Hail Hyderabad!
Rumi topi offers imperious look
Tehzeeb in blood bows head reverentially
Hearty hug clears the veils
Aadaab ushers all to amalgamate.
Pearls rolling through smiles
String floral patterns of mehendi on palms
In cordial welcome to our gareebkhana
Every one a royal guest in our daawat!
Azaan awakens spirit in slumber
Suprabhatam, stirs one to shrines spiritual
Choirs elevate compassionate cathedrals
Gurubani sways the pious with devotion!
Jasmines blend to bloom in dark forest plaits
Wooing and worshipping well known arts here!
Eating and chatting traditional pastime
Unhurried nature unfolds urbane culture!
Samosa, luqmi lock horns with biryani
Irani tea with bun, maskan staple food
Autowala, Audi owner adore the nectar,
Appam, Avakai, Idli, Vada-pav taste so good!
Flowing beards, sacred threads share many secrets
Caring and sharing age old legacy;
Mosque and mandir flank steeples tall
Fire Temple beckons beside the Gurudwara!
Music of glittering bangles, twittering birds,
Vanishing lakes overtake migrating Anglos and flamingos;
Yet, the elite and erudite salute the grace
In myriad tongues, tastes, structures and scriptures!
Tell Them Straight
They are hydra headed 'asuras'
manipulated,trained for destruction
of humanity, sans any sensitivity---
ruthless devils,dwell in illusory islands!
Life, festivals,celebrations alien to them
valueless vagabonds, merciless mercenaries
demons of destruction rejoice in mindless violence---
gloat over gore, slithering in gloomy ghettos!
Light they never see,end is never known
strike as a bolt from sources unknown.
Sinking ruinous rows,learn to survive
tell them straight,finish them right!
[Condemning explosions in churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday 2019]
---
Sony Dalia has
published 3 anthologies of poetry in English, besides contributing to numerous
print and e-journals.It is the pseudonym of T. Sai Chandra Mouli , an academic
, poet, translator and critic, is a Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society, Great
Britain and Ireland. He published 26 books[19 edited anthologies of
literary criticism and 7 authored works]. He completed translation assignments
for institutions of higher learning.
His poems in English and translations of
Telugu poetry and fiction are extensively published. Vice Chairman of AESI
[Association of English Studies in India] for a second term, Sony Dalia made
panel presentations in International Conferences in universities in China,
Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia,the U.K, France, Sri Lanka,Brazil,
Cambodia and visited Vietnam besides
Singapore.
