The vast ocean, so calm
A façade of pristine nothingness
Eyes cannot scan the vastness
It engulfs your vision
The salt waters, abode for many
Known and unknown species
Rich with its own heritage
So many tales have been chronicled
Folklore mystifies it with stories
Sea of troubles and possibilities
The bravest have traversed
Facing the fierce predicaments
Relentlessly testing the valiant
So many continents surrounding it
Minuscule landscapes compared to it
Carries so much history
Forever lost in its vast depths
We are yet to reach its depths
And the world that is thriving under
We have lived with it
And yet to decipher
The ocean and its uncharted territory

The house at the end of the street
In a dilapidated condition, today
There has been perpetual winter
Surrounded by the woods
Nature reclaimed most of the part
Tentacles of roots gripping tight
Many memories must be there
Still breathing with anticipation
The old framed pictures
Lying there, wanting to narrate
The story untold
Everything seemed gray
Roof will someday cave in
Burying the last remnants
It will be a part of nature
The folklore of yesteryear
The walls still holding fort
In few years time
That will be gone too

The painter wanted to paint
Staring at the blank canvas for long
He just put his signature at the corner
He did not have anything more
To improvise on the white-washed ideas

You insisted on coming along
But never along the same path
The forked road drew us apart

We usually take the paved path,
It is crowded all along,
As we are all jostling for space and recognition.
It always leads to the mundane and the necessary,
Binding us to a routine we enact,
Our mind’s being concrete in our thinking and decision.
We dwell not beyond what we can see and feel,
We are numbed by the wrath of fast paced life,
Do we not want to veer away from the usual and experience life?
The paved path can offer us just that,
And restrict our feelings and thinking,
Envision what lies beyond the horizon...

The complications of being uncomplicated create a tangled plot in life's drama.

The prophecy went unheard
The minuscule started playing colossus  
Hedonistic era prolonged the mayhem
Abhorrence spread its root deep
Uprooting them from the original existence
Feeding off the unnatural sources
Comeuppance awaited the inebriated beings

Reflection in the water
Created silent ripples
Interaction with self
Or maybe the alter ego
Trying to catch a glimpse
Of the world within
If only momentarily
Mirrors gave perfection
To the reflection
Only to stay in the mind
The conflicts between
Inner and outer world
Sometimes shattered
By the truth

Why feel miserable
When you have a choice
Don’t let your guard down
Fend off the barrage of accusations
Wanting to make you feel-
Depressed
Degraded
Disparaged
Defeated
Turn away from the intimidation
When you can live big
Not let someone belittle your mind
And the big heart
That beats with love
For yourself and dear ones
Indomitable, the soul is
And you are a formidable force
To break those iron grips
Shatter their wrongdoing
And give yourself a chance
Life awaits you
And it’s beautiful out there

Soul is nourished by love
Heart is the vault where love resides
Flowing a silent course
Invigorating our being and love decides

In the blank pages
Where my feelings flow freely
Once suppressed within my heart
The ink overflows with emotions
Across the white canvas
Where the nomadic mind gets respite
From constant supervision of the world
The blank pages offer a tranquil retreat
Healing the soul of all travails

In anonymity the brook flows
Walking along the woods
Faint gurgling sound reaches me
Lodged in the quaint corner
The sparkling water winks at me
Glistening with playful sun rays
Peeping among the swaying leaves
Adorning the woods with its glitz
Its flamboyance is mesmerizing
Chattering with so much glee
Even the pebbles seem to be alive
My feet feel the cold embrace
Cleansing the fatigued traveler’s woe

Unaware of the music within
Rarely dancing to its rhythm
An outsider pulls the wrong chords
Making us dance to their discordant tunes
Becoming mere puppets, with strings attached
Unable to play the right notes
Our music relegating to the subconscious
Drowning among the loud beats
The hand of the stranger plays along
Touching all the wrong notes
Music, not close to the heart
Life is taken over by the estranged notes
Till then the subconscious waits in agony
Waiting for the moment to be in limelight
And hoping to become the music conductor
Playing the right notes and dancing to the right tunes

© Amitav

There are so many roads you can take
To reach your destination in life
The busy road, the lonely road and broken road
You step on so many footsteps
Wondering, whether they will lead you there
So many roads, all seems to be leading somewhere
Which one do you choose?
Or you take the road everyone takes, without thinking
No matter where you are
And you want to reach there, maybe alone
You are there carving a new road for yourself
Being on the road, the lonely traveler
With many experiences to gather
You can be the best storyteller, when you are there
After a long and arduous journey

The script is written
So many dialogues
To deliver
Many roles to play
Demanding schedule
No director’s cut
Make-up, costume
Locations and lights
Cameras rolling
Dialogues with co-actors
Romance, action, drama
Sometimes comedy
Different genres
But the stage is same
The script demands
Actor’s dedication

The cryptic scripts lay there abandoned
Written by some mystic years ago
For the world was not prepared to decipher
As it did not resonate with the times

We keep on searching
Inventing and re-inventing
Dexterous minds
Looking for solutions
Problems seeded deeper
Takes root firmly
As we hone our skills
To mitigate our fate
We create a bid divide
Chasm wide and unfathomable
Disarrayed paths
Somnambulists take the lead
Unknown hurdles
Every time they falter

