Best Hope Against Hope Poems
Everyday
I get up at eight
With hope after hope
Live those lovely moments
Of Spring time mornings
To start a new mindful day
And leave:
The feeling of her eyelash movements in my mind
The fact of true passion emerging beside
The first letter of the word we have defined
And the freedom of our white clouds driven by wind
And at night, the first moment of every night,
I slip deep through the fragrance of my room
Without any will to light up another candle!
But today
I woke up too late
With hope against hope
Facing this heavy moment
Of an Autumnal morning
To end an old mindless day
And wait:
The feeling of her eye shadow reflections in my mind
The fact of true imaginations left behind
The last letter of a word we had declined
And a broken grey cloud driven by wind
And at night, the last moment of this night
I slip deep through the darkness of my room
Without any will to light up another candle!
With a huge geometry of bones and ribs
my father stands amidst us,
like an age-old iron pillar,
high durable, tensile and unbrittle
he is, the lonesome cantilever.
Though I know not,
perhaps he could be in immense pain,
or suffering from his terrible wounds;
but neither I feel nor touch
as I fear;
may be I his last crutch
or be the solve of sandal paste
on this body for ever.
Though I know nothing,
perhaps, for the sake of ‘oil and salt’ world;
he’d be even ready
to sleep on the bed of thousand arrows
and at the same time
he hides every sensitive worldly elements
within him, as far as
a star fish does every time
when it comes across a danger.
And always, I cannot move over
to his world of desires,
it’s the same show
the same grief
day after day.
The foot prints of his journey through life
are not lost in the sand storms of poverty
and in my mind as well.
Like the third bank of ever flowing river
Like a lonely Oar of way lost solitary boat
Like a distant star in the dark sky
Like a defiant soldier in battlefield
My father-
with dry tears and black blood
in his toil and lethal hands
continues his combat fight
against treacherous time
and treadle fate.
And with a twingle of hope against hope,
I feel every odds of life
and promise to myself a thousand times
‘I can be a nearby dawn
to remove the everlasting dark night’,
as my thoughts don’t go
with the distanced sun.
How do you know when it's time to let go?
Should you call it a day, with nothing to show?
The love that you felt is still burning within.
Its flame flickers brightly, not wanting to end.
When only one heart is feeling that glow
You know that in time the other will go...
For no matter how much or how deeply you care,
You can't force a heart to stay with you there.
There…in that place where a fairy tale dwells,
Where fairy godmothers still cast lovers' spells,
Once upon a time two hearts were as one
And the love deep inside shone as bright as the sun.
But as time passes by, it seems some things change,
What once seemed so beautiful now seems so strange!
One moment you look in his eyes and you see,
Happily ever after is not meant to be.
What is it that makes only one heart feel love?
You look for the answer from God up above.
You hope against hope that an answer you'll hear,
But no answer is coming, just sadness and fear.
A part of you already knows it's the end,
But your heart and your mind just don't comprehend
How something so wonderful just fades away,
Like the colors of sunset in each passing day.
The dawn of each day brought a smile to my face,
By waking each morn to my lover's embrace.
Our two hearts once hoped that true love had begun,
But what good is love that is just felt by one?
Would I want him to stay with me, though in the end
He'd never be happy, you can't just pretend
To love someone when the feeling's not there.
So the answer is NO; and you try to prepare
For what you now know is going to be…
Sooner or later you must set him free.
You try to hold on to the love that you knew
But it slips through your fingers, so what can you do?
They say there are some things just not meant to be,
And in time we will know what our hearts couldn't see.
You beg, you plead, you curse, then… you cry.
But the only real answer is always GOODBYE.
We're the worthless one
The world has no place for us
Street is our business
Under bridges is our palace
Palace of laziness
Addressed and mocked by the privileged
We were name without ceremony
Wayward, beggars, lunatic, fool…
Yet they can do without us
We are less privileged but we’re not less important
The fortunate are fortune in chain
Newspapers bear witness of untold wealth
We are materially deformed not mentally deformed
We are agree to be poor for them to be rich
The just shall judge the unjust
There is hope against hope
Our mouth, hand, brain are fertile
There is a hidden talent therein
We are judged by what they see
We worth more than their foresight
Amidst us talent has buttered our bread
Akon, African China, Wande Coal, are our testimonies
At all state we are vital
Poor state we protect their life at our expense
Our talents graze their occasion
We are not worth-less
We are king in the palace of laziness yet busy to entertain
We are beggars yet command your blessing
You need us more than your worth
Blue bird in a gilded cage:
But not as much as a single whistle from it,
and no piping, not even a proverbial peep,
only deafening silence from behind the bars.
