Today

No matter what you do,
The world moves on at its pace,
Break your hand or tear your heart,
Perish your body or sell the soul,
The world moves on the way it wants.
Split the atom or synthesize a gene,
Discover the cell or the basis of life,
Travel the speed of sound,
or its multiples,
The world moves on as it will,
with the same ratio of
Joy and sorrow,
The same degree, scope, quantity and
quality of,
human suffering.
For a stone, spear, arrow or mace,
sword, dagger, knife or gun,
grenade, bomb or missile,
spills the same red blood,
and takes the same innocent life,
As does the atom.
Yesterday,
a thousand spears were raised
to kill a thousand lives.
Today,
a nuclear bomb is enough
thousand-fold.
But the thoughts behind it
and the intentions
are the same.
No matter what you do it’s all the same.
Cure a deadly disease
and a deadlier arrives in its place.
Kill the killer
and you’re branded one.
Topple the top
and you’ll be toppled in time.
Rule the country or the world.
Nothing changes,
it’s all the same,
no matter what you do.
Spend a lifetime in a penance.
God won’t come to Earth.
Create a religion of love today,
tomorrow it’ll be one of hate.
A saviour will come and save the world.
And soon it’ll be in need of saving again.

(This poem appeared in The Asian Age on March 17, 1996)

Disillusionment

Darkness darkness everywhere
and not a light to think
Walls walls everywhere
and not the slightest chink
Loose ends loose ends everywhere
and not a thread to link
Eyes eyes everywhere
and not the time to blink
Yellow yellow everywhere
but not the shade of pink
Keys keys everywhere
and not a lock to click
Boats boats everywhere
and still we’re going to sink

(This poem appeared in a student’s publication called Cheel in Jodhpur in July 1993)

Senses Better Left Senseless

I open my eyes and I see darkness
I close then and a blinding light
I open my ears and hear sadness
I close them and it’s joy in flight

I open my nose and smell decay
I close it and find a new freshness
I open my mouth and breathe foul air
I close it and feel no breathlessness

I open my heart and feel the treachery
I close it and find hope and faith
I open my mind and reach a dead end
I close it… an eternal road with no hate

© Sunil Rajguru

A Piece of Freedom

There is so much suffering in my heart
so many tears that I have held back
so much that my tongue has to say
so much substance that my words lack

My memories strain under the burden
my thoughts are too heavy for my mind
my feelings slowly sink into the past
as my very self I fail to find

I stare at the empty darkness
as I’m locked in a door less room
the four bare walls, floor and ceiling
all together spell my doom

I years for a small free space
and just one breath of fresh air
I yearn for just one moment of life
a moment I can live without care

© Sunil Rajguru

Where is my song?

My blood rushes as my heart recoils
My body convulses as my head boils
My conscience shudders as my soul awakes
My mouth vomits as my stomach aches
I fall down as my legs can’t carry
I don’t look up as my eyes see a haze
My hands are stiff and self unwilling
The burden of guilt is slowly killing
My self, my depths and my soul
God… save me from this hellhole

My tongue doesn’t speak—it’s been too loose
Too late. What now? It’s no use.
My shoulders are crushed under the burden
My back has been totally broken
I speak no more, do no more
Think no more. Hope no more.
I’m like a grave. Dead and lifeless
The heart is full of pain yet expression painless
What is right? What is wrong?
God! Where the hell is my song?

© Sunil Rajguru