The old lady from far

The old lady from far
Partly sitting partly standing
In a visibly uncomfortable pose
Holding a bunch of green stems
In her hand
Her restless eyes
Watch passers by
With hope
Someone will stop
Look at her green wonder
And take it home


She has traveled
From the village far
With a bundle of green stems
In her hand
This is all she got
To make living
And her day would me made
If she could sell that bundle
She can go home in peace
With a wonderful gift
'Bread' for the family

The little terrorists(Poetry Thursday)

Reverend mosquito
You survived dinosaurs
You would survive humans perhaps

Little terrorists
Far dangerous than Al Qaeda
Our nemesis

You kill far too many than terrorists
The war on terror seems misplaced
Just count the tolls of malarial deaths

The war against terror
Would not be over
Till we eradicate malarial fever

What’s your purpose in the ecosystem
But to kill and terrify millions
World, find a way to these little terrorists’ extinction

Eternity

A flicker of light is lit up
While your lips touch mine
Eternity begins
Death dies
While we sleep like children
In each others embrace,
Telling stories
Singing lullabies,
Resting heads into each other
And getting lost
Dancing in harmony together
On four feet
Round and round in circles.
What a feeling to touch,
To feel you breathing,
The only sign that we live
The rhythm of your heartbeat,
Sings the melodies of eternity
Propelling the eternal ship of life
Through the deep reaches of the universe
On the path lit by zillion stars

Occasional Outbursts

Her occasional outbursts
From a distant land
That I left far behind
Still reaches me
While I am lost strolling
With my young love

Her loneliness and
Failure to fall in love
Perturbs me
Once in a distant land
I wished I could fall in love
But I was let down
By treacherous ambition

Since then I have traveled far
But her occasional outbursts
Still reaches me
From a distant land
While I am busy walking
With my young love

She writes
She misses me so much
That she would cry
And in the hindsight
She realizes in remorse
I was her only love

Her cries so painful
Still reaches me
From a distant land
While life has moved on
And I am lost strolling
With my young love

A literary evening in Moscow

Rabbit Hole is the informal gathering of the writers and poets and keen admirers of art in Moscow. It meets every other Sunday in the evening at FAQ Café near Tverskaya Ulitsa in the center of the city. The day before yesterday I was invited there to read and share my poems. The weather was pleasant and we sat in the open in the evening when the sun was still in the sky. John from UK read his prose followed by Alexander (Shasha) who read his extremely creative piece about pyramids. The parodies of Sandy from Australia were just too good and kept the ambience very light all the time. I started with my poem “I Believe” a poem admired by many and published on Poetisphere and 101 poets. This was followed by a lighter poem “A non-smoker’s tale” that made everybody laugh. A sizable number of Russian poetry admirers also participated. It was a great Sunday evening.

A non-smoker's tale

A nonsmoker
Stuck between two smokers
Unwillingly inhales smoke
His face distorts
Head aches
Craves to breathe
Fresh air
Rises up and leaves
Smile flickers on smokers’ faces
A sign of their apparent victory
Over the helpless ‘other’
Won through smoke
The violence of the moment
Silent sufferings
Violation of basic rights
Freedom to breathe
Fresh air
Perhaps unseen
Unnoticed
Perhaps not
Perhaps both seen and noticed
But ignored
For a few dollars
More

MIT goes universal!

I have a great news to share with all of you. MIT or Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched an Open Course Ware -a free and open educational resource for educators, students, and self-learners around the world. OCW supports MIT's mission to advance knowledge and education, and serve the world in the 21st century. It is true to MIT's values of excellence, innovation, and leadership.
MIT OCW:
Is a publication of MIT course materials
Does not require any registration
Is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting activity
Does not provide access to MIT faculty
Learn more about MIT OCW...

An user's words-"We live in a very rural area. Access to quality educational materials is a 225-mile drive to the nearest library of any significance. The dearth of teaching materials is more profound... Thank you so much for OCW." -- Self-learner from Kentucky

Now you can join any course thought at MIT and learn... what a revolutionary idea. True meaning of a university is just being truly realized. I hope other leading universities would soon follow the lead...

Dear poets learn about the major poets in the literature course offered by MIT

Lets learn together, lets grow together!

Best wishes!

