Father, Who Art in Heaven
Some man dooms himself to repetition
At 9 he lost his father.
Perdition, the road of infinite regress
Is paved by pubescent impulse.
A waste, for sure, but who can judge the tide?
We must agree, it could happen to all of us.
(And secretly disagree, in prayer and hope).
***
Cycles
we built a town
among rubble and tombs
with soil fertile
from dead men's rot
sow the seeds
and make it new
leave behind
a distinguished set
of mounds
until, another;
frozen waters
melt to flow
through mountains plains plateau
and then
ocean's oblivion.
***
Alike
Magnificent ruin
Few hundred steps once paved
In stately pale marble,
Outline your path in skeletal order.
Pace up
To the grandeur of symmetry
Feel buried generations
In the capital-ghosts
Of legioned pillars
Supporting nothing.
Take it all in your stride.
Climb the altar
Unleash the scimitar
And be done
Feed the hungry faithful mouths
This consecrated meal of flesh and blood
You say
They look alike.
We have many things to do.
With duties done
We must collect
The dewdrop signs
Of strange customs and dawns.
Raise hell to a silent lake.
Trace undisputed lands
trap incense of the soils.
Chant our ancient hymns
to echoing dark valleys
Count stars and find them all
alike.
Pluck out the choicest flowers, we’ll
Plant them wherever you please.
Climb mountains only fabled
And destroy their olden names.
Then give new names to the others:
Much higher and divine.
Stones need a quarry
to worship and be worshipped,
And peaks your thunder step.
We must climb the mountains,
And feed the hungry too.
All else who follow
Need only be us.
You say,
Mountains look alike.
***
Blame
There is a way to things we may as well not know.
Manufactured fires
Harbinger the rain.
Hail the Gods,
The orderly; disjointed.
Even those in vain—
We must weep over the dead
Then turn over and mock
The dead whom we will mourn —
When eventually, they die.
Manufacture fires
Then soak ourselves in rain.
Act completely blameless.
***
Image credit: Kiran Mungekar
Nimish K Sharma writes and researches poetry in English and Urdu. He has a postgraduate degree in Literature.
