"lotuses" poems
A raga of another time, from another day,
plays in the head:
grime of the day, stuck on my hands.
You shot an arrow across the eastern skies.
Senora, a hundred cries you carry
in your womb, yet I never
found you in the peasant woman
in whose arms I fell asleep, when
at noon you disappear at the horizon.
Maiden of the moons, at dusk I lost you
to the trail of lotuses blooming westward.
It is raining in gusts but this storm
cannot wash it away:
Guilt, like turmeric, stains the soul.
Sep 5, 2014
Sep 5, 2014 at 1:05 PM UTC
Walking through a field,
Bountiful with flowers,
Their aroma caring my senses.
Green grass in plenty,
The sun shining down,
The ultra violet rays lightly touching my skin.
With so much beauty to scan my eyes over,
I’m not entirely sure where to begin,
Within a few steps Im paralyzed.
What I see is absolute bliss,
A single lotus surrounded by wildflowers,
By roses and tulips.
I’m set back by the luck I have to come across this.
Unsure of what do first,
I stand back and gaze at the perfect and breathtaking natural beauty.
Yes there is a few broken leaves,
Yes there is other lotuses in the universe.
However, this lotus has come into my life.
At a time where im walking alone,
Where my mind is flooded by screams.
I decide to take a step closer,
And another,
Then another,
Till finally the lotus is within my reach.
The screams have ended,
In their place is a beautiful song being sung,
Overcame with joy I lean down and smell the lotus,
At that moment im sent through the galaxy,
Witnessing pure amazement,
Simple pleasure,
My heart swells and my throat tightens.
I feel a single tear leaving my eye.
I begin spending moment after moment admiring the lotus,
My eyes transfixed upon it,
I forget im even in a field surrounded by other wild growth.
Then I notice the sunset,
The moonlight shining upon the lotus,
Revealing that within its broken leaves there is light and color.
I’m entranced.
I reach out to touch the lotus
But stop.
I realize I cannot pick this flower for it would stop growing.
Instead I go day after day,
Watering and caring for it.
Watching it grow,
Watching it become more gorgeous by the minute.
With every hour spent my happiness grows.
With every second passing,
It’s my heart I surrender for the lotus to hold.
Several years pass,
Still I visit this magical field,
Still I care for and water the lotus.
Learning patience,
Gaining strength.
This lotus is conforming me into a better man.
I’m growing older now and soon my life will end.
When that time comes I hope to be buried in that flowery field.
Next to the lotus ive surrendered my soul to yield.
With hopes that I can spend forever with it by my side,
Sprouting into something as blissful and breathtaking as the lotus.
To my lotus, for taking my heart.
Jun 22, 2018
Jun 22, 2018 at 10:07 AM UTC
The temple bell
Silently calls my soul
Echoes, all over the deep forest
In prayers of silent lotus song
Temple
Waits
Buddha too
As the pond whispers
From the surface calm
Alone in the deep forest,
I am prostrate in devotion
And search
Before your shore's
Of love, life and living
Laboriously moving, in every steps of sigh,
Pregnant with leaves, roots and
Residual karmic earth
-Lotus pond in deep in thought-
Wondering why
The flowers have to wither and fall
Before fruits can burst forth; in living
Why love and loss results, only in the end,
An acceptance,
Cowering in depths of empty soul?
Why
Life regains calm,
Only, after
It has flowered through pain
And bonds?
Why
Lotus can only flower
After breaking through
-The sludge of senses,
In the depths of love
From the depths of pond
The laughing Buddha
Smiles
With laughter in His heart
Pond, all alone, in the darkness of night
Softly sighs
Goes back to living
On the temple’s Shore
Yet!
The silent Buddha
Is not so silent, you see
Just listen with laughter in your heart
The lotuses do sing
The beautiful life's love song
Dec 25, 2010
Dec 25, 2010 at 11:37 AM UTC
I was convinced that boys- all loose shoes and leather palms- don't care for fragile girls.
The kind that etched lotuses onto weedy waists, lost in the tangle of fine bones and became a brush fire of flowing sentences.
Boys want to drive themselves into flesh and wide hips that swing in circles like a pendulum.
-
See, us fragile girls, we grew thick skin before permanent teeth.
Our skin bubbles with the mind-numbing cocktail of anger and sadness and guilt.
