !
All the aggregate of misery
Solely is his !
In moments of pain
Man is all alone !

The night of distresses
Lonely has he to pass
In pitch darkness
Ray of hope has he to generate !

Every hurt
He himself must amuse,
Every truth
He himself must console!

He and he alone
On each step to bear
The brunts of storms
Silently has to put on the chest
Brewing, gathering, ebullient
tides all around !

He has to suffer
Hits of misfortune
Of life accursed,
On difficult path going up and down
Playing ironies bitter
Sports, cruel
Of destiny inauspicious !

He and he alone
Has to taste the bitter draught
Has to experience
The effect of poison-deadly
Alone
Aye, all alone !

Because the fact is this -
That in each calamity of his
All alone has lived Man !


(47) CONFRONTATION

The stones
The more I hurled
The more each sprang up !
The stones
The more I crushed
The more each leapt up !
The muds
The more I washed
The more clean each was !
The soots
The more I mixed up
The more I smeared
The more it cleared up !
Glittered becoming pure gold !
With fetters
The body whenever
I tied tight
Untied it freed-flowed
North - south
East - west
Flowing scattered !
Waved
Becoming weighty nimble mercury !
Against each danger
I sported firmly
Your blow
Marching forward I bore !

(48) THE DELECTABLE

The faith-lamp / Be ever lit
A dream / Be ever cherished
Enough is this much for self-cognizance !

The wheel of life / Be ever moving
Yama’s noose / Be ever eluding
Enough is this much for breath surviving !

(49) DESTINY-DEFIANCE

Every instant when move
Construction-loving hands,
When feet give
Momentum-making company,

Image is then made !
Destiny is then made !


(50) INDOMITABLE

Afar
Is over cast dense fog -
Piercing the fog
On path
We march on !

Rocks whensoever
Blocked our paths -
Breaking rocks
New paths we pave !

Of winds
Bitter chilly
Cyclonic blows
Confronting tempestuous cyclones
Chests dilated
On each step
Are we unbudging !

Against sea-shore
Dashes
The mountain of terrific tides -
Riding raised waves
With full might
We fight !

Floods of rivers
Breaking banks overflow -
Stopping

Whirl-pools / pressures;
Scurity-ships we sail !

Dark blind night of doom
On earth
Whensoever envelops -
Illuminating the skies
Suns of hopes,
And faiths
We raise !
Jewel-lamps we light !

Whensoever volcanoes
Vomitted fire horrendous —
On lava wide-spread
Our abodes dauntless
We make !

Whensoever earthquakes
Towns and villages
Razed —
On heaps of stones
New habitations
Every time
We populate !

From blasts of
Atom-bombs / hydrogen-bombs
On devastated lands
O behold
Flag of life
We unfurl!
On all sides
Lush vegetation afresh
We grow !

How will you break their heads ?
Oh how will you crack their heads ?

Indomitable are they
Wonderful bend they have !
On time-tablet is inscribed
‘Life is invincible !’



Contact :
Dr. Mahendra Bhatnagar,
110, BalwantNagar, Gandhi Road,
GWALIOR — 474 002 (M.P.) INDIA
Phone : 0751-4092908
M - 098934-09793
E-Mail :
drmahendrabh @ rediffmail.com