Collection of poems

My name is Gouri Bhuyan. Till about three years ago, I had never thought I was
capable of writing poems, until one evening on the day of my father’s demise when I
penned down my first poem solely in his honour. It was from then that I began my
endeavour into the world of creative-writing. This is a compilation of a few of my
poems. They are an amalgamation of emotions as well as social causes that I feel
strongly about.
Copyright of © Gouri Bhuyan
All Rights Reserved.
MUMBAI
The sun dives into the crimson horizon,
Struggling to take one last peek,
As another day takes its final breath
And files in offices, return to their heap.
The hoot of traffic, the whistle of the policeman,
The anticipation for the red signal to turn green,
The ephemeral happiness in overtaking a BEST bus,
In all roads and lanes can be seen.
Returning home, loosening their ties,
You might wonder how tired they are
Falling off buses, fighting for a seat,
Don’t be mistaken, they’ve got to go far.
The moon comes out with the aroma of food,
A confluence of cultures in the air,
City that never sleeps is stirring,
There in more to come, beware!
Seven islands, they amalgamated,

Into a soul form, divine,
The historic sands of Kakamuchee,
Treaded on by martyrs, oh so fine!
The light shone through the roadside stores,
Radiates the soul of every Mumbaikar,
The refulgence of the joy in the midst of the confusion,
Making the commercial atmosphere so much merrier.
They say cities represent communities,
Or sorry, is it the other way round?
In any case what can be said about this wonder city?
For here are myriad numbers of communities found.
I don’t know who to address,
For in all I see a common soul,
The soul of a resilient Mumbaikar,
Shown strikingly like diamonds among coal.
A soul that says “never give up,
No matter how many hurdles you encounter.”
A soul where the will guides the way,
No matter how many times they falter.
The city of opportunities warmly embraces
Cultures and communities abound.
From dabbawalas to the fisherfolk

To business men and women all round.
People seeking their fortunes, from every corner of the country,
Come with the hope of a new life ignited in their mind,
Not a single of them is un-catered to,
Neither are they met with disappointment of any kind.
With so much good said and done,
You might wonder – isn’t this too good to be true?
Well, perfection, my friends, is a convoluted affair,
In many ways misconstrued.
Hidden amidst the jostling crowds,
The powerful yet coward Evil still prevails
The teasing, the assaulting, the thefts, the murders,
In the sea of apathy it openly sails.
The hand that pulled me out of the floods,
Now hesitates to stop the crimes.
Why is it that the help and support,
Suddenly in fragments sublimes?
This I shall not answer,
For the answer to this is untold.
Let’s take you on a ride through the city of colours, the city of Mumbai,
Before the truth unfolds.

WAR
Blood trickled drop by drop,
Cries and screams amidst.
Lovers parted, infants orphaned
For Death their foreheads kissed.
Bullets shot, thunderous cannons roared,
Leaving worn-out fetters astray
Terror confined the puppets of His,
While Hope- the traitor was but a mile away.
I stood aghast, overlooking the scenario,
While a chill crept up my spine,
When would rays of light dispel the fear?
Where of good not even a sign.
From hour to hour, they perish and die
And thereby hangs a tale;
With a sword pointed to my throat
Was Death- majestic, white and pale.
He said,” You foolish beings raise arms against
Your brethren, family and friends.
For religion, respect and money
Others’ lives you claim to mend.
Which religion did you abide by?
To whom respect did you pay?
What profit did you earn,
After bodies in heaps you laid?”
Unable to find an answer,
At him humbly did I stare?

His deep voice in my ears rang
To ask the answer I didn’t dare.
He sadly laughed at my ignorance
And said that an answer I could never find,
For, somewhere humanity was lost
Somewhere love failed to bind.
As I returned to reality,
I wondered if peace could never prevail,
But before I could ponder over the answer,
A sea of dead bodies did I hail.
Strings broken cannot be joined,
Lives lost cannot be regained,
Chances to amend shatter in despair
Alas! The human mind cannot be changed!

SAVING TREES
The warmth of her breath on the cold winter nights,
The shadow of her dignity on the sunniest days,
The colour she fills in the black and white,
The calm edges of the raging bays.
As she takes those proud strides towards you,
Glowing in her spectrum of stunning hues,
Hidden behind this facade of beauty,
Is the dark tale of her pending dues.
As the solitary tree stands strikingly tall,
Opening its boughs to the little bird,
It’s like the calm before a storm,
That perilous silence that goes unheard.
Here comes he to prove his manhood,
And as he raises his axe, a priceless sacrifice, to make
The little bird flees into a foreign territory
While the tree, in the face of its agony, remains wide awake.
As it writhes and shrivels, tethered by the bondages of humanity,
Trying its best to shrink away,
When the efforts turned to reality? I don’t know.
When struggle to extinction gave way.
The weight of the steel bears down on her
As she tries in vain to push the burden away,
She takes one last bow before she surrenders,
Oh wait! I think we mistook her; It’s time for her sinners to repay.
She is garnering strength, I am warning you,
A ray of sunlight, a drop of water- her only need,

Quickly reforming, stronger than ever,
As we wait in fear to witness her wrath unleashed.
Reducing the dirt and fetters to fragments,
From charred ash once again she blooms,
Her roots spill out and take strong holds,
Before she returns this time to spell doom.
In full form now, each stride she takes,
Leaves millions of us a wrecked mess.
There is still time to accept defeat,
Her wounds for the sinners to caress.
Time will fill up inflicted wounds,
Only if we choose to make amends.
Only if we choose to undo what’s done,
To add numerous paths to dead-ends.