-
Sep 20, 2013
Sep 20, 2013 at 12:02 AM UTC
Long in the night, when darkness is deepest
I find you, faint in the clearing among the trees
playing with the silver hues of new-moon light.
When fog fills the air moist with rains, you
hurry into the pond on a trail of stalks bringing
lotuses to bloom and spreading in ripples.
Every lonely morning, you pour crimson ink
to awaken the drooping leaves and sing in the
tiny voices of a hundred swallows welcoming
the slow winds of dawn: you, Senora, fill all
transitions; Early nights, I see, your smiles light
the room in the faint shadows of the dim lamps
Mar 3, 2014
Mar 3, 2014 at 1:06 PM UTC
as memories of cerulean waters fade,
in autumn’s shade,
new visions unfold.
in this city of inconstancy
the air is crisper,
leaves browner
and love within a stone’s throw.
sipping golden drops of burgundy
simply smile,
cuz our bodies are now one
and our lips have locked,
as i worship you
with one hundred and eight pink lotuses.
one lotus for each secret wish of mine!
the morning moon
gives me
the devil’s wink, 😉
knowing this pristine truth.
© 2021
Oct 2, 2021
Oct 2, 2021 at 11:07 AM UTC
No face to be proud of
And my pedigree's blown off;
Free hugs that no one notices,
A lips that beat white lotuses—
I'm no ones best
And everybody's last and less,
I'm only here existing,
Standing while breathing,
Into the world I'm blending;
Maybe my luck has long snuffed out—
Long used up when doctors pulled me out.
Sep 21, 2025
Sep 21, 2025 at 11:26 AM UTC
in times gone by
Zhou Maoshu sat in his boat
and the boatman rowed it out
Zhou Maoshu went in his boat
to appreciate the lotuses
strewn about in the lake
And the vast sky was everywhere
and the willow huge in the foreground
and a line of them
receding into the mist
and Zhou Mashu sang a song
there in the lake as he sat in his boat:
*water spreads about
and the lotus
is scattered over it
I, Zhao Mashu, am in my boat
and this is neither a journey or end;
here we are but another part of the whole -
it is the seeing of beauty
and that is all there is
here and beyond
now and ever*
Sep 19, 2012
Sep 19, 2012 at 8:31 AM UTC
the token of love, vacant of meaning
the token of love, vacant of meaning
a non committal heart, ne'er sticks by
a non committal heart, ne'er sticks by
the token of love, ne'er sticks by
vacant of meaning, a non committal heart
ponds replete with lovelier lotuses, of enticing thrall
ponds replete with lovelier lotuses, of enticing thrall
shun none of them, attentive the mind is
shun none of them, attentive the mind is
of enticing thrall, attentive the mind is
ponds replete with lovelier lotuses, shun none of them
binding in love's genuine bow, doth require consideration
binding in love's genuine bow, doth require consideration
all avenues being toured, the right lady chosen
all avenues being toured, the right lady chosen
all avenues being toured, doth require consideration
binding in love's genuine bow, the right lady chosen
the non committal heart, doth require consideration
all avenues being toured ,ponds replete with lovelier lotuses
attentive the mind is, of enticing thrall
shun none of them, vacant of meaning
the token of love, ne'er stick by
the right lady chosen, binding in love's genuine bow
Aug 29, 2014
Aug 29, 2014 at 10:24 PM UTC
She was just a young goddess
About what modern people would call a "teenage girl"
Running through a field of lotuses,
Her white dress lapping at her legs
Her golden hair whipping in the wind
Her friends, they call out
"We'll be asleep. Don't wander so much,"
She reassures them she'll be fine
With a smile and a nod, they rest in the field of flowers.
Flowers catch the young goddess' eye
Appealing with its bright colors
And lovely shape,
She thinks, Who could resist such beauty?
For the answer is none,
Maybe not even the wisest of mortals
She bends down, the flowers poking at her covered thighs
It's a bright flower, just like the blue skies
Proserpina, our lovely and innocent goddess, she picks until her heart's content
Flower after flower.
One is gone, another shows up, and so goes to the cycle.
She's gone too far, but Proserpina doesn't know that
She's about to sit and inspect these lovely flowers that she has picked
When there's a rumble below the earth.