One Egyptian Evening

In the sky
Through the clouds
Above the castles, green meadows
And clear streams
Among the fairies
Up, down, across and allover
Peace all around
Through the valley
Caravan of life passing through the big desert
And distant lands
Sudden and frequent hitting
Of the sea waves against the shore
Soft music through the winds
Floating, gliding,
Transcendental
Richness and serenity filling the space
Earth meeting the sky
Things dissolving into one
One moment
Time standing still
Universe dancing in ecstasy
Everything becoming one
Black holed
Faces appearing and dissolving
In the air
Caravans of angels passing by
Soft moon
Everything glistening with divine light
Lightness all around
Enlightenment
Realization of the supernatural
A force
Energy

(This poem was written in the Christ the Saviour Church, during the performance of Arabian music by Egyptians in the evening of 18th XI 2005, the day when days of Egypt opened in Moscow. It captures my fantasies and imaginations)
Earlier published here at I&U in 2005.

The dark side of life

We are manifestations of life
The book says
God created us in his own image
But sometimes I wonder
Life goes on
While we die
Species become extinct
And new species evolve

What if we are just pawns
In the great game of life
Falling in love
Reproducing
Raising children
With great care and
Unconditional love
Till they grow up
To repeat the same

What if life just uses us
To preserve itself
And propagate
It hardly matters
This species or that
Dinosaurs or humans
It’s just the same
Only forms change

Life evolves as fast as it can
Adapting to new situations
While we humans believe
We are something special
In the scheme of creation
Created in God’s own image
To exploit the nature’s bounty
While failing to see the light
We are just pawns
In life’s great game

The moment there is a change
We would be discarded
In the dustbin of extinction
As useless garbage
While life will move on
Evolving
Into a brand new species
And man created in God’s own image
Will join the dodos and dinosaurs

There is still time
Let’s understand the game of life
It has no favorites no foes
It’s a ruthless survivor
And will evolve into any form
To preserve and propagate
We are as good as a tin can
As life makes no difference
Between ants and man

It's heaven(Poetry Thursday-Late Edition)

Summer has arrived
With a new life
Everything is blooming...
All that was hidden
In the biting cold
In the spell of long winter
All that was covered
Under the cold snow
Have risen up
The long hibernation is over
Old attires have been shed
New leaves adorn the plants
And freshness is in the air
There is glow on faces
With new energy infused
It's heaven, its heaven!
It's heaven here in Moscow!

An ode to a fellow traveler(Poetry Thursday)

We are all travelers on the path divine
We meet, smile for a while,
Fight and then part away
Each one on different paths to go
Some paths meet
For short or for long
But then each path goes a different way
We are all travelers

Fellow travelers leave memories behind
Some weak some strong
Some bad some good
But they are remembered
In the moments of solitude
The distance traveled
And the moments shared
With each one of them
We are all travelers

Looking back
At the journey completed
I wonders how many travelers walked away
Or just crossed the way
Humbling, isn’t it..
There are many paths to go
We are all travelers

With kindness and compassion
And passion
Path can be easier
And the journey smoother
We have a long distance to go
On the path divine
We are all fellow travelers

(First published last year in October by me here at I&U)

Eco-auditing my life!

I have been deliberating since long about the consequences of my life style on the overall health of our home Earth. How ecologically sound is the way I live?!

I am a vegetarian by choice. I mostly consume vegetables, food grains, milk , wine and items derived mainly from the plants. Thus I am not party to killing of any species or their extinction.
I do not own a refrigerator, a major contributor to the green house gases on the planet. Thus I do not contribute directly to the green house gas emissions to the earth’s atmosphere.
I do not own a car by choice and use Metro,mass transportation system. Besides I love walking and feel it keeps me fit.
I do not own any high power consuming electronic gazettes so that I could minimize power consumption. All I own is a Notebook, a Television, a record player, a cellphone and a Sandwich maker.
I turn off power immediately after using any equipment or room so that the least power is consumed.
I use bare minimum cosmetics ,use clothes made only of natural fibers and do not own prohibited furs or skin products of animals.
I have planted at least a dozen trees so far and led a Tree-plantation campaign while in College

I still use poly bags sometimes to carry goods from the market
I travel by airplanes that contribute to pollution
I still buy food grains that have been produced using pesticides and fertilizers
I take a taxi occasionally in extreme situations

How do you live your life?

