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Goutam Hazra Poem
Scent Of Paddy Flower
By Goutam Hazra
1
Reminiscence
My father told me
first time
I was just a boy then,
“Follow the scent of paddy flower
move with the wind it carries,
surely you will go to heaven.”
I remember
he would catch
fistful of wind
bring near to my face
and wonder,
“Isn’t it godly!”
Magically, opened his hand
but I never felt
what scent he meant.
2
Days of kind rain
“Son, see the misty wind
rushing all over the paddy field
comes every year
to drink the scent of paddy flower.”
Mere as a boy
I could see only
tides of a green plane
touching my little finger
and racing far… too far.
I would ask
“Where have they gone?”
Smiled my father
and said
“Did not you listen,
they are going to heaven,
call the goddess then,
‘come goddess dear’
we all are ready with paddy flower.”
Curious was my face,
“Papa, then?”
“Goddess will arrive smiling
her feet will be here
there
everywhere.
Seeing a pot in her hand
all those paddy flowers
delighted, will open their mouth more wider
and life will be poured…”
“Where these flowers come from?”
Remained my father smiling
speaking all his mind
looking high at sky
asked me to see there
spoke he again.
“Rain, rain, kind monsoon rain
on the first day of its shower
kind rain would ask me to come here
with bagful of paddy seeds,
‘let seeds be spread all over,
let its eternal relation with soil
be the fertilizer’
when all said is done
waiting rain
starts showering its kind
make visible hiding life in the abyss of seed.
Happy wind changes color
being green all around
waits for the day
when the wind would smell the scent of paddy flower.”
Days passed by,
kind rain was still in waiting
sometimes hidden beyond horizon
or simply making sun blind with its smoky face
and whenever wind said,
‘Dry I’m now’
quenched the thirst.
Someday wind played naughty with sun
asked kind rain to make it misty
and with brushes of sun rays
painted a rainbow on the face of east sky.
Wait was over
green field blossomed with flowers
and wind said,
“Fill in my heart
with scent of flower
I shall bring life…”
Happy was my father’s voice
“Rain, rain, kind monsoon rain
said so
green wind brining life
did so
scent of paddy flower
is made so.
Bare footed be here
print your soul
in the dust of this soil
kind rain will come
green wind being there
life will be yours
beautiful
simple
with the scent of paddy flower.”
3
Cruel entropy
How old was I then
nine or ten
my father looked up
up to the sky
again and again
for a month long
only to see
change of sky’s color
from the color of a summer day to a long humid night.
Dry wind cried at last
over my father’s sweating body
“Rain, rain O kind rain, where have you gone.”
One day sudden
kind rain came again.
Cried to my father
“Why no green wind came this year
from ocean
to bring me here.
Desert wind why
dry my breath
seeds you have sown
how could I then
enliven with my rain.”
Question
many question
my father had asked the rain.
Short-lived, hurried rain could spell its last breath,
“I am not that rain
as was your friend,
I am the curse of dying forest
I am the ghost of all pollution
I am born out of acid weather…”
Who knew, it left for where?
My father cried
As kind rain left him alone
hiding in a dry wind’s bone.
My father was still
going every morning
asking the soil
in vain
if soil could alone
make the paddy flowers to be born.
Year passed by,
came back the time,
for green wind to bring kind rain.
Rain came one day.
But why
as a cloudburst
treacherous
roaring always
pouring unwanted
like an unkind monster
flooded misery
in the life of a simple farmer?
4
Relinquishment
Dumb remained my father
for days together
sad was his voice at last,
“Run away, son, run away from here,
sky rain wind
river village land;
thread of this garland
who cuts it
go, stop now there hand.”
Draught and flood,
uncertainty of life
changed my mind
as of a farmer’s son.
Books, studies and education
reasons, truth and compassion
might have had fulfilled my father’s mission.
But…
Does not this civilization
converts us
as the products to do more production.
Run, run and run
run ahead of time
let be it, at the cost of inhaling killer tension,
stress taking over your life.
Insomnia, cholesterol or cynicism
is our success’s companion?
‘A’ is shaped as ‘B’
and ‘B’ is sold as ‘C’.
Modification
innovation
sophistication
but I found the basic
what it remain
as life’s supreme conviction
‘simply a fist full of paddy
and its grain’.
5
Scent of life
So here, I am again
standing in front of this green plane
searching for the shadow of my father.
Green wind surrounds my existence
I can see the dance of those bunches.
