ONLY HE KNOWS……

ONLY HE KNOWS……

Only he knows the value of a shred of bread,

Who has undergone countless days unfed!

Only he knows the value of a drop of nourishing milk,

Who has craved, in vain, for a glass of water to drink!

Only he knows the value of a pair of poor, cheap slippers,

Who has walked a million piercing miles bare footed!

Only he knows the value of tattered and worn rags,

Who has grown out of pulverizing porverty deep-rooted!

Only he knows the value of a protective straw-thatched roof,

Who has lived his whole life on pavements or under the bridges!

Only he knows the value of a hairy, warm and torn blanket,

Who has hugged chilly nights outside when, at homes, blood freezes!

Let’s thus value everything that we are blessed with by Time,

Lo! Who was a yesteryear’s tea trader, can be today’s Minister Prime!

Many lofty towers that used to kiss and romance with the skies once,

Have been choking unnoticed in the dusty debris or beneath the ruin’s slime!

©Shankar D Mishra 31.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 164 poems till date.

E-mail: shankardmishrapoet@mail.com

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O GOD! LET ME NEVER THINK OF IT!

O GOD! LET ME NEVER THINK OF IT!

O God! Despite being betrayed time and again

Let me never think of it;

Despite being persistently battered to tatters

Let me never shun honesty and lose grit!

O God! Despite being lied about countless times

Let me never think of it;

Despite being sadly discriminated again and again

Let me never be partial or indiscreet!

O God! Despite being censured ever without any sense

Let me never think of it;

Despite being sorely taken advantage of unreasonably

Let me never reciprocate the above a token or a bit!

O God! Let me never swerve against Your Divine Injunctions

Lest I should be deprived of, at length,the sweet Emancipation!

©Shankar D Mishra 30.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 163 poems till date.

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O MY LOVE! WITHOUT YOU……..

O MY LOVE! WITHOUT YOU……..

O my Love! Without you…..

The dryness of life’s desert soon sorely multiplies

The remoteness of life crosses the edges of the skikes,

The fresh water of life turns salty like that of an ocean

Oh! In the bliss of life-stream, falls ever a sad, acid rain!

O my Love! Without you…..

The sweetness of the sugarcane of life is really stolen

The firmness of the knots of life’s intereset does slacken,

The flame of curiosity of life does enfeeble and weaken

Oh! All the golden dreams of life, alas, turn painfully leaden!

O my Love! Without you…..

Life stgnates as if it were robbed of its vital pulsation

Life replicates a failure, full of disgusting indignation,

Every reality of life assumes so shadowy and spurious

Oh! Seems everything lustreless that looked once glorious!

O my Love! Without you…..

The mellowed life turns dull, drab and hollow

The fathomless sea of life turns indeed shallow!

But, sanguine I am, one day, will be gravid my sterile stem

When you become mine, the breath of my life, my enviable Gem!

©Shankar D Mishra 18.03.2018

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.co

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Tq.

O THAT WE HAD BEEN CIVILIZED IN THE TRUEST SENSE OF THE TERM!

O THAT WE HAD BEEN CIVILIZED IN THE TRUEST SENSE OF THE TERM!

O that we had not been sitting on a live and lethal volcano’s mouth

While blindly bursting crackers from East to West, and North to South,

Taking the holy occasions as an easy, absurd and irrelevant excuse

Heading recklessly towards cutting apart the lovely Earth’s life-fuse!

O that we had not been, like the wild and intoxicated evening moths,

Getting frenzidly tempted by the smothering and murderous light,

Before being scorched while  mistaking to exude utmost delight

Alas! Finishing off, in an instant, the scripts of our own piteous pathos!

O that we had not been on a mad and blatant spree of self destruction

For many an irrational, unrestrained and perilous exhilaration,

Under the poor pretexts of Religious fervour and cultural celebrations

Severing off lives’ Inchcape Bells as Sir Ralph, with ruinous intentions!

O that we had been evolved and civilized in the truest sense of the term

To lengthen our life spans, and our dearest Mother Earth’ usual Term!

N.B: Sir Ralph was a sea pirate who cut off the Inchcape Bell which was fixed on a buoy and anchored around the Inchcape Rock to warn the sailors about the presence of the Inchcape Rock to divert their ships to save them from destructions. He himself was the victim of his own evil deedwhile he was returning from his plundering and getting collided against the same submerged rock.

©Shankar D Mishra 22.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 161 poems till date.