Alarmed, she recoils, ready to break into a run
The ground opens up, a man in armor
This is the one they call Hades, God of the Underworld
Proserpina, alarmed, cannot see his face for it is pallid
Pale and sunken, but that doesn't matter now.
Hades, with his might, grabs the young goddess, who is screaming for help that she does not receive
Help! I am being abducted, but why me, a goddess,
When there are plenty of mortal women?
Proserpina doesn't know the workings of a god's heart, no,
Especially one who's her father's brother.
She's taken down under,
Where death rules and ghosts go by, like some sort of dead city
Inhabited by soulless spirits
Proserpina, it seems, will not be seeing her mother or the land above in
Quite a while, but Proserpina, soon she will not care.
Ah, to be young, and to be a goddess.
Mar 7, 2015
Mar 7, 2015 at 9:29 AM UTC
Take me to your room.
Let me through the doors
where your adventures run
barbaric and sinful;
and the opposite of that.
The core of your imagination
where the mountains grow heavy
Where you dream in endless dimensions.
I am the innocent corruptor of your lands.
Take me to the deepest caves of your secrets
Take me to the tallest mountain
enclosed by the heaviest Cimmerian clouds
cascading your loudest tears of sadness,
then lead me across your sturdy bridge
where the tears fall with joy and laughter.
I want to take it all in
Steal your thoughts and paint
a picture using you as my only instrument.
I am the innocent corruptor of your lands.
Let me step inside your little universal island
Where your password is …
And words are used silently
Our language is silence and poetry,
Emotion is felt in its severest
I want to visit every season through your eyes
I want to meditate with your greens and blues
Swim through your a thousand suns
dive off of cliffs and fall into a sea of honey
Stand on trees positioning The Vitruvian Man
and let the bees shower us clean- how natural is this in your world.
Let us walk through the desert of confusion,
where my name is crying out in pain-
in this expanse you suffocate,
for my name alone binds
around your throat and tugs.
and I am the innocent corruptor of your lands.
With this land I shall leave alone.
I want to lay asleep with you hand in hand
and watch our souls exit our bodies together
hand in hand creating a portal of another land.
This shall be a dream alone.
A dream within a dream
perhaps we go back to the end of a cold November
and attend your birth and steal the tears of delight
You are a universe of three worlds, and within them is infinity
You are so young and unaware
of what I planted in you.
I am the author of your being.
Grow into me and I will watch you like a mother
and raise you as a madman.
Take me by my spirit and watch me
illuminate yours with my black lotuses
that bloom within me attached to the veins of my soul.
Sleep under the orange blossomed moon.
Lay while I embed this into you, lover child.
I will forever be the corruptor of your lands.
-Arizona
Jan 12, 2013
Jan 12, 2013 at 8:40 AM UTC
Tere liye pyaar ne pankh lagaye
Mera dil chahe panchhi ban ud jaaye
Tere liye mor ne pankh bikhraye
Saawan ki aas mein kitne rang dikhaye
Teri baaton ka sur hawaaon mein ghul jaaye
Saans se saans tak chhupi baatein chalti jaayein
Chaandni raaton mein tera khwaabon ka jahan
Tere ishq mein, har pal ek naya armaan hai
Tere liye yeh pyaar pankh lagaye
Door ambar mein panchhi ban ud jaaye
Tera ishq rahe sadaa be-andaaz
Har lamha agla pal sun-hare sajaaye
Teri aankhon mein hai ek saahil ka aalam
Har lehar mein chhupa ek naya manzar hai
Bheegi si khamoshi ke raag chal pade
Tere saath guzarta har lamha bemisaal hai
Baarish jugnu ka noor na mita de
Mor ka naach aandhi mein tham na jaaye
Tu bhool na jaaye, mera dil ghabraaye
Veeran na ** jaaye saaqi mere khwabon ka
Jab baarish thehri, ta-roon kamal khil jaaye
Doodh chandni mein rang bikhar jaaye
Jugnu phir se tere ehsas mein jhil-milaye
Aur mera pyaar phir pankh lagaye
Tere liye yeh pyaar pankh lagaye
Door ambar mein panchhi ban ud jaaye
Tera ishq rahe sadaa be-andaaz
Har lamha agla pal sun-hare sajaaye
Meri fitrat mein tu sadaa basa rahe......
----------------English Translation------------
For you, love has found its wings,
My heart longs to fly, a bird that sings.
