Wednesday, June 30, 2010

From The Streets of Bihar



From The Streets of Bihar

The streets of Bihar
Are the face of an abstract painting,
Sad.
The colors of history,
It seems,
Someone has washed away.
Or scrapped with fingernails.

A river has changed its color,
And the sky here is not blue
Anymore.
Tired sky and forgotten rivers.

The morning still basks
In an orange glow
Of a lazy suburban Sun
That fades
In the echoes of night,
Muffled screams.
The day is lost
Pretending deaf.

Fantasy poetry of
Unseen revolutions
Have often knocked
The doors of destiny,
In sweaty envelopes,
To be rewritten in blood…

But eyes have failed
To tell impoverished, meager heroes
From shameless, naked demons.
Reality, sadly,
Is a little gray,
Half lie.

I have often seen
A volcano
Walking on the streets,
Threatening to erupt
On evenings of nothingness.
Somehow,
It never does,
As the radio continues
To ramble shamelessly.

Streets of Bihar still believe
In prayers
With eyes closed.
And dream
Ignorant of a fear
That sits all night
By the bedside.

Streets of Bihar
Have lost their feet
In the race.
They are forgotten leaves
Of autumn.

They are the eyes
Of a frightened child
Who is learning to
Drag his feet
To unwelcome tomorrows.
They just stare.
Mute,
Like the volcano
That has remained quiet.

(c) Ankur Srivastava

10 comments:

Richa said...

Wonderfully written! I loved the selection and usage of words. :)

Ankur said...

Thank you so much, Richa!

Anurag Srivastava said...

Sir tussi cha gaye hi in this poem.. One thing i will say this is not the story of the street of bihar only but 80% of India is like that. The revolution , the development and the westernization is mainly in the metroes and in the big cities. Today also a labour has to think twice for his bread and butter, there are many homes in India that doesnt have electricity and pure water. So very well done sir jee for throwing a light on real india...

Anonymous said...

It is amazing how the poet's eye transforms the reality into an imaginative, yet more truthful one. :)

Deboshree said...

A beauty again. I love the way you have depicted this legendary city. Wonderful choice of words and an enticing lingering kind of effect. Kudos!

Ankur said...

Thank u so much :) am happy you liked it. this is perhaps my most serious effort at writing something

Snig said...

Hi, just found your blog by accident... its a beautiful poem. Haunting. Almost.

Ankur said...

thank you snigdha :) thnks a lot

Ankur said...

thank you snigdha :) thnks a lot

Vishnu Priya said...

your poem collections r sooo good ankur :):)nice meetin u..all the best