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LET’S CELEBRATE DIWALI LIKE THIS

LET’S CELEBRATE DIWALI LIKE THIS

Let’s go back to the eco-friendly earthen diyas, delicious sweets and alluring rangoli,

During the customary Annual Festival of Light, Diwali!

Let’s spread the illuminating radiance of hope among one and all,

Let’s rejoice over Truth’s Triumph, and  revel over Evil’s fall!

Let’s commemorate the return, from exile, of Ram, Laxman and Sita,

Let’s chant and practise the prime purport of the Bhagvat Gita!

Let’s make Diwali more memorable by diffusing the harmful crackers

Let’s become Nature’s, not blind destroyers, but most loving caretakers!

Let’s not make mockery of such a holy and pious occasion

By bursting deafening crackers, and spewing lethal poison!

Let’s not smother the breath of the already diseased Mother Nature

Let’s relieve Her of Her ever worsening pain due to our mad rapture!

Let’s be sensitive to Nature’s irreparably pollution-propelled wounds

Before being easily preyed by our own proliferated pollution hounds

Before being bitten by our pampered, frenzied and pernicious sounds

Before digging own graves on the ever expanding cremation grounds!

 diyas –  small cup-shaped oil lamps made of baked clay

 ©Shankar D Mishra 19.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 160 poems till date.

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LET’S PASS THREE FAVOURS ON DIWALI NIGHTS!

LET’S PASS THREE FAVOURS ON DIWALI NIGHTS!

Let’s pass a Diya on the dark hand of a forlorn child on the Diwali night

He can remove gloom from his life with its benevolent and warm light!

He can see the features of his libllings, father and mother

Who can spend some happy moments sitting and smiling toghther!

Let’s pass a packet of sweets, on his sad, hollow hand, on the Diwali night

We can behold then God sitting on the throne of his endless delight!

We can get ourselves dreanched wih the magnanimous Divine blessings,

“Thank you so much for making my family’s day!” when he blissfully sings!

On the Diwali night, let’s pass an enlightening and bright book on his hand

Thus, we can buttress him, on his honest legs, one day to proudly stand,

We can help him to experience to come true his long cherished goal,

We, with our sweet generosity, can play in his life a pivotal catalyst’s role!

Let’s celebrate every Diwali raining on the deserts the above three favours:

To bring Diwali in the lives of the most unfortunate and unprivileged brothers,

To bless with lights and cheers to many more needy and destitute fellow beings

To be ultimately blessed by the merciful Almighty the Elysian Salvation Rings!

diya – a small cup-shaped oil lamp made of baked clay

deserts – deserving persons

©Shankar D Mishra 15.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 159 poems till date.

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SAY, HOW MUCH GOOD TO BURN BILLIONS ON CRACKERS!

SAY, HOW MUCH GOOD TO BURN BILLIONS ON CRACKERS!

Hush! While multitudes of bellies are disgracefully dying of hunger,

For a crumb of bread, countless poor eyes are anxiously looking for,

Millions of hands are haplessly groping for a morsel of appetizing food,

Alas! Say, to burn billions on Crackers during festivals, how much good?

Hush! While innumerable kids are sorely deprived of books, pens and papers

Infinites ar unable to afford the indispensable cloths, napkins and diapers

Majorities are rotting under malnutrition’s embarrassing and uneasy hood

Ah! Say, to throw billions on Crackers during festivals, how much good?

Hush! While many are yet to switch on for only inevitable light

Let alone using fans, coolers and Acs for a sounder sleep at a hot night

Let alone dreaming of other cozy gadgets or gizmos of their neighbourhood

Ah! Say, to flow billions like water on Crackers during festivals, how much good?

Hush! Enough is enough. Let’s all say “No” , on any occasion, to Crackers

Let’s be more sensitive before blindly splurging, in vain, on Crackers crores

Before being the prime causes for Nature’s irreparable and irretrievable losses

Before this golden Earth turns untimely into pathetic pyres and aching ashes!

©Shankar D Mishra 14.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 158 poems till date.

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WHEN WILL WE ENJOY OUR SWEET EMANCIPATION?

WHEN WILL WE ENJOY OUR SWEET EMANCIPATION?

What is our crime of being a girl child?

We are neither inhuman nor wild,

We are neither alien nor savage.

Why are we then deprived of a man’s privilege?

What is our calumny of being a girl child,

Why are we ever used, abused and misused and riled?

Why are we ever, as inferior, discarded and underrated,

 Why are we ever undervalued and underestimated?

