HOPE

HOPE

Like the burning candle fighting the winter breeze;

Like the melting snow at mercurial degrees.

Like the falling water from a steep;

Like the dead waves in the deep.

Like the sun at dusk shies to gleam;

Like the slavery of moon to the dark's deem.

The Candle shall fight and stand its flame.

The snow shall form from a mercurial game.

The falling water shall be a stream.

The waves at shore will sound a bold scream.

The sun shall rise from the abyss of night.

Light shall fall, iridescent like the bold Knight.

-        - Arun Dev Kumar.

ANOTHER WORLD

ANOTHER WORLD

A profound sense of simplicity in these eyes;

Stunned, yet Curiosity they guise.

Guileless faces though quiet, express more;

Many ignorant souls, they won’t lore.

These eyes seeking a mystical force;

What many merit by, they do not remorse.

Confined within dilapidated walls, it does n’t shake them;

They coalesce to make a world, the endowed condemn.

Blistered feet, earned in pursuit of banal necessities;

Their joy of satisfaction rests on a plinth of miseries.

A palate oblivious to the nobility of wine;

Satiated by chunks of bread; shared with love most divine.

I leave their fragile world, a world they mirthfully own;

 It is a web, alienated from hands and cologne.

-ARUN DEV KUMAR

A HERMIT'S HYMN

A HERMIT’S HYMN

Walking down a path unknown;

My bare feet scorched;

But humming a song;

The path dark and gloomy, it wasn’t torched.

Stumbling over gentle stones and massive rocks;

Trembling with fear, I kept humming the song;

Unwary, I kept stepping with confidence;

A Hermit’s journey it was, no voices no throng.

Then I stepped on a hallowed ground;

There was an echo of laughter;

And a mesmerizing tune from the harp;

But there too was a crook and a grafter.

The space so amusing, it was surreal;

But life is never so fair;

So I walked along a convergent path;

My ambition clear, pumped with flare.

My ambition fulfilled, but I wanted more;

The fierce flare in my eyes, ;

The foci I had to outscore;

Never to perish like snow, neither deplore.

-ARUN DEV KUMAR

THE FALLEN KIN.

THE FALLEN KIN

As dusk sets in and the sun sets over the horizon;

A hue majestically spreads over the dark of night;

Resplendent over the clouds like nimbus;

Divine in its heavenly stupor;

The shadows of moonlight bow in awe;

Jealous of its splendor he drew his sword, the mighty Orion.

The hue bragged of its invincibility and exaggerated its space;

“This is my firmament” Orion cried in anger and summoned his lights;

Bold he was, his blade ready to slash;

But the iridescent hue sat unwary, Subtle in its looks but a proud ace;

The ill-tempered constellation has now sinned;

Drew his sword and slashed his friend;

Content he was, his morals wasted;

Selena cried in grief;

“oh mighty Orion he was the son of  Helios”;

The mighty Orion had slaughtered his kin;

His sword fell from his bold grip;

Cursed himself “never shall I be so bright”;

I have betrayed my existence forever in paradise;

I shall take this sin to my crypt;

And so ended the tragedy;

Full of beauty and misery;

With wounds which will sour in time;

As darkness charges without a Lyam;

       --ARUN DEV KUMAR.