For you, the peacock spreads its wings wide,
In the hope of rain, colors come alive.
Your voice melts into the breeze,
Whispers wander with such ease.
In moonlit skies, your dreamlands gleam,
In every breath, a brand new dream.
For you, this love takes flight on high,
A bird that soars in the endless sky.
May this love forever blaze and roam,
Each moment a dream in golden bloom.
In your eyes, a shoreline calls,
Each wave reveals new miracles.
Songs of silence softly play,
With you, each moment’s a rare ballet.
Let not the rain ***** fireflies' glow,
Let peacocks dance through winds that blow.
May you never forget my trembling heart,
Or leave my dreams to fall apart.
When the rains come to rest, pond-lotuses gleam,
Colors blossom in moon’s soft beam
Fireflies flicker in your tender grace,
And love again finds its winged embrace.
For you, this love takes flight on high,
A bird that soars in the endless sky.
May this love forever blaze and roam,
Each moment a dream in golden bloom.
In the fabric of my soul, you will stay,
A breath of my being, come what may...
Apr 26, 2025
Apr 26, 2025 at 5:07 PM UTC
Snow lotuses from above
falling softly into my hands
a little gift from heaven
a little reminder
that he loves me
Mar 2, 2012
Mar 2, 2012 at 2:27 AM UTC
i bow
in silenced awe
to a moonlit silhouette
of a half man,
half woman
a celestial being
for whom
an offering of
a garland of pink lotuses or dried skulls
merely the same,
each half
in dizzied love
with the other
as i ponder why?
he - the cosmic father
also became
she - the enchanting mother
© 2021
May 22, 2021
May 22, 2021 at 11:27 AM UTC
I don't know any lady
without eyes with zero dreams!
I've found two female legs
walking on the rainbow
At the top of the tree with birds;
I've seen two hands of a damsel
touching blue lotuses
Within thrilling waves of low air!
A pea-green lady soul secreting moonlight
Around orange-sun cracking jokes with clouds.
I've perceived weighty eyes
in the deeper black lake
Swimming with multicolored fishes;
I've seen an off-white body limbless
into an unknown folder
Walking slowly on the water!
I haven't noticed any woman
flying like kites together with a butterfly!
Poem 22
Book 'Beckoning Jade-Dreams' April 2007
Copyright Musharrat Mahjabeen
Mizan Publishers, Dhaka, Bangladesh
ISBN 984-8700-82-X
Aug 26, 2012
Aug 26, 2012 at 12:42 PM UTC
On balmy summer Nights
Its wonderful to watch their flashing lights
And to hear the call of Night birds
That sing a song to the dancing fireflies
The flowers waltz in the meadow
And the lotuses dance in the lake
And the Moon's shadows ever so quietly
Ballet through my window at Night
This is the time when fireflies
Light their lanterns and fly so high
In the Twilight sky
Full of birds flying home to sleep
I love these Nights
When fireflies and lotuses dance
And the flowers waltz
And when the happy Moon ballets in my room
~Marian~
Apr 6, 2013
Apr 6, 2013 at 8:22 PM UTC
What's it like being a god
and tumbling back into humanity?
Whats it like being a god
and all your connections dimming?
I couldn't feel my body
I couldn't feel my skin
what's it like being a god?
it's
without identity
without fears
without certainty
it's
no words
no need to speak
what's it like being a god
and meeting yourself for the first time
and liking yourself for the first time
loving yourself
loving no one
needing no one
and nothing
beautiful creatures
in the sunset
beautiful waves of the ocean sky
lotuses floating in the wind
in the trees
serene smiling faces in the city skyline
the city of clouds offers nothing
we ask nothing but to see
we ask nothing
nothing at all
but to look and absorb the overwhelming
emotion and color and beauty and peace
waves, rippling waves
the tablecloth sky
gentling coming towards me
look what I made for you, you all
what's it like? Being a god?
It's exhausting
it's exuberant
it's joyful
it's sorrowful
to be a god
void of humanity
void of fear and insecurity
I couldn't feel my face
I couldn't feel my fingers
all I could feel was joy
pure emotion, untainted by thought
pure emotion pours down my face
in laughter and tears
a joyful, childish celebration to see such beauty
to be so free
what's it like to be a god
and a human again?