When you don’t feel the soft breeze
There is absolute stillness around
Nothing is exchanged with nature
The little messenger brings no tales
From the faraway lands
What’s conspiring in the silence?
Heart is eager to know
Birds too have stopped chirping
Maybe they are one with you
Respecting your inner silence
Feel the soft breeze of change, within

The howling storm
Tore across the lovely rose petals
Only thorns remain

Every sunrise is a new awakening
Illuminating the intellect with power
To dispel darkness from the world
Embracing every heart with its warmth
And nurturing love to full blown flowers
Making this celestial garden resplendent
Its beautiful rays prancing in every particle
Holding the brightness of the sun, within

As the night descends
Stars shine brighter
Enchanted the soul is
In solemn moments
Wearing it as talisman

There is nothing to be amassed
I am just a traveler passing by
Only surviving on nature’s bounty
Genuflecting to her kindness
Embracing me as her own
Humbled by her generosity
Treating everyone equally
For ages so many walked by
Trying to mind a meaning of self
Peacefully finding a resting place

Uproot me from the solitary woods
And plant me in your backyard
For, that is where I can be nurtured
And, I can be your shade, from the harsh sun*


© Amitav (Radiance)

Ancient tree, with roots deep down
Standing ground for ages unknown
Gentle giant soaring over undergrowth
Lonely, it stood there as part of history
It’s foliage glistening from fresh showers
Standing there alone without any remorse
The mossy green sheath on the tree trunk
Finding solitary refuge in the calmness
The sleepy rocks beneath, there for company
Lifeless surface comes alive with lichens
Lonely tree, standing there happy, for ages
Spreading its branches and nurturing life

Shards of broken glasses
Strewn all over the floor
Shattered dreams all over
Jagged edges of regret
Once held with affection
Held the fragrant flowers
Special Cymbidium Orchids
It’s pristine presence felt
Adorned the corsage
Now, lay shattered
No place for the Orchids
Wailing of broken dreams
Now, memories linger

It’s just like the empty space …
Unable to express

At the quiet corner of the beach
Quaint waves come rushing
To embrace the shores
With desire deep within
Even the jagged rocks seem to melt
Such is the intensity
Love can persist forever
And deluge the toughest
Life is so rich
When love resides within

There were ways and there are ways
Ways chosen by you, and when ways choose you
Different from the usual ways
Or the most crowded ways, which everyone takes
The pathways to leading to a way
Erratically, frantically, rushing towards the common way
You are just another one amongst the crowd
Crowded ways, where you do not get a foothold
Barely managing to be pushed along the way of beaten path
An addiction, to find the seemingly easier way
For, our minds have become concrete, like the pathway
Concrete thoughts of about the way of the world
Trampled dreams and losing the way, leading nowhere
A distant goal, which is more like a hallucination
We sway this way and that way, influenced by the common ways
Becoming wayward, and dropping off midway
Clichéd as it may seem- ‘to take the road less traveled’
It’s now time to carve a new way, which is your way
Trust your instincts, and walk away on the pathway, to reach your destination




© Amitav (Radiance)

Every day he saw her by the window
Never did she step out in the garden
Searching for something in distant land
Not aware of his presence as he passed by
Only the window to her outside world
He could read the silent remorse in her eyes
Colorful flowers bloomed in her garden
But never was she aware of the colors
She was a silent observer in another land
He could never breach the precinct of her world
Her eyes were never a window to her soul
Never lifted the veil which draped her
He could not stir any feelings in her frozen heart
The winter had never left her heart
An avalanche of sorrow engulfed her soul
Frozen in the past, not aware of the present
Searching for something in the distant land

I was brought into this house
Ordered from the local furniture shop
Made to order according to specifications
I am a wingback,
Upholstered in full-grain leather  
True to my rich heritage
I was placed in the library
Amongst the illustrious works of famous writers
Half- a - century have passed, providing support
To the backbone of the family
Although tired, he finds solace in my cozy embrace
I give him my wings to fly into the world of literature
Cervantes, Bunyan, Bacon, Goehte, Dostoevsky, Chekov, Tolstoy
Some of the names from the illustrious collection
Not all were privileged to have a seat here
He was transported to each era, savoring the rich legacy
Of literature down the centuries
I was privy to the mind-boggling debates
Which he conducted with himself
Trying to reason each work of literature
A mere wingback rose to be a companion
Providing sturdy support on the mahogany legs
One fine day the reading session ended in deep slumber
Five decades of bonding and companionship came to an end
Now, I stand here, forlorn, at the corner of the library
Reminiscing the reading sessions, and siesta
The wingback does not have the wings to fly away from this bond




© Amitav (Radiance)

Severe winter’s freezing
Ground covered with heavy snow
Preserving seeds for Spring

The words float in the air
playing hide n seek
between the trees
flying across the sky
kissing the mountain tops
hiding in the clouds
glowing with borrowed light
from the sun and moon
day and night
words do inspire
the soul also privy
to the unfolding story
- close to the heart
the senses caressing
- the words find meaning
sitting here contemplating
its a world so ethereal
- will be inked
indelible from memory
the words breathe life
conveying my feelings
my words
are now lying there on paper

Only read words?
Or, the feelings behind them
Wrenched out by the heart
Interspersed with memories
Words tug at your senses
Only if you wish to decipher
Unwraps the inner feelings
Carrying the burden to convey
Every word is worth a read
With a will to understand them

A world was created for us
To keep us in harmony
Now, we have created on that
A distortion of the dream
Askew now, with burden
Of what we shall leave behind