I am the luminous illusion

Sea: photo by Thalia Katsiveli

I am the luminous illusion

you came close as if lost,
like a wave dissolving on sands of shore,
tickling smile of white surf on my melancholy feet,
holding your sari, with flood of laughter went away
playing on the waves, in the diminishing light across horizon,
vanished.

I dive into a zero in the showers of clouds
wandering a maze, in thousand streams,
of your image illusory. Flowing down on me,
the mysterious lines whispered in my ears,
I am the luminous illusion on this tidal ocean
in eternity.

* * *
Note:
1. The above photo: courtesy Thelia Katsiveli, Athens, Greece. 
2. This is plain translation of my original Marathi composition. It was difficult for me to get the sound of Marathi. I may attempt some other time!
3. Link to original Marathi Poem: http://remichimarathiboli.blogspot.in/2013/10/blog-post.html

Remigius de Souza | Mumbai
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Nature – Primal Source of Wealth

Mother Nature – Srishti – within us and outside, even beyond the Earth, Infinite

Mother Nature – Srishti

Nature – Primal Source of Wealth

Labour of living-beings creates wealth,
From Land and Waters,
with help of Five Primal Elements;
Not in a mint, factory or stock market.
There happen processes,
building-breaking, energy-expenditure.

(Translated from original in Marathi by the author)

सृष्टी साधन  संपत्तीचे

Text of the original Marathi poem in the image

Remigius de Souza | Mumbai | 15-01-2013

Note: In the image 'Mother Nature – Srishti' above, background picture is by NASA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Hail Careerists!

Hail Careerists!
By Remigius de Souza

Arjuna sees only the parrot’s eye.
Hail Careerist!
Unblest me, I see
   the eye
   the parrot
   the twig
   the tree
   the earth
   that gives food.
I see the reflection on his eye
   of the sky
   that gives rain.
I see through its dark interior
   the picture
   on his retina
   of the clouds.
Arjuna’s arrow transcended;
Parrot was delivered of his birth.
But my bow and arrow dropped;
And I received my boon of mirth
(To be born again?)

CAREER is glorified in Industrial Age; it wasn’t different in any civilized society since its inception 5K years ago: It is power-oriented. The recent example is Steve Jobs, who recently expired. He was so possessed by his occupation that he had no time for his children, or to write his autobiography. He lived life compartmentalized, so much so, he did not attend to the aspect of “recycling” his own products when they are obsolete. This is a major lacuna created by the Industrial Civilization, which is against Nature’s Laws!

(Translated by the author from the original text in Marathi: See Link)
~~~~~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Circus (Marathi Poem)

Dombari are a caste of acrobats in Indian Society

Circus

From South Pole
To North Pole
Life —
A tightrope walk
. . .

Dombari are a caste of acrobats in Indian Society. In the democratic India’s changing economy, they are now vanishing: No rehabilitation, No education. Who cares?

They are mentioned in Siddhartha Jataka that date back to 3rd Century B.C. Would they ever reach Olympics, or vanish?

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Firefly (Marathi Poem)

काजवा 

आम्ही आहोत क्षणभंगुर

पण आमचा आहे 

उजेड स्वत:चा 

नकोत आम्हास 

प्रेषित आमच्या न्यायचे. 

* * *

Firefly

We have a short life
but we have our own light.
We do not want
prophets of our justice.

* * *

With the woodlands and forests vanishing, with the use of chemical pesticide and insecticides in aggressive farming, the fireflies too vanish. Where would the younger generations see the firefly? Would they comprehend what a firefly is? Is it on the TV, on the internet, or in the Natural History Museums, which most unlikely?
Firefly inadvertently represents generaly the peasants and particularly Adivasi, the tribal, who are upright people.

Mumbai
[6-3-1989]

~~~~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

भारताची लोकसंख्या विनासेन्सॉर - India’s Population Uncensored

 India’s Population Uncensored

भारताची लोकसंख्या विना सेन्सॉर

 
India’s Population Uncensored
 
Here the population explosion unlimited
Many Family Planning options employed
All Planning remedies tried are tired
Once obstacle of Auspicious Time worked
Now through all seasons and times
Marriages happen 24x7 on TV serials

Note: 1. Translation by the Author
2. Painted Poem in Marathi by Remigius de Souza
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

TWILIGHT ZONE (With Marathi Translation)

Earthworms - Silent Workers

A window of a cell – an eye on the world  
moves on and on, on the wings of clouds,  
a journey on the border of day and night
in the community of the Earth and stars.  