You are free to link your self and update your blog with eco-auditing your life.

Please leave a link so that I can see eco-audit of your life.
Best wishes!

In the jungles around Moscow!

Wow!










Three cowboys in countryside










The fellowship of the ring











Nature's gold











Blue beauty











Yesterday I went hiking in the woods of Moscow. It happened so that I saw an ad or rather bulletin in Moscow times that there is a hiking club (http://www.hike.narod.ru/) that takes hikers, walkers and nature lovers every Sunday to hike in the beautiful forests of Moscow region. Eureka! This is it I had been looking for so long. I decided to go hiking though I had to get up very early in the morning and get ready for the 22 Km walk. The challenge was great but so was the prospect of exploits of nature’s beauty. Last time I had gone on such a long trek was in the high Himalayas while I was in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussorie, India, doing the Foundation Course. However I did 22 Km without getting tired and when I finished it felt as it was just 10. We were 18 people from various countries but mainly Russians. I got the opportunity to refresh my Russian and got to know some interesting people. Along the way I took many photographs and I am putting them before you for a visual treat. With love and best wishes from Russia!

Senryu time

They are grown up
They are adults mature in forties
They fight like children!

Food for thought!

Today’s food for thought!





My mind today is busy thinking about these two views running in my mind:-

“We learn more from criticisms than praises”

“Criticism kills creativity”

I feel that both are true.

What do you think about it?

I am Earth (Poetry Thursday- Early Edition)

I am brilliant blue
While shining in the sun
A beautiful diamond
In the sky
I am earth


I am the only home
In this vast universe
For billion species
Including the humans
I am earth

Some call me Gaia
The living planet
Some simple star dust
Just part of the big universe
I am earth

I have seen
Many species evolve and extinct
It’s the journey of life
There is a beginning and then an end
I am earth

I remember correctly the date
Humans came pretty late
Earlier dinosaurs used to dominate
But they met their fate
I am earth

Mars and Venus are my neighbors
I live between them
Once there was life on Mars
But no more
I am earth

Now I suffer from heat
As perhaps once Mars did
I am losing my species fast
Death seems to embrace me at last
I am earth

I wish humans could soon learn
They are just one out of billions
Masters they are not
But just another part
I am earth

Three Senryus for you and me

Without you can’t live a day
My heart craves for your company; but
I need some time alone

What makes us go on?
When you and I are so different
Perhaps we need each other!

We need to talk more
Because we need to understand each other
Much better than we ever did

(Senryu is a Japanese poetry with 5+7+5 format...
the difference between Haiku and Senryu is that
Haiku is for natural themes while Senryu for human...
though somewhere they both merge)

Good vs Evil

Bad feelings
Jealousy, envy
Filled in minds
Violence in thoughts
Intolerance in attitude
They come to take on me
What may I do but to resist
Through my own good
To forgive their ignorance
What may I do but to spread light
Removing darkness from their minds
God give me strength
To drink all the venom
Filled in their minds
To take away
All their pains and sufferings
In anger they suffer,
Hurt themselves
Lose sense
Not knowing
Only in love there is
Peace, strength and harmony
Give me strength to love them all
While they bleed me and
I cry in pain
That’s what makes them happy
Give me strength to forgive
To love, to cure, to heal
To save them all
From the agonies of life
To give them back the bliss
The children have
Let them return to the innocence !

Shadow...

You are nothing but a shadow
Of the man you used to be
Something unknown hollowed you!

Where are your principles?
Not to let the power be abused
To defend the underdog!

Where are your convictions?
In equality liberty and fraternity
A better future for all!

Where are your ideals?
To achieve beauty and truth
In your words and actions!

Where are those promises..
You made to yourself ?
To guard the interests of those voiceless
On whose behalf you speak!

Where is that courage to stand up?
Against the wrongs
Where is that zeal to serve?

You have sold your soul
And you are nothing but a shadow
Of the man you used to be!

