"earthwards" poems
over a snow-covered mountain top in heaven
some secret river lies
stirring not earthwards
this river of the Gods
and then a prince disturbs
her peaceful ferocity
with determined prayer to cleanse
the sins of his forefathers
Look she trembles with wounded pride!
Not a mere mortal river is she
a Goddess, her anger awakened
but she must proceed
the Gods have asked her so she shall go
but she makes her displeasure known
threatening to swallow all of existence
she follows
the earth shakes
it cannot hold her weight
her power her strength her majestic gait
life-giver, she is now a messenger of death
in her anger she is beautiful,
this world cannot sustain her
only he who wields the trident
can reign in her fall
and then the Mahadev traps her
even as she falls in a mighty torrent
thinking she will sweep him
to the nether regions
in his locks she is lost
struggling, she resembles
the naga around his neck
she spits like a cobra
this immortal river
stays tangled in his locks for many a year
till, defeated and frustrated
she begs forgiveness
and then with his blessings
she trickles down
still furious in pace
but in heart at peace
the mother of all rivers-
this river of rebirth
her sound like thunder
her hair like streaks of lightning
celestial beings witness
the skies are lit
the parched earth satiated
Ganga has descended
as Bhagirathi
- Vijayalakshmi Harish
03.09.2012
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish
Sep 3, 2012
Sep 3, 2012 at 3:32 AM UTC
A ripened sky splits and bleeds
Mangled reds and blacks;
An instant melts as heat from
Clustered newborn suns --
Blistered from the wounds --
Collects and beams 1600 feet
Earthwards from Fat Man's
Plump and pompous underbelly.
The pure-light pin-prick stopped
The city's pulse for a moment;
Collecting remnants of the
Beating hearts (of artists,
Doctors, students, parents,
Preachers, rats, and peasants)
To plant on rotting soil -
A hellish fungal pustule.
The swelling abscess breathed
But once and burst to
Ripple excess outwards
Soaking up the landscape;
Ingesting miles and spewing
Spores towards septic skies to form
A mass of mushroomed
Might and pyrrhic triumph.
May 27, 2015
May 27, 2015 at 11:21 AM UTC
Where life permeated through lushest
Colours reaching high, the heavens
Jealousy of such radiance as beautiful
As any sunset ever seen was eyed.
There wrath was swift as clouds of
Rage darkened and a kiss from the
Heavens graced Bark and leaf. All was
Still as ash fell earthwards in onyx tears.
Where elegant shades flowed, wisps of
Extinguished colour blossomed then faded
To oblivions nothingness. The heavens are
Beautiful but hide ominous jealous rage.
Jan 3, 2016
Jan 3, 2016 at 8:57 AM UTC
Awaiting that moment, was it
Meant to be, as two feathers
Floated upon a last breath.
White as if from heaven, landed
Settled upon the left eye.
Seeing, searching the mind of
All the good that was done.
Dark as night a feather as ominous
As night itself fell upon the right.
Seeing, searching the soul for
All that tainted through life.
Barbs did seed upon the flesh,
and all that was known was now
Learnt, nothing hidden all was
seen from within.
Each rachis did fill, leached from
The body of what was drawn in,
Soul, heart, mind now emptied
in to each feather filled.
The quill did drip, with all that
Was taken, the feathers had fallen
Earthbound each partaken upon the
Gateways of the soul.
What did it find within, as a drop
Fell from each upon the lips, and
A last word spoken from each.
But only you will speak these words
Once the feathers fall and see all
Within. One white, one black which
One will carry you, where will your
Afterlife now begin.
May 3, 2015
May 3, 2015 at 7:22 AM UTC
moons tears fall earthwards
beads brighten heavens darkness
wishes dissipate
Jul 10, 2015
Jul 10, 2015 at 3:56 PM UTC
The clouds are blushing
Tonight, a great weary eye
Bloodshot, it weeps above
The unfinished conquering
Of the used, tired, blue earth
And all the sky is pointed tonight,
A bullseye omen bleeds earthwards,
Matadors have red caped the world.
Sep 28, 2015
Sep 28, 2015 at 4:55 AM UTC
She speaks in tongues and earthwards—
Angels fall listening how to know divinity
From lips that open and close as do tides
Slip, blooming with the face of the moon.