What is our offence of being a girl child?

Is Nature’s purity, by our birth, ever defiled?

Why are we ever deemed and pitied as ill-fated,

Why are we never in the schemes of things well-suited?

What is our blunder of being a girl child?

Why is our life no different from a ravaged battle field,

Why are we ever at the mercy of the masculine society,

Why are we ever born to succumb to fear, fright and anxiety?

What is our sin of being a girl child?

Why are we ever called naïve, inept and too mild,

Why is our himility ever unduly taken for granted?

Are we really like soots useless, worthless and unwanted?

How long will we be the easy preys to the ugly male domination?

When will we be released from the hateful cages of discrimination,

When will we relish the legislative flavour of the Constitution,

When will we enjoy our birth right – the sweet Emancipation?

N.B: This poem is dedicated to all the neglected girl children across the world on the occasion of International Girl Child Day.

©Shankar D Mishra 11.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 157 poems till date.

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O GOD! LET ME NEVER BE A SELF-CERTIFIED LOON!

O GOD! LET ME NEVER BE A SELF-CERTIFIED LOON!

O God! Let me never be a self-certified and hypocritical loon!

Let me never feign to have owned all the virtuous shines of a full Moon

Let me not, under any circumstances, shed hue and spew wrath, or frown

Let me ever be content with a petty and paltry pauper’s humdrum crown!

O God! Let me not slaughter like a butcher anyone’s rich and costly happiness

Let me not run, on one’s soft bosom, a greedy, sadistic and ignominious race!

Let me not win, by hook or by crook, this interminable life’s inscrutable Chess

Let me not envy at one’s enviable peace, prosperity and popularity at any case!

O God! Let me never be a stern teacher without ever being an obedient student

Let never my words, like barbs, cause in one’s feelings a sore gash or a deep dent!

Let not my actions ever loot one’s liberty and run over one’s valued Self-esteem

Let not my heinous intrusion steal the sweet Smiles of a calm and tranquil Stream!

O God! Let me ever do my best and utmost to please and gladden all at any cost

Let my life be a synonym for true Love, staunch loyalty and unshakable Trust!

Glossary

self-certified – self-proclaimed

 hypocritical – two-faced

loon – a mad man

feign – pretend

spew wrath – give out anger

petty and paltry pauper’s – of a very poor and ordinary man

humdrum – ordinary, commonplace

sadistic – cruel, one who takes interest in giving pain to others

ignominious - disgraceful

interminable - endless

inscrutable - hard to make out, understand

heinous intrusion - wrong interference

staunch - firm

synonym for – symbolize, stand for, be similar to

©Shankar D Mishra 11.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 156 poems till date.

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COMPLAINTS AND COMPLIMENTS

COMPLAINTS AND COMPLIMENTS

Complaints, if  biased and discriminatory, strike one as pounding hammers,

Under the unbearable buffets of complaints, one suffocates and stammers!

Under the crushing and demoralizing complaints, one gets shaken and broken

Instead of proving as antidotes, they create wounds irreparable and unspoken!

Hark! Complaints, like purifying fire, burn the rusts of one’s misdemeanour

Complaints, like insecticides, help one to grow healthier, and yield  more

Complaints, like injections, protect one’s mind against temptations meaner

Complaints cleanse the water of one’s thoughts, like the bleaching powder!

Compliments, like heavenly showers, revive one’s lost, defunct spirits,

Compliments, like nourishing diets, have many more unmatched merits!

Compliments can miraculously change a barren land into a green oasis,

Compliments, like spontaneous boons, pour vim, zest, gusto and bliss!

Hark! Undeserved compliments can often do more harm than good

Exorbitant compliments, like bribes, seduce and pervert the mood

Excessive compliments, like alluring, sticky candies, lead to moral cavaties

Pampering compliments, like yummy fast food , spoil one’s life’s Beauties!

Thus, let’s ever use and accept complaints and compliments judiciously

Let’s be all masters over our unrestrained instincts that spur us irresistibly!

Let’s ever be loyal, obedient slaves to the pure and conscientious Prudence

So thatwe can add to our mortal and  momentary lives an Immortal Sense!

©Shankar D Mishra 18.03.2018

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CAN’T WE BID AN “ADIEU” TO CRACKERS ON DIWALI?

CAN’T WE BID AN “ADIEU” TO CRACKERS ON DIWALI?

