Poetry: Shakti Pada Mukhopadhyay

Shakti Pada Mukhopadhyay

The Mermaid of the Mummelsee¹

In the Rhine Valley in the Black Forest,

the annual fiesta is going on. One can see

the cute mermaid from the crystal castle,

which is located on the bottom of the Mummelsee.

To the valley the mermaids come from the castle

to take care of the children till evening,

since their mothers work in the fields.

Then the mermaids return as per the command of the king.

She is the most winsome sprite who fell in love

with a peasant, with whom she is dancing and reeling

in an inn. Her friends leave for the castle in the evening,

but she fails to stop dancing at dusk, without feeling

that time eluded her. Next day morn she realizes

the faux pas, but it is too late then.

With tears in her eyes she tells her lover

that they may not meet again.

With her beloved she rushes out of the inn.

Three times she touches the water of the lake

with a willow-stalk and the water layers

 are pushed apart for a tunnel to make.

 A white colored marble staircase appears

from the underpass. She tells her lover with tearful eyes

to wait for a while to find if any stain of blood

floats on the lake, pointing to her demise.

She assures to meet him again, if God desires

to save her. Along the staircase, leading

down into the crystal palace, she disappears.

Soon after, some waves on the lake, as if, are bleeding.

Realizing his lover’s death, he utters with fountain of tears

in his eyes and with a deep sigh,

“If our two loves be one, or, thou and I

Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die.”²

I recollect the tragic legends of the Mummelsee,

but wake up from the nightmare

by a jerk from the clock.

On a tour last year, I was there.

References:

1. From the legends of the Mummelsee in the Black Forest in Germany

2. From the poem “The Good-Morrow” written by John Donne

***

Destined Fate

In no time, destiny makes one felon

or divine, when she feels it fine,

to make him blessed or razed.

She may write a cruel fate for anyone.

We may be snubbed, but time will glide

for a change of ride, with the hands of God.

Rainy days teach a lesson,

as patience says not to burn for lost hope.

Misty nights unclose the doors of merry days.

God prints the path to glory, or makes it gory.

Fate is not same for all, but in each life rains

do not fail to fall. We should hold the oars to sail,

since the sun may not set behind the cloud.

The fate, Lear had tried to rule

and Oedipus had sought to change,

looked strange. And it made each a fool.

“Who can control his fate?”

Othello jested to break the stalemate.

But Desdemona had left him wretched

and his suicide made him ill-fated.

Fate reigned over Macbeth

to trust the witches, for a road to death.

Fate of Hamlet chased his uncle to face

death, which his father had embraced.

Destiny had bidden him to avenge father’s death,

but ill-fated Hamlet became the victim of revenge.

Poor Polonius fell in trap of death,

by destined actions of Hamlet.

Romeo & Juliet, “A pair of star-crossed lovers”,

had embraced death and were equally ill-fated.

***

Wishful

Step by step behind the babe

I stood. With a wishful mind

in a faulty lift, I was interned.

I was not alone.

But a pretty girl with a mobile

kissing her earlobe, was casting her stealthy looks.

It made a quivering sense in my mind.

Overheard I, “Look, my heart is slit

inside a power-down lift,

by a burly, smart, but naive guy.

 Sorry. Can’t meet you today,

over the cup of Cappuccino. Bye”.

She then regretted for her false epithets

showered on me over phone,

as she had wished to ignore

a nagging chap’s favor.

My mind ceased to wish forever.

***

Dreamland

We visited “Giethoorn” in Netherlands,

a village with no road. Early inhabitants discovered

hundreds of goat-horns here,

after the 10th century flood.

And the name “Giethoorn” thus came up.

Small lakes were formed by digging hollow lands.

Canals were excavated connecting the lakes

and the place became tourists’ paradise.

We saw the tourists sailing the boats on the canals.

Some peons were travelling by watercrafts

for distribution of letters to the villagers.

Boats travelled past the drakes and the ducks.

Green landscapes with small houses

were dazzling with wonderful flowers

on both sides of the canals.

Birds were chirping on the branches of the trees.

Swans were busy collecting food in the lakes.

Seagulls were hovering in the air

to pounce upon the preys on the lagoons.

Visitors were cycling on the banks of the canals.

Sounds of sculling-boats created

a babbling noise in the air.

Somewhere in a farm-yard, a lady was angling

to catch the fishes from the lake.

I am not blessed to behold Venus,

the Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty and fertility.

But after visiting “Giethoorn”,

the “Venice of Netherlands”,

I felt that I was in a dreamland.

Beauty, love and nature

were embodied together

in a unique entity there.

***

Bio: Shakti Pada Mukhopadhyay, MA (English), was an Executive in a Bank. A lyrical drama written & directed by him has been staged with vast popularity. His writings have been published in a number of magazines like, Borderless, Passager, Molecule, Better Than Starbucks, The Dribble Drabble Review, Deep Overstock, The Poet, Mindfull, CafeLitMagazine, Down in the Dirt, Setu, Tatkhanik, Bibekbarta, Muse India, Dainik Statesman, Shabdodweep, Jugshankha, Kitaab, Linked Verse etc.

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Setu, December 2024