She walks in airs of splendour and light—
Shoulders kin, her child riding on a beam
Vanquishing the sun with celebrated night
Set in reflection on lake waters, little moon.
Dec 25, 2014
Dec 25, 2014 at 4:12 PM UTC
.
She speaks in tongues and earthwards—
Angels fall listening how to know divinity
From lips that open and close as do tides
Slip, blooming with the face of the moon.
She walks in airs of splendour and light—
Shoulders kin, her child riding on a beam
Vanquishing the sun with celebrated night
Set in reflection on lake waters, little moon.
.
Jun 21, 2017
Jun 21, 2017 at 11:05 PM UTC
Listen
to these green plants
pleading
beseeching
you would think
they'd be used to it by now
but every year the same old thing
look the rain is finished folks
you're on your own now
nine months before the next shower
this is how leaves suffocate
see the gray dust clogging their pores
hear them choking
under a wind thrown blanket
this is how they drown
brittle and crackling the grasses
soon the weight
of a starving grasshopper
will be enough to snap
them
shrubs will dump
their curled up castoffs
earthwards
scribbled twigs alone
will remain
from now on
only the thieving airplants
will thrive
viral invaders
******* sap from reluctant hosts
who can ill afford
to accommodate them
now patient rocks
are emerging from cover
each a palette of vivid lichens
sundecks for snakes and lizards
now that the clamouring grass
is gone
the land lies baking
withdrawn
curling
into herself
even the air
sighs
slumps
soon fire will come
to cannibalise
the undergrowth
play chasey
through the dry grass
send ants scurrying
downstairs
flip a nod
to the big old cactuses
tickle the toes
of the mesquites-
who will stand stoic
observing the pillage
around their hot feet
and shrug
resigned
seen it all before
they are above it all really
fire
will play homage
to their indifference
lay down
a black velvet carpet
wind
will whistle up
tiny tornadoes of ash
to pirouette
and perish
everyone
will accept the inevitable
eventually
and just knuckle down
to wait it out
in a state of trance
floating
on a dream
of rain
Tricia Lambert
Mexico
Nov 2010
Sep 18, 2011
Sep 18, 2011 at 10:07 AM UTC
How can you find beauty in something so ugly
Because your lies twinkle down my spine
Like sharp rose thorns in the spring time
You’re a rose and I’m afraid of being pricked
Everyone wanted me to see that we could not thrive, so gouge out my eyes.
Because if this is reality then I guess I'm not alive.
You’re like the Dead Sea I sink when you are with me
Covering me with sand all over my sunburnt wounds
I used to think you were the resilient hues in the sky bringing out sunlight
But you’re a tidal wave you rip right through me
The tears in my eyes are seen as cold and sad
The darkness of the rain you overcast breaks upon me
Take what you can from me
Take only what you need
A family of trees wanting to be haunted
Control yourself control your needs
Dreaming in the lows, I never thought I'd see this high
Now I'm shooting for the moon, you're calling me a lunar light
Staring at the roots, nobody there to help me grow
I was longing for the rain, you were the flood that made me overflow
You're everything that I hoped for
That's why I gave you my all
You're everything that I prayed for
But you were stolen
Why did everything change?
Everything was ours
Everything was stolen and now it’s all gone
We found the rain, but if we start to peel away the grey
Maybe we're home
When your heart weighs down on my shoulders
And your eyes wide lose me at sea
and your words make a smoldering fire
You are the moon pulling tides over me
Giving me grey notes that sing through the windows
Let’s,
Step out into the wild
There's a beautiful storm in your eyes
We're perfectly intertwined
And if it's quite alright, you could be my way of life
Sea salt sits on your lips
Birds fall earthwards from cliffs
Thought I couldn't do this
But I'm fine 'cause you're by my side
Now where do you go?
Why do you leave?