Can’t we celebrate Diwali, without deafening and pollution prone fire crackers,

Can’t we stop being Nature’s reckless, insensitive and tyrannical  destroyers,

Can’t we earnestly and solemnly plead for Her safety as the impartial lawyers,

Can’t we take sensible steps, like a gardener, to be Her natural Beauty makers?

Can’t we prevent splurging our hard-eaned means on bursting fiery fire crackers

Can’t we feed, instead, the hungry stomachs, not being Ecology’ s rash wreckers

Can’t we clothe the poverty- stricken naked children with our surplus wealth

Can’t we grow more greenery, at the same cost, to stop Nature’s premature death?

Can’t we rather illuminate our homes with safe and eco-friendly earthen lamps

Can’t we lengthen on earth our precious but, alas, endengered lives’ lamps

Can’t we spend money to gift sweets and goodies among the needy to spread love

Can’t we say determinedly “No” to fire crackers to preserve our unique Globe?

Can’t we all bury the crackers to enjoy a more healthy and salubrious Diwali

Can’t we bid an instant “Adieu” to the crackers on Diwali to live longer happily?

AN APPEAL: Hope, all the readers of this poem will take an oath to say ‘NO’ to firecrackers on Diwali and on any other festive occasion.

 BID AN “ADIEU” - SAY A "GOODBYE"

©Shankar D Mishra 06.10.2017

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

My blog contains 154 poems till date.

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AN ODE TO MAHATMA GANDHIJI, THE FATHER OF THE NATION

AN ODE TO MAHATMA GANDHIJI, THE FATHER OF THE NATION

Thy name flashes before every mind two facets uniquely fantastic:

An old man, enlightened and bald headed,

A wrinkled, pensive and farsighted forehead,

A typical round shaped, bespectacled and beautiful nose,

A half-clad chest with a Khadi napkin adeptly home made,

A hand-spun dhoti, covered from the loin up to the knee, aways glows,

A far-fetched hand with a firm and unwavering walking stick,

And a pair of safe and indigenous wooden slippers with an ever steady tread!

 

A man of sublime simplicity,

A symbol of vivacious veracity,

A lover of transcendental integrity,

A practitioner of unalloyed purity!

A bold and uncommon speaker of his own weaknesses,

A harmless Knight armed with the safest weapon of non-violence,

A praiseworthy warrior armoured with the shield of forbearance,

A staunch devotee of passive resistance!

A rare replica of sweating perseverance,

A hungry man’s sweet sustenance,

A nobility of the mind’s instance,

A soft flower of peace-love fragrance!

A universal figure adored by the friends and the foes,

A coveted plant of thorn-less rose,

A hardworking cultivator, who freedom seeds, sows

A bright torchbearer, who only just, righteous path shows!

A real founder of Ram’s impartial and dream Realm,

A true detester of Chair, Crown and stardom,

A noble believer in Vasudhaiba Kutumbakam,

Yes, an unprecedented Idol of Martyrdom!

HAPPY GANDHI JAYANTI, THE BIRTHDAY OF MAHATMA GANDHI!

Copyright: Dr. Shankar D Mishra, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 02.10.2022

Website: https://devankarclasses.com 

THE PLIGHT OF THE ABANDONED OLDER PEOPLE

THE PLIGHT OF THE ABANDONED OLDER PEOPLE

Do ask them the real definition of plight:

Who are precariously abandoned at the remotest old-age shelters,

Who are heartlessly deprived of playing with their cute, little grand sons and daughters,

Ah! Who are unkindly divested of their own built homes’ ecstatic day light!

Do ask them the real sense of sadness of life like enslaved birds in a cage:

Who are detestably deserted in the dustbins of old-age asylums,

Who are fatelessly forced to rot like unwanted and abominable garbage,

Ah! Who oscillate hopelessly at fag ends between uncertainty and death as pendulums!

Do ask them the real pinch of an unthinkably agonizing separation:

Who are insensibly kicked off to live at the mercy of adverse circumstances,

Who are carelessly taken off like over-used  slippers by their very own,

Ah! Who are cruelly coerced to perform, to the bitter beat of buffets, doleful dances!

O God! Let the plight of the abandoned older people soon be over!

Let all the insensitive offspring now muse, ponder and  think over,

To hug their godlike creators; neither to sever them again nor to shear ever,

To turn their homes to the heavens of love so as to be blest with a Divine Favour!

N.B: This poem is dedicated to all the older people in the world on the occasion of “International Day of Older Persons.”

© Dr. Shankar D Mishra, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

 07.12.2021

Blog: sdmpoetry.blogspot.com

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