Moscow

Moscow
I am amazed at your beauty
Your painted sky
In the summer evenings

At every step
I meet wonder
The gardens, the pathways
The old streets, the squares
The wide roads, the metro
The newly built churches
The centuries old monasteries
The malls, the bazaar
Museums and parks
The cruise on the river Moskva
A walk in the Neskuchni Saad

Moscow
I am amazed
How fast you change your colors
From snow white to green
It’s miraculous
My eyes still can’t believe

You never stop surprising me
Everyday there is something new in store
I love you in winter
When you are white-cold
I love you in spring
When the snow melts
I love you in summer
When you turn colorful green

Moscow
I’ll always love you
In all your colors
White, yellow, red or green
In all seasons
Till the end!

Of drugs and drug addicts

Of drugs and drug addicts
When we talk
We never talk of power
The deadliest drug of all

Cocaine heroin or grass
Everyone knows
Are harmful for all
And we have made them illegal
Passing laws
But everyone craves for power
The deadliest drug of all


Once tasted
It surpasses all..
Even the most addictive drugs
Making a person mad
Numbing one's senses
To the suffering and pain
Of those millions
Who are waiting in vain
For their deliverance
Through these prophets insane
Power –addicts, abusers
Who need help themselves

Senryu(Poetry Thursday)

Feel! Do feel the pain
That’s the beginning of the change
The fight must go on!

(Senryu is a Japanese poetry in 5+7+5 format)
You can read all my poems at Enlightenment

You are the reason

You are the reason
I shave
You are the reason
I look good
You are the reason
My clothes are pressed
You are the reason
The weekends feel so great
You are the reason
There is spring in my gait
You are the reason
There is glow on my face
You are the reason
I eagerly wait for the evening
You are the reason
My home is clean and
The kitchen is always full
You are the reason
The world looks so beautiful
You are the reason
The life has a meaning
You are the reason
I live

©Abhay

I live this life

I live this life
Tormented by ambition
Torn apart
By hurricanes of harsh realities

I live this life
Engulfed by earthly desires
Slowly dissolving in death-nectar
Calmly being claimed

I live this life
Saddened being alone
Amidst the crowd
Shouting in silence

I live this life
Condemned
By the vicissitudes of fate
Yet feeling blessed at times

I live this life
Staring at my past
That lies ahead
Dictating my fate

I live this life
Loving losing
Losing loving
Never getting tired

An ode to a princess

Featured in www.101poets.com as An ode to a princess













You are not an ordinary princess
Of some kingdom or monarch
You are the princess of my heart
My soul

Time is passing by fast
And you know
My body will not last
Leaving behind my soul to wander

So surrender I do
In front of you
For there lies my shelter, my home
A soul to call my own

Real world is a myth, a lie
How beautiful is our world
Where we love and never die!

© 2005-2006Abhay Kumar

Young

Young are the trees
Young are the grasses
Young are the rivers
Young are the mountains

Young are the couples and
Young is their love
Young are our desires and
Young is the world

Young is the Earth and
Young are the stars
Young are the galaxies and
Young is the universe!

You can read all my poems at Enlightenment

It was me!

I saw a face burning bright
In the mirror
It was me
After a day’s hard work
When I retired
I saw a face burning bright
In the mirror
It was me
I was tired, fatigued and stressed
Inside me very little energy was left
But when I returned home in the evening
I saw a face burning bright
In the mirror
It was me
I could not believe it
I made faces to check
Was it me
And I saw a face burning bright
In the mirror
It was me !

In defense of lies

Lies all around us
With lies we live
We know that truth
Is wonderful
But without lies
We can’t move

Truth hurts
Lies are so smooth
Some call them just white
So harmless so sweet
They may come as euphemism
Saving us all from cruel reality

Lies are many incarnations of truth
Partial truth
Truth as we know it
As true as possible or
Truth and nothing but the truth
And many more

While ideal is the truth
Lies are practical and good
While truth gets all the accolade
Remember a day passed without lies
But lies remain underdogs
Snubbed derided and ignored

On lies are countries invaded
On lies lies an empire
On lies are leaders elected
On lies we make wars
On lies get millions killed
On lies power is built

Oh unsung unpraised lies
Let me toast to your glory
Your power your strength
Your charisma your aura
Are unparallel unmatched
Alas; truth takes all the credit

You can read all my poems at Enlightenment

Haiku (Poetry Thursday)

Haiku
(Japanese
Poetry
5+7+5)
inspired
by
Gary


Health wealth knowledge and happiness
These are the hallmarks of inner contentment
May God bless us all !