My mind whispers to my ear
echoes those words of my father,
“Bare footed be here
print your soul
in the dust of this soil
rain will come
green wind being there
life will be yours
beautiful
simple
with the scent of paddy flower.”
I never felt so,
what I smell now
is the scent of paddy flower.
Copyright © Goutam Hazra | Year Posted 2013
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Goutam Hazra Poem
Yellow sand bequeathed
by shadow of river,
washing its morning face with
moments of Advent water.
Grizzly air sucking up
freedom of river’s face.
Lying dead
an age-old peepul tree
fulfilled its lifelong wish
to die on the river’s lap.
Quick silvery fish exhibits random
painting of sunrays on its sheeny existence.
Nightlong
river composed serenade,
when shall thou village children
jump on her lap.
Silence witnessed only,
every moment of nightlong love
moonlight played
with vastness of riverbed.
Dancing with ecstatic wave
in a Sapphic’s morning,
alone shadow of a palm tree
shows the face of GOD.
A poem by goutam hazra
Copyright © Goutam Hazra | Year Posted 2013
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Goutam Hazra Poem
THE ABSTRACT
Sound of silence
is lost
to the echoes of darkness.
Wind whispers its passion
To sleepy leaves.
Mists on the windowpane
Reflects glimmering stars.
And silent eyes of wandering mind
Wakes up in its consciousness.
Then….
Strange words reconstruct
Into reminiscence,
And a poem is born.
A poem by goutam hazra
Copyright © Goutam Hazra | Year Posted 2013
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Goutam Hazra Poem
IF JESUS ASKS
Dew on the grass
Wants to disappear
As a day wakes up
Frightened by the red eyes of sun.
Again all those men
Will remain tireless
For some more hours.
Sharp arrows from their mind
Defeated-
Distance on the earth,
Boundary of the of universe,
Pride of stars being alone,
Even the game fate plays.
But today’s day is tired.
That green tree
Standing naked in a landscape
Used to
Sunbath during winter,
Play with wind on stormy days,
A born again make up
As spring bade good bye,
Or get drenched in rain
Like a farmer’s son.
Old days have enjoyed them all.
That green tree
No more there,
City’s claw has removed,
Roots of its existence.
Is it only that lonely tree
Has been killed by city life!
Did not you see the tears of ocean!
Her tides,
Like a beloved lady
Wanted to wipe out
All weariness of humankind.
And in exchange
Modern life poisoned her heart
With all its senselessness.
When the day,
Wants to hide her face,
From shame.
Men are still preying,
What else is remaining?
What else is faraway?
When daylight disappears,
They declare
Now penguin’s blood is our subject matter.
Or if this world becomes a bomb in fire
Then we shall hire
Our extraterritorial neighbor
To settle us in space shuttle,
Above the earth atmosphere.
So, the day unwilling to wake up any more.
Only the red eye of sun wakes her up.
Remember how morning birds
Use to sing melodies,
To wake her up.
All that resonance is missing,
As dew fell from leaves to leaves.
Glorious smile of shining water drops
On a lotus leaf
Cry alone now.
Misses how pleasant was twilight’s tune.
In today’s day
Who is there has time for them all.
But every year
There are seminars
To declare
Those entire glorious chapters
Sun, moon, even heaven is not too far.
And many more
All are in the memory of a computer.
But today’s day
Redeye of sun wakes her up.
She doubts,
Are men no more sacred now!
Yes;
May be like polluted water,
As sacred from holy Ganga river.
So one day,
Jesus asks to the heart of mankind,
You have achieved so much,
Your glorious days are here,
Then why you still keep me crucified!
For how many centuries
Shall I remain!
Human child knows age-old answer
‘Its your greatness
To remain there,
So we worship!’
Only red eyes of sun
Wakes another day up.
A day -
No dew falling on her lap.
A poem by GOUTAM HAZRA
Copyright © Goutam Hazra | Year Posted 2013
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Goutam Hazra Poem
Curtain of brown dusk
Could not hide your pleasant silhouette
From my sight.
Memories of a day
Being shared between evening clouds.
A moment still hanging-
With a last wish of a spring leaf.
Wild wind playing flute
As stuck up in a drey.
Gloaming listens drifting bird’s swan-song,
‘ecstasy of living is joy enough.’
Then…
Abyss within
Rain composes a rondeau
‘I enliven grey soil.’
A poem by goutam hazra
Copyright © Goutam Hazra | Year Posted 2013
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