Of Rivals and Regards

Image Coutesy - Berkley's Classics Illustrated
Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The old man and his scar-burned night
Fearing an impending fiery fight,
His heart with venegence and,
Himself on galley... both alight!

The beast of many fathom deep and afar,
Fabled to have whithered many a spar,
It isn't a fickle to wrestle the fiend...
Besides, having your wounds ajar.

Loathsome as it was to him....
The old man knew it was no dim,
He had to use all his might and stealth,
Lest the beast turns into an omen of grim....

"Ahoy!" Yelled the old man, with all his might,
Poseidon thrashing the hull, left and right
At the helm, the seafarer, in his horde, imbued
A charge of vigor to disarm their fright.

Steering to the light of the Lucky Lucifer,
Fearing the might of the Robust Critter,
And then, a howl, a crash, a cry of war
And the crew scampering hither thither.

The tail swooshed to snap the prow...
And moved ahead for another blow.
In one swift motion, the twain shall meet
The beast and the mariners taut crossbow...

Alas! The beast proved to be too strong...
And the old man couldn't keep up for long...
The fiend, then coiled his body and took him,
As if he were a war souvenir, to take along.

Plunging down to seabed under many a wave
It proved it wasn't so much of a knave
With all due honours to his peer,
It buried him in his watery grave

Story became legend, legend became lore,
Old Man was remembered for bravery galore
But none recalled the fiend....
For the drop he added to the vast sea,
Nor for the deep veneration it bore!

Note - The verse draws its inspiration from quite a few of my favourites - Old man and The sea by Ernest Hemingway, Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Moby Dick by Herman Melville; and for all its worth, I would like to believe this to be a tribute to them all.

Brother Bare

Here lay in ashes, my kin of long since.

Here they charred as were destined once.

We are but akin for brittle or dense,

The light from The Father is what I lens,

While his heat they fiercely dispense!

I am pressed hard to shine abright,

They burn and ash - all red and white.

As their blackened bodies smolder,

And I remain a chipped ‘n honed boulder.

They dwell in deep, and I in deeper lair.

While the light I utter would surely ensnare,

Their selves perish to give the light aflare.

For its our fate as a Lucent pair,

One bare one unbare!!

We differ not much as virtue and vice,

And whence rendering our father’s prize,

What I can do, they can do twice.

Yet, I would be reckoned a prise,

Whereas in ashes lay my unsung kin – waiting for reprise।

धर्मार्थ

रण का नाद उठा जब
दक्षिण में, धनुष्य की कोटि से...
"जाओ वीर, हर लाओ
एक लिंग, कैलाश की ही चोंटी से।"

ऐसा कहते ही, श्रीराम के परम भक्त,
पवन-सूत, बजरंग हुए नतमस्तक।
"सत्य वचन, प्रभु" कहा "बिन लिंग,
रण विजय यज्ञ, अब रुका रहेगा कब तक।"

यूँ कह बजरंग ने आशीष लिया
और हुए आँख से ओझल,
यहाँ तो है बस कोसों-कोसों
नील नभ, बालू रेत औ' जल,
"यत्र - न ब्राहमण ना अर्धांग"
श्रीराम के चिंतन में यही था पल-पल।

बिन ऋषि, बिन लिंग,
वे यज्ञ विजय का कैसे पूरा कर पायेंगे?
और, जाने कौन घड़ी में,
बजरंग कैलाशपति को लायेंगे।

श्याम वर्ण की चिंता जब,
चहूँ दिशा में व्याप्त हूई....
और दशानन रावण को
श्रीराम की ग्लानी ज्ञात हूई....

तब लंकापति, असुरराज ने
ब्राह्मण धर्म निभाया है...
स्वकरों से बने बालू लिंग से
श्रीराम का विजय यज्ञ करवाया है।

औ' यही नहीं, वे लाये साथ
सिया को, पुष्पक विमान में ....
यह देख प्रभू श्रीराम झुके,
ब्राह्मण के सनमान में।

लिंग बना, जो डिगा नही,
इतिहास ने ये कहीं लिखा नही
कि रणभूमि में असुरराज ने वीरगति जो पाई है,
वह इस कारण कि, कर्म, धर्म और
शेष सभी की चर्या पूरी निभाई है।

SNUG

He tugged a little on right and then a little harder on the left, leaned his head over her shoulder and said softly “You know I’ve always wanted to use this phrase…. I’ve always wanted to mumble ‘sweet nothings’ in your ear….”

“Well-if-you-don’t-loosen-this-a-bit….. I-don’t-know-about-sweet…..” she wheezed “….but-I-sure-would-be-able-to-say-nothing….” She let out a sigh as if it took a great deal of effort to say that; A sigh that was drowned in his chuckles. She shrugged her shoulders to ease the corset and stared hard at the glass…. Into those eyes and ran her hand through his ruffled hair.

“I don’t think I need the corset so tight when there are other things keeping me warm.” She lipped impishly.

Utterly incapable of taking his eyes off her, full of admiration and tempt, he briefly raised his head from her shoulder and mumbled “Like…?”

As he leaned back into her neck, she gave a little shudder and said “Like your warm breathe…..umm….Like your arms wrapped around me….”

“So…. It’s snowing outside just so you and I can stay indoors, eh?? I like that….” Before he could exhaust his breathe, she had pranced over to the misted screen. He walked up behind her, put a hand round her waist and wiped a clean circle in the fogged glass with the sleeve of his tattered sweater.

“Just like our own orb isn’t it?? And listen to the ice chunks making the tin roof sing….. Pitter Patter Pitter Patter…. The music and the sight make me crave for a dance…..” she crooned as she turned on her heel and held him. They waltzed around, he strutted with a limp on left and she swayed repetitively with a little twitch.

The two leaned into an oddly comfortable posture and stopped still. He broke the stillness with an untroubled “I am sorry”.

“What for?”

“Well, I remember the time when we wouldn’t wait for winters for it to snow….. when snow was just a tilt away…. when someone just shook our home about and I would wrap you in my warmth.” He said deeply. “There was a time when we would prance many a times in a day…. every time that kid turned the key. And we made music of our own. That was our orb…. Our globe…. Our home. I am sorry that I couldn’t save our snug little world.”

“Hey…. We don’t need a key or someone to tilt us to make this our home. I love this side walk we live on now. I love these brief months of winter, which bring back the memories of our celebrated abode.” She held up his chin and smiled “It’s just our SNOW GLOBE that has aged, not us…. its two who make it a home…. Our home….. and you are just as warm…. it’s you who makes this home, SNUG.”