MY NEW POEMS

Swarnjit Savi
Some Poems

Translated from Punjabi: Gurshminder Singh Jagpal



Journey

I thought of journey
and
she began the conversation about
the caves of Ajanta and Ellora
and
started enjoying the
enormity of Niagra Falls

I thought of bird
and
she soared high
chirping amongst
woods, hills and clouds
and
perceived a nest

I thought of joy
and
she spread her wings
let-go my finger
and
flew into green valleys
and snow-clad hills
like breeze.

I shut my eyes
and
through stars and planets
she made me traverse in pitch darkness

I thought of sorrow
and
meandering through stupas and ruins
she vanished into the picture made on a pillar

I became quiet
and
she touched the canvas
with veritable hues
and I got imaged on the canvas

I thought of death
and
she kept caressing
the foreheads of mummies
that lay buried in pyramids

And
all those who lay asleep for centuries
stood up
as if startled out of a
dream.


Death

1-



It’s not you I fear
but
the despondency
I live
beyond the feeling of
unstable brimness
that comes seeking me

After fulfillment
the despondent-moment
is death-like.

My desire
each day
makes me graze
deathly-moments
small-little fears

Fears…
that empower me
and
in their totality
I stand before you

It’s not you I fear
but
the sum total of those moments.
………………………


2-

O death
Before the enormity of
your capricious horses
I compose a petite phrase of words
Cause innocent rabbits of
colours
words
rhythms
to run

And indulge in
small dialogues
with
big issues.



3-O death

teach me salvation from
cobwebs of relations
jaws of socio-egoism
memories and dreams
yearning and lusting
Then I shall not fear

Why fear, then?

What would I possess that would
be lost
get estranged
flow out off me

Why fear, then?



4-

Neither knowledge
nor ignorance
makes you exist

You simply
infest the book of my body
each moment

The dust that
quietly falls off me

The terror of that dust
that in an instant
I am
I ain’t


5-

O time
In a moment I gaze you
from thousand directions

In your eyes I trace
fear, sorrow, joy, pitch darkness
and infinity

Everything captured in the moment
as if you lie imprisoned

Tied to the bed-post
mere visual-time
……………..

6-

Echoes
word-history

Awakens death’s sleepy-universe
a long rosary
arises from darkness afar
reaches me in beads

My obsession
sufi-wave of words, rhythms
zenith of my ecstasy
moment of my brimness
fills in me
the energy to
touch that bead
that hidden behind a frayed veil
shining, chirping
recedes into the infinite darkness.

beads get sewn
into a long rosary
of history.
…………..



7-

O, Ancestors
You, who, love to defy death
Fill me too
with that vital creativity
which sprouts from the fear of death
and makes one swim across the time-river
with artistic zest.

O, Death
Intensify your intimidation
Much I have to create
against you
to understand you
to escape your vice-like grip

I bow to your
awe
- the genesis of creativity
…………………


8-

In the fear of
the suddenness of your knock
I intend to live
to the brim

Then
through art and poetry
I wish to draw a thin line
on the blue river of time

This
Knock of yours
gets used by fanatics
to spread dread

Selling dreams of better tomorrow
endeavour to rob us off
our present
joy-sorrow
celebration
energy
transforming
Living body
into a
Mummy.




Salvation ?


Will I stand liberated ?
From
the continuity of zillion time-atoms
that
in my birth land
in the bosom of my soil
have remained smouldering for
centuries

And from time immemorial
passing through my mother’s bosom
have housed themselves in me

Will my internal
conscious, unconscious , journey in time
rooted in timelessness
cruising through me
make me liberated?

I don’t wish to become free
of the identity
whose one end is rooted in me
and the other gets traced back to
centuries old timeless step.

For a mere liberation from your awe
I refuse to lose such huge gains


What purpose
this salvation
to me?



Where am I?

Where am I?

Everything, suddenly, stands afar
For instance
You, people, earth, planets, sepulchral-silence,
everything


What am I?
I distance myself from my body

What is this mind?
Then it too withdraws itself from me

What is consciousness?

Who is keeping a watch?

Is it I?

Something transparent, beady-eyed
watches everywhere

Air, consciousness, word, time, me?

No

Something else
that is watching through me…everything…

What is it ?




DUST

This thin layer of dust
settles wherever,
defaces.

Gradually
transforms everything.

However hard one
dusts the surface,
still
remains obscure , that,
which glares and shines
before the settling of
dust.