All Fools’ Day

The Fool in Tarot Pack

All Fools’ Day 

Whatever may be, it’s my doing,
by choice or by force, that I forget;
my rush ends it in half-hearted doing
and in endless strife I am caught.

In my fear of loosing my doing
no moment spared to stop and look
from all sides around, inside out,
at all levels, in all dimensions:

much of it I am ignorant.
On the fast track of one dimension
never knew when I lost myself;
never realised I am the means;

and I am the end. A product, an idea,
a thought, an act, or a concept
in time is perishable and transient:
no sooner born belongs to the past.

In stagnant water all actions stink.
But waters of life are always flowing,
condensing, evaporating, raining,
reflecting; that’s the nature of water,

Save Forest-Save Life

of life born in water, but not my doing.
In looking at doing, the doing ceases.
At the core of ocean prevails
Silence pregnant with new life. 

* * *
Remigius de Souza | Mumbai | 26 March 2004
Note: Image: The Fool; Credits: the Rider-Waite Tarot deck.
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

व्यावसायिकाना रेमीचे सलाम!

व्यावसायिकाना रेमीचे सलाम!

अर्जुनाला पोपटाचा फक्त डोळाच दिसत होता.

व्यावसायिकाना रेमीचे सलाम!

मला अभाग्याला
     डोळा दिसतो.
     पोपट दिसतो.
     फांदी दिसते.
     झाड दिसते.
     जमीन दिसते.
जी देते अन्न-पाणी.
मला दिसते प्रतिबिंब त्याच्या डोळ्यावर
    आकाशाचे
    पाऊस पाडणाऱ्या
    त्याच्या डोळ्यावर प्रतिबिंब दिसते.
डोळ्याच्या आतल्या अंधारात
     चित्र दिसते
     नेत्र पटलावर
     ढगांचे.

अर्जुनाचा तीर सुटला.
पोपट त्याच्या जन्मातून मुक्त झाला.
पण माझे तीर-धनुष्य गळून पडले.
मी माणसाच्या जन्मातून मुक्त झालो नाही.
(मला पुनर्जन्माचे वरदान मिळाले.)
----
बडोदे | नोव्हेंबर १९७०
(इंग्रजी भाषांतर पहा)
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

POWERFUL I FALL

I dedicate this poem, written on 03-03-2005, with deep reverence to the Tsunami that took place on March 11, 2011 at Japan, and the one that had touched India earlier. I wouldn't ever regret if I were hit by any natural phenomena. ― Remigius de Souza

The Great Wave by Japanese Master

powerful I fall

air water meekly move aside
from any obstacle on their way
yet their presence inside - outside
in my world
I don’t even ever take notice
as much as of my towering ego
take them always for granted or
add some aroma.
it’s  pleasure to see them play
and sing photogenic as they seem
leisurely happily dancing together
at sea-shore
until suddenly they appear
in colossal shape size speed
a mighty dragon from the ocean
at my door
ransack everything on their way
as my nice world turns scary grey
I am stunned
in spite of all my might wickedest
of intellect and tools to dominate resist
powerless I fall.


- - - - -
Mumbai
03-03-2005
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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

Maroon Veil

Maroon silence covers
Thousand hundred wars
And the emperor cried of his bloody hands.
I fight with an unrecognized enemy
That is in maroon veil.
My enemy goes on multiplying
Like an amoeba within me
That I don’t recognise myself anymore –
Me a fractioned self into innumerable
Amoebae to fight against
Under a maroon veil:
Maroon is the war
Maroon is the threshold
Of day and night:
I hide myself under a maroon veil.
* * *

17-10-1969
Baroda (Vadodara) 
Note: The image above is by the author. It was made around the same time.
(I wrote this composition during my stay in Baroda (now Vadodara). Then I was the witness to communal riots, exploitation of the scheduled caste and the schedule tribe in Gujarat State. The gender atrocities were very common, such as dowry deaths. It was no more a peace-loving State. But what I witnessed then was only a tip of an iceberg, or the beginning of the unrest/atrocities that followed in three decades.) 

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.

LUCKY DOG ON VALENTINE DAY

Poem by Remigius de Souza

Lucky dog

Valentine or Santa, both strangers to me,
in this media-frenzy in this market place,
though I carry European Christian names:
They remain merely non-entities for me.

Certainly the seasons, even in this urban jungle
are close to my heart; so also the sun, moon
and stars, sky and clouds, dawn and dusk; a rare
patch of green and a song of bird. They evoke
emotions, memories, longings and aspirations
though I have no knowledge scholarly of them
to make money or name from these real entities.
I am enriched as I meet them in remote holes
in this urban maze like a stray ferrous flake
meets magnet: what a windfall for a lucky dog!

By Remigius de Souza
Mumbai
12-02-2004 

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© Remigius de Souza., All rights reserves.