Here one can’t even touch nor is there
a room for trivialities of theories  
of trade, politics and philosophies,
and of the earthlings who don’t belong  

to the Earth and the Sun, living on  
self-deception and squabbles blown  
out of proportion, work–work–work,
work to leave glorious ruins behind.

The gods, god persons live on preaching
a hope of salvation, raise monuments
by blood-shed by the earthlings bonded  
perpetually to the chains of chaos.  

Blessed are the earthworms far away
from the public eye; they don’t make
scriptures or monuments out of their
shit to the legacy or lead Life astray.   
-- Remigius de Souza
(Twilight Zone was Published by ARCHETYPES INDIA on 25 June 2010. Also read a Comment by Nold Egenter)

संधिप्रकाश मंडल: विसाव्या शतकाचे श्राध्द

गवाक्ष कुटीचे - नजर जगतावर 
सरकते पुढे पुढे, ढगांच्या पंखांवर
यात्रा दिवस-रात्रीच्या संधीवर 
जेथे धरती व तारकांचा वसे परिवार 

येथे ना कुणी स्पर्शू करू शके, येथे ना
स्थान कःपदार्थ सिध्दांताना
व्यापार, राजकारण अन् दर्शनांच्या; 
अन भूचरांना जयाना नसे घरोबा 

वसुंधरा व दिवाकराशी, जे जगतात
आत्मप्रतारणेत अन फुगवलेल्या वादंगांत
प्रमाणाबाहेर. काम - काम - काम,
काम जो सोडीजे मागे भव्य भग्नावशेष 

दैवते, भगत, जे जगती देऊन प्रवचने   
मुक्तीच्या आशेची व उभारती स्मारके
रक्ताच्या साड्यांवर भूचारांच्या, जे जखडलेले 
सर्वकाळ अराजकांच्या साखळदंडांत.

पावन आहेत गांडुळे दुरस्त 
सार्वजनिक नजरेआड, ते नाही निर्मित
धर्मशास्त्रे वा स्मारके आपल्या
विष्टेतून वारसांसाठी, ना संहार जीवनाचा

टीप: १.  मूळ "Twilight Zone" (१६-०८-१९९९)  या प्रकाशित (poetry.com) इंग्रजी कवितेचे स्वैर भाषांतर.

२. प्रतिमा - गांडूळे, मृदा संधारण करणारा पर्यावरणातील एक महत्वाचा जीव, जो अजूनपर्यंत दुर्लक्षित होता

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Gandhism (गांधीवाद): Marathi Poem

Gandhism

Gandhiji wore loincloth of Khadi
We patronise marketed Khadi
That’s our limit of Gandhism –
Don’t shed crocodile’s tears.


(Translated from the original by the author)
--------------------------------
गांधीवाद