Right to Equality
White, yellow, black or brown,
They are all colours akin.
Our eyes alone perceive the difference,
While our minds commit the sin.
An orchid, however stunning,
Has no sweet smell to share.
A still pond, however murky,
Yet has lotuses to bear.
All that shines may not be gold,
For it the heart that reaches out,
Then why the deliberation over colour and race?
Why the scope for doubt?
The outcasts and the shunned
Question their humiliation in vain.
The devil inside each of us crackles sardonically,
Driving us terribly insane.
A man superior to a woman-
Now who decided that?
Have you considered asking why? I did
And answer I never got back.
There is no answer, for the belief is baseless.
They’re meant to walk hand in hand.
Neither superior to the other.
Shoulder to shoulder they stand.
A nose, two eyes, a pair of ears,
A heart, some feelings and good deeds,

Are colour, caste and gender so pivotal?
Are they what our equals need?
Well, what I’ve heard of equality-
Is respect that works both ways.
So give respect to get some back,
Because an equal exchange is what truly pays.

Right to Education
Blow life into a corpse,
It takes a human form.
The form is same, so is the nature.
Then why the exception to the norm?
The same goals, the same abilities,
And with so honest a desire,
Why can’t a woman learn to read and write?
Her dreams turning a stagnant black in the snare of the fire.
Aren’t the poor entitled to education?
Or is it just the richer race?
Can’t they dare to claim their right?
I thought it was just the wealth misplaced.
Can there be desired unity,
When the denial of a right is the crisis?
Can conflicts be truly resolved?
When there is a puzzle piece amiss?
Knowledge, they say, is strength supreme.
So let us now make amends-
Let’s share this strength with every being, so that
We can add numerous paths to dead ends.

Environmental Rights
Combining all her forces into one,
Giving the amalgamation a human form,
Creating yet again, another miracle,
Like sunlight through a storm.
She is a wonder, through and through,
Creating everything that prevails.
Can you now guess who this is?
It’s Mother Nature, whom we hate.
A wonder catches the eye of all,
Until tarnished by oblivion,
Or might I say, until the human eye falls upon it,
Well, whichever you find convenient.
Unable to cope with human greed,
She withers and shrivels away.
She is garnering strength to avenge her fall,
Her wrath unleashed to repay.
All she wants is love, respect and care.
Here is someone I urge you to save.
Giving so much, getting nothing in return,
She begins her dance on the human grave.

WOMEN
A pony tail, a little doll,
The flare of the dress,
The shy smile, the downcast eyes,
Wait, now can you guess?
The bud blooms into a flower,
The butterfly peeps out of its cocoon,
The sun rises yet again,
The time, sure, is coming soon.
From innocence to beauty we take a leap,
From a girl of five to a woman,
Her ambitions grew with every year,
But now marriage, all of a sudden?
Girls, they said, could never rise,
Above the superior, the man that too,
She is meant to sweep the floors alone,
As that is all that she can do.
These words said were never rebuked,
The order given, never disobeyed,
Her inferiority she never questioned,
That was the biggest mistake she made.
Bells were rung, candles lit,
Hymns sung in unison,
Vows said, rings exchanged,
Her forehead smeared in crimson.
A saree draped around her,

Bangles adorning her wrists,
Little did she know the misfortune awaiting her;
The screams, the threats, the fists.
Oblivious to this, she bade farewell,
A new happy chapter to start,
Mocking evil in silence stood,
Refusing to steer clear apart.
And then it came like a surge,
Rendering her breathless,
Slowly drowning into bottomless misery,
Leaving her a wrecked mess.
The hand that adorned the ring was now raised,
The mouth that recited the vow, now spat,
Curses flew along with whips,
Eternal torture? She guessed that.
Hair torn from her scalp,
Dragged ruthlessly across the stony floor,
She profusely bled agony,
As her eyes yearned for an open door.
Was it her incompetence as a wife?
Or just the man’s wrath unleashed?
Or was it the test of true womanhood,
To have an irrational society pleased?
I speak not of an unwanted thing,
Nor of a torture-distorted face,
I speak not of a broken human,
But rather, of humanity brought to disgrace.

As her bangles shattered to a thousand fragments,
Fragments that could never be joined,
She saw her pulverized life, wetted by tears, before her,
One that she herself had coined.
I speak not just of one woman,
But of millions so akin.
Along with those inflicting violence,
Those bearing it commit the sin.

AN UNFORSEEN VICTORY
On cold dark nights comes a shivering breeze,
The piercing silence torments me.
I scour the fullest range of my vision,
Not even a single clue that I can see.
I look for you in vain those days,
When in looming hopelessness I reside,
When the world stands as still as Death
And by mortal norms I am compelled to abide.
I can see that smiling face of yours,
And the warmth you used to radiate.
Why is that warmth not reaching me now?
Before reaching me it seems to degenerate.
Just a little out of reach, you seem to be,
But to touch you as I stretch my hand,
I see your form evanesce before
Desolate stretches of unfamiliar land.
I do not wish to step back
Into the ephemeral happy past,
Nor risk a shaky step into
A hope-studded lonely karst.
I can hear your encouraging words from the past,
Propelling me to take the call,
I wish you were here to back me up
Every time I stumble or fall.
I cannot seem to see you anywhere out there

As the restraining tethers get undone,
But I know you will forever reside inside me
And with that a losing battle was won.

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