And as the waves grow in between
Harder the days go
Darling I'm folding
I'm on my knees
You give me nothing
When there's nothing else
So deep the water
But you're hiding in the shallows
And I'm left here drowning out
Mar 8, 2018
Mar 8, 2018 at 3:13 PM UTC
Cards passing hands
Back and forth
Hissing as they shuffle together
Then apart once more
Laid out before her
Bangles click softly
Air thick with incense
Sweet and heavy
Jars arranged along the shelves
Each collected carefully by size
Glittering things
Some slither or sing
Whispering words
As the cards turn over
A fool smiles beside the devil
Dark Tower forever crashing earthwards
The path unfolding
A story now told
Under the cover of a gypsy's wagon
May 14, 2012
May 14, 2012 at 3:08 PM UTC
Hiking in a musty wood,
A path is laid in mulch and fern,
Dark and canopied, rung evergreen
And deciduously rooted. My one goal
Set to plateau, reach of hilltop meadow,
Others had told me, lay a pond in the sky,
Was there to experience a peek, where tall
Grasses and dry luster of flowers wild, sang
In highland clearings of golden lace and tarn,
Set with sun to fly and by sharing the long ocean
Straights, beyond the wildest, white horned mountains
Of the moody pacific and with eyes casted once more of
Youth, after sanded sleep and then to steep in wandering
Cloud, as eagles, robed in light and gleems of night, drift,
Careening wistful and free as running dream or simply roam
A foot as the wise, bearded, mountain goats sure and snowy
As they ruminate and forage.
At elevated breaking point,
Of storied, pristine clearing, a smoking, lone marmot knotted
His voice in plead and alarm as I was about to breach,
As brigand, the sun clad forbidden, citadel unbidden,
Home of pious souls, of cerulean still waters, intact
Peace, untrampled sanctuary. As made, that day,
Unwashed interloper, I gazed through threshold
Ends of trees and respectfully circled,
Reverent in spectacle and joy,
Back, down, earthwards.
Mar 4, 2015
Mar 4, 2015 at 6:48 PM UTC
.
Hiking in a musty wood,
A path is laid in mulch and fern,
Dark and canopied, rung evergreen
And deciduously rooted. My one goal
Set to plateau, reach of hilltop meadow,
Others had told me, lay a pond in the sky,
Was there to experience a peek, where tall
Grasses and dry luster of flowers wild, sang
In highland clearings of golden lace and tarn,
Set with sun to fly and by sharing the long ocean
Straights, beyond the wildest, white horned mountains
Of the moody pacific and with eyes casted once more of
Youth, after sanded sleep and then to steep in wandering
Cloud, as eagles, robed in light and gleems of night, drift,
Careening wistful and free as running dream or simply roam
A foot as the wise, bearded, mountain goats sure and snowy
As they ruminate and forage.
At elevated breaking point,
Of storied, pristine clearing, a smoking, lone marmot knotted
His voice in plead and alarm as I was about to breach,
As brigand, the sun clad forbidden, citadel unbidden,
Home of pious souls, of cerulean still waters, intact
Peace, untrampled sanctuary. As made, that day,
Unwashed interloper, I gazed through threshold
Ends of trees and respectfully circled,
Reverent in spectacle and joy,
Back, down, earthwards.
Mar 16, 2015
Mar 16, 2015 at 5:42 PM UTC
…
Some birds are blue
Carry the sky
Earthwards
Ground birds nest
In bushes
Bursting like sun
Water birds
Swim to what is there
Always reaching
An eagle is like wind
Never chasing
Simply lofted
Crows are busy
So like tribulations
Spots of wind
A swan knows
Water will carry
As water in cloud
Some birds are dressed
Forthright on earth
The wren, the robin or quail
Each bird is dream
Miracles for us to see
Feathers fall from heaven
Jun 4, 2015
Jun 4, 2015 at 8:50 PM UTC
.
From their private jets,
The primal privileged
Spot a spark earthwards,
The glint of the rolling
Out of guillotines.
Guillotines so tall, waiting,
Just for them and they know
It was coming, as they know
They have it coming.
The rabble they so despise,
Yet pander for as they pull
Wool and leave all in cold,
The wretched who someday
Read injustice in the leaves,
The Princes of sham, cloven,
Always bearing woven bags,
Carpet dreams of desperate,
Down trodden, never fearing
To be trampled, till the blade
Is shining in the searing light
Of new day.
For retribution is a fable
The reptilian upper classes
Are cold to see as it strikes,
Their forked tongues,
Eventual as slimy winter
Strangles themselves
In a hollow cave,
Unmarked.
Even the dirt is soiled
With their fame, their
Scaled names, even
Sun will not shine
On the bloodied blots
They have wrought.
Such murderous stiffs,
Who enslaved all warmth
And empathizers in a rug
Fit for a tomb. And all their
Art as false as they!
