POEMS BY LAKSMISREE BANERJEE

Laksmisree Banerjee

Laksmisree Banerjee

A POEM IS BORN 

in the grimy water with jagged shadows

a shredded heart and bruised veins

your placid rumblings in my seedy insides

sing loud sonatas to wash the stains

the mushy soil, the eerie melancholy

the arid stones trigger the pallid moon

to spill its shimmering silver showers

as you are born with sunrise soon

a calm tumescence of gilded flaming

riotous rhapsodies for awakening life

a budding pink blue and green hue

a poetic pearl to assuage the strife

you remain my Promethean fire

the ambrosial nectar I stole from gods

you remain the blossom of my being

my music and rhythm against all odds ---

***

 

GLEAMING PARADOX

Only in darkness the stars glow bright

Only the helpless elevate with cosmic might

Only the blackest hour heralds a new sunshine

Only in grimy coal one finds a diamond mine

Jigsaws and jungles in searing strife

Lead one to the plenteous glories of life

Flawless gold is born of singeing fire

Clay is sculpted through a cruel gyre

The strength of climbing leads to the summit

The joy of a battle is in its winning grit

Only precipices lead to that victorious height

Only a pain-imbued prayer sees the divine light

***

MOTHER NATURE

 

Queen Nature is on her way

to her regal bed with the blazing 

jewel in her crown

Her orbed central piece in dazzle

is about to be slipped into

the hidden depths of her closet

Her royal attire splashed wildly with 

the satin shades of multi-hued orange

dappled from the holy painter’s palette

Spreading across her universe

as she slowly disrobes to sleep

while her royal trail still lingers

In her empyrean of flaming hope

the fading gleam of her sunny

crown and imperial gown

Gone into the gradual deep in

sloping vales of the shimmering

sequined trance of sleep

Awaiting with bated breath and faith

for our rise again with her hallowed

lucent orbed crown in naughty peep

From the depths of the darkness

in Lethe to another splendid

orange morn scintillating

With our loyalty to Queen Nature

and our prayers deeply incensed

for our healing and dawn awakening

Our endless spirals of celebration--- 

***

THE LAUGHING BOUQUET

(for a Cancer-free World)

the hour glass stands in nakedness

continuing to shed its ornate

dusty skirt in haughty abandon ---

slipping down its shimmering grains

to the lowest levels

of shameless hubris

unabashed undressing disdain

un-reeling temporal swirls

itself in time-bound agony

stooping, wriggling belly dancer

till the end of the show

as it catches me in finality

or so it thinks with its delusional

 cancerous claws---

I remain as soft and sturdy

as the orchids, the cactus, the banyan

the flora and fauna of everlasting love---

the hour glass empties itself

doomed in its malice of wreckage

I laugh and merge with

the flowery cycles of fruition

strong and mellow in my love

as I laugh and embrace in victory

my regenerative bloom

couched in the bouquet of

endless plenitude---

***

REINCARNATION 

I shall return once more

through wet sky-paths

of lilting rain clouds

through deep seas

in foliage and trees

along the golden corn

spreads of green sheath

for your amorous touch

in the blushing dawn

an eager filtering glow

of love, light and life

with hugging effervescence

in every breath and pore

I shall return once more ---

When the apocalypse is over

I shall rumble through the glad winds

in troves of blithe awakening

as twinkling fireflies shimmer

with stars in indigo nights

and brutalities dissolve forever

in kissing waves of rhapsody

in songs of human kindness

in silver slants of liquid amity

in florescence through every pore

I shall return once more ---

As silence dims the blazing voice

when swords and guns have lost their choice

my tinted veil in sequined skies will fly

in multihues of butterflies

through gardens of tumescence

when all overbrim in honey love

where showers profusely pour

I shall return once more ---

As the moonbeams tingle and gleam

soft footsteps flow in feathers of breeze

all grime is cleansed

in whiteness of the dove

when the world swirls

in divine ablution

Nature winging high above

when humanity rises

in sun-realization

with bulbs of hope in sheen

in fragrant blooms and shades

dewdrops on fresh bathed grassy blades

with eyes and hearts in glimmer

as our golden harvest is gleaned

along the faithful ambrosial shore

of unending incandescence

as you turn to hold and hug

to love forever and more

I shall return once more

I shall return once more ---

***

WHAT AM I

Am I lonely?

a single saal or peepul

a birch or pine

in cackling, crowded forests of haze?

am I the darkling thrush

solely singing with a soul

shredded to herald the end of light

crying for redemption or audience?

or that home sparrow

flitting and twittering

with fleeting time in

abandoned household corners of dustiness?

or am I a motherless kitten

picked up by a dog

for his rapacious hours?

May be or may be not

What am I? ….

Am I solitary?

an eagle of the azure

flapping high

across the horizon

daring in magnificence?

or am I the single red rose

a blazing, fragrant beauty

in unbridled love

among spikes and nettles?

or that solitary reaper  

in bardic consonance

with her plenteous corn?

or am I a peacock

happy to dance fervently

in myriad hues

with silvery drizzles

and none to watch?

or am I that icy peak

scintillating white

daring the climber

to reach its summit?

or am I the happy traveller

collecting my shining

shells and shingles 

on a beach of discovery?

or am I that lighthouse

of resplendence 

showing the way to

those in oceanic turbulence?

Lonely or solitary

I yearn to be the Bright Star

of the bard’s romance

or perhaps

the Star of the Magi

finding my way into

that human cradle of divineLove---

***

---

Setu, April 2022