गांधीजी पंचा नेसत होते.
आम्ही बाजारू खादी नेसतो.
ही आमची गांधीवादाची मर्यादा --
नक्राश्रू ढाळू नकोस.

~~~~~~
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

God's acre: देवाचा बिघा

God’s acre

When I was born someone smiled –
a dew drop on a tender blade of grass
draped in rainbow attire,
a sparrow picked a grain and flew.

From morning always moves to dusk
on the pathway walks the Sun, along
hear a call from Goddess Night –
Life hangs until the distance ends.

Remi, if one could cut / graft the roots
of beliefs would the twist between
the ends – Birth and Death –
ever remain the same?

(Translation in English by the author)
---------------

देवाचा बिघा

मी जन्माला आलो तेव्हा कुणीतरी हसलं –
गवताच्या कोवळ्या पातीवरचा दंवाबिंदू
इंद्रधनुचे अंगवस्त्र लेवून,
चिमणीने दाणा टिपला आणि भुर्र्र उडाली

पहाटेपासून सदैव अस्ताची
वाटचाल करणारया सूर्याबरोबर
निशादेवीची हाक ऐकू येते –
अन्तर संपे तोवर प्राण कंठाशी येतात

रेमी, संस्कारांची मूळे कलम करता आली असती
तर जन्म मरणाच्या टोकांमधला पीळ
तसाच राहिला असता का?

स्थळ : बडोदें
तारीख: १९.०६.१९६५
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Surrender: समर्पण एक चकवा (Marathi Poem)

Surrender
Meera, in surrender
Consecrated,
You found Life.

Surrender –
One track,
One goal,
One mean,
One bond,
One end,
One liberation;

Surrender –
One personality,
One prop,
One power,
One end,
One Martyr;

Surrender –
An initiation,
A sect,
A favour,
A sacrifice;

Surrender –
One man,
One bed,
One sacrificial alter,
One gratifying pain;

Surrender –
One-way sweep of a swing,
That never returns.

Surrender –
An ember dying, buried
Under a thick layer of ashes;

Surrender –
A never-ending illusion.

(Meera, also called Meerabai, is a saint-poet of India. Meera, like Kabir and Tukaram, is rebellion and contented, and bestows joy and courage on people. Her sainthood is not ordained by any institutionalised religion.)
* * *
Remigius de Souza
11-05-2001
(Published on Poets India website

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

At the age of sixty (Marathi Poem)

At the age of sixty – seventy
Ate my daily Roti – bread –
But a thought never touched conscience
‘For the grain of this Roti
Some man – woman in exile
Toiled in the heat – cold – rain’
Roti, a good deed of Brahma
Its worth priced in two-ana coin
And Food-Brahma got caught
In the noose of Civilization
. . .

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Collective Existance (Marathi Poem)

........................................

Collective Existence

To ensure existence of one

Place other colours too.
Then it receives
the support to-be
In the illusion of not-to-be.
----

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

HOLI POURNIMA - Holi Night

Holi Night

The swinging palms
Full Moon
face
In the blanket of light
Song on a flute.

(Falgun Full Moon night, 1976)

© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

यात्रा: Pilgrimage (Marathi Poem)

यात्रा

पृथ्वी माझी सुरू होते

पायाखालच्या जमिनीपासून

जेव्हा जेथे असेन मी तेथे।

वर वर चढणारया नजरेत

गोल गोल क्षितिजे सामावत

उंच उंच हिमाद्रीच्या कड्यावर।

इथे अहंकराचे अस्थिर कड़े - सागर

वितळतात वाफारातात हरघडी

विरतात मातीत - अवकाशात

काळजातली उब पुरेशी

कवेत घ्यायला नविन क्षितिजे

हरघडी विस्तारते स्वत्व माझे

बंध मातीचा अटूट सामावत

सारी पृथ्वी भाकरीच्या चतकोरात

ओळख उरते धरतीच्या चतकोरात

---

२२-४-२००४

-----
(I take fantasy flights to the higher world of planets and stars and the lower world of bacteria in the virtual reality of print and electronic media, and return now and then to Mother Earth and ask, “Give me fistful grains of sanity for my survival”. — Remi)

Pilgrimage
by Remigius de Souza

My Earth begins here
From the soil below my feet
Wherever when I’m there.

Up ‘n up the vision ascending
Round ‘n round horizons holding
High ‘n high on Himalayas’ cliff.

Here, the ego of rumbling cliff – ocean
Dissolve – evaporate now and then
Vanish in the soil – in the air.

Enough is the warmth in heart
To embrace new horizons;
Expands my selfhood now and then.

Sound bond with the soil assimilates
Whole Earth in a quarter of a ‘roti’;
Recognition retained in a square foot

Soil below my feet.

* * *
(Translation from the original in Marathi by the author)
Note:
1. “Fistful of grain”: In my native village until fifty years ago there were no beggars. Only the mendicants, ascetics, sadhus came to the households asking for alms. They were offered at least a fistful of grains, no coins. There was not much of currency. Now, with the currency, there are rich as well as poor beggars everywhere.
2. ‘Roti’ is Indian flat bread baked on burnt clay or iron plate, usually concave in shape.
~~~~~~
Remigius de Souza
May 1, 2007
© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Jungle (Marathi Poem)

Words lost
Tones lost
Expressions lost
Meanings lost
Only here
In this jungle.

(Translation from original Marathi by the author)




© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Samashti – The Collective

The Collective

In the war for freedom of individual
On the public place of settlement
The collective came to help / died;
In the war of Dependence – Independence
The interdependent came to help / died.


(Translation from the original Marathi by Remigius de Souza)


© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.