The earthy shall rise
And salt their mortal
Wounds, songs will not be sung
For the indifferent masters
Who now pour into streets
Made for severed muck.
The only beauty they left:
Opulent, soppy-red coiffured heads
As they roll on the potholed,
Sooty pavements.
May 27, 2016
May 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM UTC
…
Some birds are blue
Carry the sky
Earthwards
Ground birds nest
In bushes
Bursting like sun
Water birds
Swim to what is there
Always reaching
An eagle is like wind
Never chasing
Simply lofted
Crows are busy
So like tribulations
Spots of wind
A swan knows
Water will carry
As water in cloud
Some birds are dressed
Forthright on earth
The wren, the robin or quail
Each bird is dream
Miracles for us to see
Feathers fall from heaven
Jan 1, 2016
Jan 1, 2016 at 2:18 PM UTC
.
She speaks in tongues and earthwards—
Angels fall listening how to know divinity
From lips that open and close as do tides
Slip, blooming with the face of the moon.
She walks in airs of splendour and light—
Shoulders kin, her child riding on a beam
Vanquishing the sun with celebrated night
Set in reflection on lake waters, little moon.
Dec 26, 2016
Dec 26, 2016 at 6:10 PM UTC
.
She speaks in tongues and earthwards—
Angels fall listening how to know divinity
From lips that open and close as do tides
Slip, blooming with the face of the moon.
She walks in airs of splendour and light—
Shoulders kin, her child riding on a beam
Vanquishing the sun with celebrated night
Set in reflection on lake waters, little moon.
.
May 8, 2019
May 8, 2019 at 5:46 PM UTC
*There, There
Comes my LOVE
in form of beauty
In the form of soulful eyes
In the form of fragrant breeze
And I know
Here comes my demise of death
Now I'm ready to live LIFE happily
Here, Here
My heart jumps out of my body
My soul connects with another being
My body falls away earthwards
Can you see me fly?
Give way, Give way
Mountains, clouds, moon and stars
I'm soaring up to heaven now
Move aside, Move aside
Oh Paradise
I'm coming to Heaven
Thank you, Thank you
Oh LOVE
Thank You
You granted me the boon
Every being is waiting for
Now I need not fear death anymore
For the first time, For the first time
I am going to kiss my BELOVED
from whom I was separated
Since the day we were born
I've arrived, I've arrived
Within your arms Beloved
Embrace me.... EMBRACED!
Ah!
Bliss!
Ecstasy!
Eternity!*
Jun 12, 2015
Jun 12, 2015 at 10:27 AM UTC
.
She speaks in tongues and earthwards—
Angels fall listening how to know divinity
From lips that open and close as do tides
Slip, blooming with the face of the moon.
She walks in airs of splendour and light—
Shoulders kin, her child riding on a beam
Vanquishing the sun with celebrated night
Set in reflection on lake waters, little moon.
Jul 11, 2015
Jul 11, 2015 at 10:29 PM UTC
lights descend earthwards
charred essences, life's remnant
Onyx snowflakes fall
Aug 6, 2015
Aug 6, 2015 at 4:21 PM UTC
even the trees were lost in silence,
locked in thought,
although ever present,
ever wondering,
ever being,
and standing,
strong, tall figures
for what we,
as humans
are not
and they stood,
shoulder to shoulder,
so much stronger
than we ever could be
with their lies entwined
in branches
wrapped calmly with tokens
of gratitude in the form
of leaves that
fall
so softly
earthwards
[i.k.]
Jan 11, 2015
Jan 11, 2015 at 9:26 AM UTC
You want to figure it out—how to touch him without feeling like that's where he's supposed to be, under your fingertips and deep underneath your skin, because it's so lonely there—in the crevices between your bones and in the path your blood runs time and time again—and you don't wish it on him, to be the one thing that forever stays still.
You have you and you have no one and somewhere along the line they became one and the same—If you never move on and grow earthwards instead of up, doesn't that count as settling down?—If you stand in a quiet room staring at a broken clock, can't you still work out the world?
You try to speak up, but your voice wavers and breaks, a faltering tendril of unexpressed sense. You think of not being able to give him this—your words detangling themselves and only having a bunch of letters you can't make sense of and a heavy heart there's no getting rid of—and you try again.
You say, "I want to, and yet—"
Jun 30, 2020
Jun 30, 2020 at 10:17 PM UTC