Does this narrow road end at the singing river?

 

 

“Come, butterfly

It's late-
We've miles to go together.”

 

                 ― Matsuo Bashō, On Love and Barley: Haiku of Basho

 

 

 

Another day

passing the dairy
she comes with a calf,
a bundle of long cut grass
on her head,
scythe in hand
and walks homeward.
 

The orphan buffalo boy
who smiled behind
Master's herd of buffaloes
Thinks deeply to himself
When will he be able to live together
with her under one roof.
 

Perhaps the old ferryman's son knows
who takes her hand and crosses the river

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I touched them in my nostalgic dream

 

 

For Tom Jones, Singer. Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE, known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer...  

Yes, they all come to meet me, Arms stretching, smiling sweetly, "it's good to touch the green, green grass of home..." 

 

 

 

On the jack-fruit tree

Owl sings the mysterious song of life
in the middle of the night.
 

Early in the morning
Childless Midwife's love birds chirp
Where's that naughty boy who urinates
into our Madam's rose-bush? 
 

My brother Lalith, you who tells yarns constantly
the whole day long, you could smile freely.
The faded hopscotch squares on the shifting sand
and how inquisitive I was with my mischievous friends
to watch the beautiful girls and their new pants
when they hopped over the marked squares? 
 

Poor Mom standing at the clothes-line
searches for stains of cigarette butts
in the hidden pockets of my trousers.
The pond in the temple
carps swim here and there
and the old kind monk
still hangs onto life—by putting a comma next to Nirvana? 
 

The deaf bell ringer maintains an old friendship
with the cast iron bell,

 

yet it gives that melancholy sound

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pungent evil flowers

 

 

 

My dear little sister and brother
I don’t see any difference between our tears
Could I borrow your smiles for a while?
And I promise to return them when you're in need of them.
 

Please be careful when playing in the garden
Cruel landmines hide everywhere
The lunatics have planted them with a tendency of deriving pleasure from watching a river of blood.
Please do not pluck the flowers as nowadays dainty grenades also bloom.
They may call on you to show you Paradise
Please shut yourself safely into a locked place as

they are greedily searching for child soldiers.

 

 

*Dedication to the innocent Tamil civilian brotherhood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bicycle Thief

 

 

Vittorio De Sica. Born into poverty in Sora, Lazio (in either 1901 or 1902—sources are divided), he began his career as a theatre actor in the early 1920s and joined Tatiana Pavlova's theatre company in 1923. In 1933 he founded his own company with his wife Giuditta Rissone and Sergio Tofano. The company performed mostly light comedies, but they also staged plays by Beaumarchais, and worked with famous directors like Luchino Visconti. His meeting with Cesare Zavattini was a very important event: together they created some of the most celebrated films of the neorealistic age, like Sciuscià (Shoeshine) and Ladri di biciclette ('Bicycle Thieves,' released as 'The Bicycle Thief' in the US., both of which De Sica directed.

 

 

 

I have walked more than fifteen miles
As the doctor said to if I want to live long
Walk as much as I can
Almost TIRED and I saw a desperate bicycle at the roadside.
It wasn't locked and when I reached there
This miraculous cycle talked:
'Go ahead! '
 

I rode home; it was close to midnight.
I stopped on the way to buy a loaf of bread
And a bottle of Aunt Jemima's original syrup.
(My beloved made pancakes for breakfast.)
 

It wasn't there when I returned from the shop.
I laughed and murmured to myself;
'O my sin has been cancelled already
And I have no regrets anymore,
The total PROFIT goes to you
And is the winner of the race!'

 

 

God gives nuts, but he does not crack them.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          — Proverb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who collects the scattered flowers?

 

 

 

 

When you eat a shark-fin soup

sitting on a Chinese rooftop restaurant

did you see that

ragged orphan boy

at the World's end

drinks muddy water

and his sister just attended the

age of 'puberty' on the road?

Her slim body she sees in a

broken mirror

that is covered with a torn cloth

of a city's political banner?

Be careful my sibling!

The handsome politicians'

boisterous sons fly on the

streets

with their shiny limousines

Who are greedy for fresh flowers

like their gentle fathers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earth knows a thousand stories of human sorrow

 

 

 

What a pity?

The candle is burning very fast

and eyes are sleepy

Night crawls as a tortoise.

Hidden thoughts won't come out.

How can I say the whole world

is sleeping?

Some, eagerly counting notes,

quarrel to divide the earth,

sing melodies and elegies,

grumble for their shares and et

cetera., What a ridiculous life this is?

We sing and dance

on our own grave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve

 

 

 

Two shot glasses
Sent me to bed early.
I met him
A grey bearded tall guy who
Smiled and introduced himself
as "Allseasons."
And he told me how he had dived
Into deep rivers.

Crocodiles are afraid of human beings

Even as they are fond of its flesh.
In the morning I thought of this strange Santa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Poor Snake Charmer's Charming Daughter!

 

 

 

 

Though she's beautiful
Nobody follows behind her? 
 

One day in the class room
Literature Teacher asked her to write an essay.
 

She wrote with a piece of chalk
On the black board; 
'My father has three snakes
Hope, Prosper and Dancer their names.
And when the snakes dance in the market place
Papa is very happy and he brings us sweets and MONEY home.
We have no venom and why does the venomous world
Look at us from a different angle? 
 

Because of these snakes we get a sound sleep every night
As thieves never jump over our rickety fence. 
And though we eat bread crumbs father never forgets to buy
daily three eggs! 
 

I dream sometimes that I marry a rich and handsome snake-prince
and my poor father rests on a couch in the palace corner.