To get the little blue beast to sing!
One plays it a symphony by Dvorak:
Nothing. There's only silence from the bird.
One plays the budgie some Smetana:
Again, nothing but silence from within the cage.
Beethoven then. Surely the Master's music
will get this avian singing again.
Alas, it's all to no avail. One only gets blank stares from the bird.
But, it's time for one last try, hope against hope:
One plays the feathery, captive foil
the Jimi Hendrix Experience, plays their "Still Raining, Still Dreaming":
The budgie suddenly chirps out loud in Martian:
Whistles songs from very far away, yet from very, very near,
and at one and the same time:
Sings, fluting, songs from Everywhere, songs from Nowhere,
songs without limits, ones without an end,
songs sang backwards and forwards at once,
faster than the speed of sound.
Both space and time cannot destroy
us, or force us to shed a tear
against our lives' approaching joy.
Can these struggles dissolve what's dear
to our joined souls and make us coy
about a bliss that's nearly here?
We--survivors!--hope against hope
and love against war and bitter strife;
together, we struggle and cope.
We live and die with so little life
or peace against this world's cold scope
as if on the edge of God's knife!
Would it be easier to die,
to quit--to cease and never give
ourselves the means of knowing why?
Death comes to those who never live
or know, but just watch life passes by;--
it's a peril we must survive!
Form:
Amazed to see
how the spring breeze
rejuvenates everything....
Life flourishes out of dead...
Fills me with enthusiasm
and gives me too
a new lease of life.....
Out of the yellow
the green appears...
Out of the desolation
the flowers bloom....
With the melting snow
life seeps into the ground...
Spring is in the air!!!
Spring is here!!!
Hope against hope
I hope that spring
comes to dead hearts too...
Out of the hatred
love appears
Out of the desperation
Hope prevails
From the melting hearts
our soul flourishes
So that we can say
Spring is in our hearts
Spring is in the air!!!
Spring is here!!!
Luck is a sham
Created by those
Who hope against hope
That our dreams will come true
But accomplishing is created by doing
And wishes and wants
Are unobtainable if made just so
Wishes and wants
Do you remember a time
When we got up
And changed the world for the better
Because I don't
I remember people on the news
Talking about hunger and homes lost
But never a solution for it
Now we rip the feet off rabbits
Expecting it to do us good
And horseshoes
And three leaf clovers
And pennies
All worshiped without question
Relying on luck
Like Dorothy did the Wizard of Oz
But he was a fake, too
And this time
We can't click our heels three times
Waiting for our problems to be solved
Because this time
There's no magic or luck on our side
Just us
Blood red lipstick etched on the
rim of a glass
Long sought after soft red
succulent lips
Hope against hope it might
actually happen at last
Face firmly clasped by long red
manicured tips.
A sudden probing prompts an
involuntary gasp
Tongue thick with a coat of
cigarettes and scotch
A promise of sensuous
pleasure not known in the past
Two mouths locked in the
throes of a sealed vacuumed
spot
Warm, wet, experienced, so
this is a real grown up kiss
Taken not given, hold tight, go
along for the ride
A soft playful bite prompts a
reflex twitch of the hips
A tight rope over the naughty
and nice divide.
I send the busy bee my eyeful messenger
Buzzing and searching in the forests of Chibok
But not a sign of little angels of Chibok anywhere
Little angels of Chibok talk to me, where are you?
The Harmattan that whispers in the leaves
The rooster that crows to wake the world
Thump my heart with undying sweet hopes
Little angels of Chibok a sign for me, where are you?
When the sun flashes its rays through wall cracks
And the moon raises her right hand in the horizon
I see tongues of hope of your due home-coming
Little angels of Chibok, is this a dream or a reality?
My soul is like Sahel burning bush- fire on a wild tour
There is no resting place for my soul in Nigeria
When I recall your cutting smiles and piercing eyes
Little angels of Chibok, what to do with this undying love?
Your dinner chair is vacant at home every meal
Your desk is empty in examination room in Chibok
Your playmates are waiting eagerly at Chibok
Little angels of Chibok tell me in a dream, where are you?
Yes; with eyes full of tears of hope against hope
The heart fresh with life like new leaf peeping from a stem
I close my eyes and see you tearing bushes coming home
For the God who created you for a reason is not asleep
Low spirits and utter despair,
She had lost all her flair,
Time stagnated !
