Breeze bestirred, died down,
Not even a stray leaf stirred,
He came to my town
And left like migrating bird,
Leaving me parched, my eyes blurred.
_____________________
Gulzaar | 16.03.2023 | Tanka
Poet’s note: This is translation of lyricist Gulzar’s short shyries.
Hawa guzar gayi patte the kuchh hile bhi nahi,
wo mere shahar me aaye bhi aur mile bhi nahi.
Categories:
bestirred, angst, love,
Form: Tanka
Dunk in dyes, tainted, nor tinted,
In world, not by its ways weathered;
Come, put a patch of love ‘pon me
That we get not ever severed;
Death, only your shelter is such,
Op-eyed can one sleep undeterred;
Roads wind not any straight for long,
Beware, feet, of their ways wayward.
Birds ask branches: you know wood well,
Who’ll opt, be spade’s grip un-bestirred?
Old memories tend to get blurred,
Milk of life curdles into curd.
I know critics are keen to judge,
Would they, poems unread, unheard?
_____________________________________
Inspired by a Gujarati Ghazal by Anil Chawda, yet, this does not claim to be a fitting translation of the original. To retain the Ghazal form, style and diction, subject matter sometimes has to be modified.
Ghazal |13.11.2021| world, love, death, ways, birds, memories, poems
Categories:
bestirred, world,
Form: Ghazal
Live life as it goes—
Of a free-willed carefree bird,
Of a sprightly spring,
Sighs nor e’er sorrows,
Nor yet laments in life heard,
A lifetime to sing!
Life goes-- highs with lows,
I've seen no bird e'er bestirred
From its now to cling.
Friends come as do foes,
Their sakes open and unfurled,
Beware if bells ring.
Man to life lot owes,
Be a free-willed carefree bird
All seasons a spring!
____________________________
Each of the five stanzas follows the same rhyme, a/b/c.
Musings | 10.08.12 | Haiku/Terza Rima
Topic: life, bird, spring
Categories:
bestirred, bird, life,
Form: Terza Rima
Autumn much gentler
When ends, ends biting winter,
And comes when the spring,
Warm weather along to bring,
How do waters know to stir?
______________________________
Tanka |28.05.2021|
Poet’s notes: A picture of snow-capped mountain peaks, below which a green thicket and a meadow, and at the bottom flows bestirred waters now that winter is over and spring is on the way. And this question arises in my mind in the form of this Tanka.
Categories:
bestirred, autumn, change, seasons, spring,
Form: Tanka
In black and white, I adore framing my inner thoughts, my worries, my wants and hopes… Words! a world of abiding renewal… a space of a bountiful solitude… a state of illusive freedom… a journey to the nowhere!
once nature bestirred
a smiling heart is echoed
great rapture bestowed
words! they have a world of their own! You build them, feed them on your feelings, your viewpoints and creed… As soon as they blossom and stand on their own feet, they escape your grip… They soar high and you just have to trace their wonders, listen to their fanning wings, gape at their outstanding performances while they are outgrowing your black and white frame and outshining your very thoughts.
Pounding of musings
awake is the wonder muse
the heart resonates.
Boundless power to free be
in trance, another soul be.
How dare you, words of mine, infringe the laws of the Haibun world?! Haven’t I told you?! I’m not responsible if a Haiku has expanded into a Tanka!
Categories:
bestirred, art, creation, inspiration, poetry,
Form: Haibun
Thunder rolled across the sky
Like some great beast about to die,
Or the ancient god, now bestirred
By ancient thoughts and present words.
Fall arrived in her attire
Of earth, water, wind and fire.
But mostly fire, which spoke
Of life and death and heat and smoke.
As we walked through fallen leaves
And passed by wind-tossed trees
You talked of God and of Joan of Arc
And darkness settled on the park.
Of Joan of Arc and her fire,
Set upon her funeral pyre,
Dying from the fire’s embrace
In another time and another space,
Was turned to and became ashes,
While lightening flashes
As from nightmares or from dreams
Illuminated disparate scenes.
“I do not believe,” you said,
“That the past is ever dead.”
Going on our separate paths
We fled the storm and its wrath.
Categories:
bestirred, nature, storm,
Form: Rhyme
What, then, is a spirit?
Whence the wafting wisp?
And is a thing ethereal really real?
How concrete the conscious?
Does sentience have substance?
Tell me, really, truly, what’s the deal?
“Long ago, immortal ages past,
Eons yet lay heavy on his brow;
Bestirred himself, ‘midst space’s frosty blast
To form and frame a temporal, called ‘now’.
“Focused he the forces of his will;
Marshalled now the makings of his plan;
Shaped of clay a figure cold and still,
The outer tent, the trappings of a man.
“Then opened he his heart, the heart of God,
And broke off living pieces, pure and fresh;
That heaven might be clothed in earthen sod—
Shards of God now sheathed in human flesh.”
Categories:
bestirred, humanity, imagination, inspiration, mystery,
Form: Rhyme
---------------------------------------------
Just breathe...
Breathe..! Gasping, into light you're thrown!
Like glass, your turning leaf is blown
clear of sweet slumber's song but there's
no need of hers - you'll sing your own.
You, newly born of mother's prayers,
will breathe your first of earthen airs
and thirsty, let your voice be heard
'til she's dispersed the drink she shares.
As leaves are, by the wind, bestirred,
with each new breath, you'll find you're spurred
on by survivals undertow,
as well as by debts love-incurred.
Oh, precious child, I love you so!
What wonders of this world you'll know
but one day too, this life you'll leave...
Take one last breath and let it go.
Yes, breathe...
---------------------------------------------
Contest Judged 1/25/2016
Categories:
bestirred, birth, creation, death, goodbye,
Form: Quatrain
THE AWAKENING
It was midnight that I laid still
and breath had filtered down
An open book - a nagging fly
will wait for me until
bestirred at morning’s knock
when stoves excite a brew
and housewives stir a door
toward sunrise bursting through -
to heaven like a broom
sweeping eyelids like a fan
and chattel and dust balls
like billiards across the room -
that wake the inner chambers
of my brain i separate stalls
that conjure up my daily tasks
within these slumbered walls
Categories:
bestirred, good morning,
Form: Carpe Diem
That soft graphite core
Clasped in fragrant cedar wood :
Pencil – nothing more,
Notions now bestirred,
Flow softly on the paper,
Gently ease the words.
My poetic muse,
Soft and black from Borrowdale,
Dark as Sunday shoes,
Guide my hand to write -
Black hieroglyphs, clear, concise
Creep across the white.
My favoured stylus
Breach the chasm of my words
And inspire me thus.
Familiar feeling –
Poised comfortably in my hand,
My artistic friend.
Categories:
bestirred, writing,
Form: Haiku
Beaming sun upon my back
Establish my summer days
A beach, my boys, a blanket, and
Cold drinks, as I soak my rays
Hoping to darken my tan
Bronzing as the babies play
Lotioned head-to-toes
Applied Aveeno Baby, even to their nose
No frowns for the camera, 1-2-3, strike a pose.
Keen eye set on them, as the breeze gently blows
Easy and relaxed, my eyes begin to doze
Todd takes patrol, so I can repose & lay
Bestirred by buckets of water
Ice cold on sunkissed flesh
Now they're gonna get it good, I
Grab the cooler full of ice, and rush
Out in the sun, our time is spent the best
2011-06-30
~*Wandering*Butterfly*~
~Miranda Lambert~
Contest: Beach Blanket Bingo - Sweetheart
Categories:
bestirred, family, funny, happiness
Form: Acrostic
Treasured features soaring like a blackbird.
Conjured imagery, imaginations endlessly fostered.
Rationale stretched beyond limits, enraptured
But leave it to “Soupers” to reorder lines savored.
Structured ideas freely flowing flavored.
Logical sentences with meanings anchored.
The beginning and end shows its favored word.
Forward thinking thrives, brains bolstered.
Reasoning reversal, relentlessly awkward.
Rearward reordering renders rationale absurd.
Bestirred as to where to begin or with which word.
Creative poets to the keyboard scampered.
Rationale would plummet with logic ruptured.
Headwords would flounder, flitter, and be fractured.
Reading a poem backwards, truly absurd.
Reasoning stretched when the idea occurred.
Categories:
bestirred, on writing and words
Form: Monorhyme
The looming gray clouds overhead
Relieved themselves on top my head.
I saw not a soul, nothing stirring
Nor where I stood no living thing.
What in hell happened? I wondered
Not a single sound or word
The city was seemingly dead.
Then I heard a sound just ahead
A loud-mouth on a radio
From where it came I did not know.
The blaring voice bestirred the calm
“An unknown source had dropped a bomb
Radiation levels are high,
Beware!” the voice shouted nearby.
Abed, awakened laid I scared
Rattled by this horrid nightmare.
Categories:
bestirred, imaginationsound, voice, sound, voice,
Form: Couplet