How long could the wait last,
Dejected heart to the full to blast,
Incurable hopeless !
Sun could not shadow gloominess,
Her very being deprived of happiness,
Hope against hope !
The injury quite a deep and severe,
His vengeance extremely clear,
The wretchedness !
Don't suppress else will depress,
Just look beyond there's life,
End up melancholy, live to strife,
Shun sadness !
No recession can everlast,
Essential to counter depression is,
Dispassion,
Dissociate,
Flagellate,
Backfire,
Slam your passion !
Be sassy and warble !!
Written on 30/5/14
Contest- slamming battle round -2 ( my highs my lows)
Sponsor- Verlena S Walker
Awarded 3rd place
Now for contest- Any old poem will do #2
Sponsor- SKAT A
(for Manoranjan Byapari, a rickshaw puller who writes Bangla novels, stories and autobiography)
--Jaydeep Sarangi
You may dismiss all I record here
Stop! Please don’t ignore them as junk...
Here it goes....Hope you hear me....
You will hear me one day, sure!
You can never hide your face, Priyotosh.
We’ll get you in streets and lanes
Of this incredible city of joy.
Long struggles
demystified Byapari of false tags
of the caste-ridden society
beauty in the working class,
cooperation among the have-nots,
humanism among rebels,
simplicity among outcastes.
Byapari drinks them all.....
he salvages various concepts
from the hasty derogatory labels of the privileged,
and makes the understanding concepts
more complete and realistic.
We remain
as hands folded in inaction;
prisoners outside jail.
Lectures move electorate in a civil society
Justice cries in a caged cell.
Byapari writes a new history
as Shankha Ghosh recommends
his books for Bangla readers,
only Hope against Hope.
Artists are legislators of the world!
let there be enough crackers to celebrate
it further
under an alien sky.
There is hardly anything ‘complete in completeness’.
(Shankha Ghosh is a Bengali Indian poet and critic.He released Byapari’s book, “Amanushik” and spoke for Manoranjan Byapari on the 27th August,2013 in an evening gathering in Kolkata)
I am feeling distressed by my feelings of late,
There are people I love who seem poisoned by hate,
People I know are smart, willful Science deniers,
Call truth (they don't want to hear), "fake news" at best,
Set themselves up as experts and social outliers,
Deny any voice that’s outside 'comfort test,'
Hear them TRUMPet, 'right,' 'wrong' is in fact just “world view,”
And if you don’t agree then you’re missing a screw!
It’s deniers of 'Truth' I find saddens me most,
For this simple act puts human mind into 'coast,'
It seems slippery slope, anarchistic descent where
Discussions aren’t possible, good will’s intent
Largely absent, when logic itself is a fool’s dare!
They've one social grace that says “I am content
And I don't see a need to put my mind in play
For I ‘know’ in advance, you have nothing to say!”
I’ve one science trained friend who claims climate news fake
(When predictions reveal that an answer’s mistake!)
But the truth is results like this make Science better,
Best Science, a model, that’s always refined!
Duped Republicans claim to know truth to the letter,
A lemming like flock all in love with group mind!
But the problem for them they refuse to decry,
If THEIR FAITH is misplaced, we can kiss ass goodbye!
If one Science trained man is so foolish as this,
Can the unblessed be blamed if they hope Trump brings bliss?
The desire for simplicity makes men hate others,
While groveling pitch tents in camps of the rich,
They deny FATHER’S FAITH that says “All men are brothers!”
And hope against hope they can scratch Donald’s itch!
It seems clear that most men do the best that THEY can,
Just to Hell with their children and future of man!
Long Tooth
August 11, 2017
I yield to unknown sound
Rhythm that blossom my heart
Swing arm with tangle legs
Accelerating directly proportional to the echo
My head ache as it beat twice as rock tempo
I perceived peril ahead
Roaring of lion nature in humanity
Seeking for whom to devour
I am a prey without rescuer
Fears grab me as the thought of u-turn occupied my heart
Standing at Y junction
To my right a kingdom await me yet the road is daredevil
My Left preaches infatuation
I devour all obstacles at the right to visit the kingdom
I hope against hope as I journey through
Behold the torment vanish quickly
My eyes behold beauty this kingdom in extraordinary manner
Finally I saw Him seating on thrown and my love seating at His right hand
'Welcome to come' He said
I sang praises unto my love
Finally I am home
Hope is too wide to imagine
Good enough to comprehend
Sweet enough to desire
And just enough to go against
It is always hope against hope...