No longer do I fear,
no longer do I want
no longer any self-deception
as far as my human eyes can tell
Sep 5, 2010
Sep 5, 2010 at 11:04 AM UTC
A towering wooden frame
Lined with fake lotuses
Written all over
Here Lovers' promises
Sit unscathed, untested
Words etched
In just a single moment of love
Live forever
As love elsewhere dies away
Jul 18, 2019
Jul 18, 2019 at 3:23 AM UTC
born a sinner,
under crescent moons
and among chants of "talaq, talaq, talaq"
forced to hide behind a star studded veil to be preserved against blood thirsty eyes
glass bangles and silverware replaced the dolls in her hands and the fairyland of her dreams
led on a rose colored path, and into a gold painted cage marked marriage
greedy scars crafted by her lover marred the canvas of her body
only punctured fairy blue wings and dying embers of an electric soul remain
but she rises from the ashes,
sits on her velvet throne
and adorns the bejeweled crown
she reclaims the legacy of her goddess mothers,
durga and cleopatra
this time you don't get to see our strained faces,
this time you don't get to mock the dying fire of our eyes
because now,
we know our rights.
now we're armed with spears of knowledge.
we're the queens of our own kingdoms, unique in our reigns.
we were supposed to be treated like flowers, right?
but you threw us into the mud of your crimes
and we bloomed like lotuses,
reckless and vivacious.
we earned it all.
- standing beside, not against
Sep 20, 2019
Sep 20, 2019 at 9:57 AM UTC
Sky spreads black threads
on walking dusk
Someone is moving into yesterdays
on the yellow ribbon
As a small marble slowly
to the land of nostalgia.
Closing eyes in the depth of meditation
More and more blue lotuses are flourishing
Scarlet butterflies are flying around-
I've discovered a zone of small grasses
A person is shutting down
the extensive antic door of eye lids.
Poem 10
Book 'Beckoning Jade-Dreams' April 2007
Copyright Musharrat Mahjabeen
Mizan Publishers, Dhaka, Bangladesh
ISBN 984-8700-82-X
Aug 16, 2012
Aug 16, 2012 at 2:01 AM UTC
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva -
sit eternally on lotuses.
Shiva loves to destroy the universe.
He has as many arms as it takes.
Plus one, to hold a mirror.
Brahma rebuilds it all as needed.
He has four heads and four arms.
That seems about right.
Sitting between Big Bang and Big Finish
is blue Vishnu,
who symbolizes energy.
Iris and Murray Klughart of Yonkers
don't symbolize anything.
Neither do their children.
All their marriage the Klugharts have saved
for a trip to the Taj Mahal.
Each one secretly fears
the other will be disappointed.
They pray their kids will have more.
Iris lights up the place when anyone calls.
Murray lights up a dreadful cigar,
sits back like a living room ornithologist,
and fully hears her song.
The creature is in full cackle.
He'll tell her about his bad MRI -
tomorrow.
They are no one,
and their aching backs
prop up every axis,
atom,
and out-of-work deity.
Iris cries when she reads Emily Dickinson.
Iris laughs in her sleep.
Iris.
The Klugharts loved the Taj so much,
Shiva dropped his mirror.
Mar 1, 2018
Mar 1, 2018 at 12:56 PM UTC
The American people are lotuses
Grown out of the murk
We’re periwinkle pretty, but we have residue on some of our petals
And one could drain the swamp, but we’d still be in it, withering in the harsh sunlight
They could select only the fairest lotuses to be preserved, but nature would be disturbed, mutated
The indigo birds that drink our nectar would be betrayed
Then they too would leave us
And leave the aphids without prey
In the absence of deep pink flowers nature would start to cave in on itself and white-hot turmoil would fester and procreate
So invaluable to us is our gradient of flowers
They were meant to be part of our roots, their magentas and mauves keep us balanced
Keep us from turning over into the muddy water where sunlight cannot grace our petals.
Feb 16, 2019
Feb 16, 2019 at 2:37 PM UTC
The saline in your teeth bestowed us life
Your canopy of wisdom billows like
death billows the soul
Your memory grasped into our veins like Wysteria
Dropping one by one, wilting
Into the eyes of the crows
that ate the eyes of your dying children
you engraved your name
so that every child that dies
Remembers
Unto the sea of wheat we spew
our rotten teeth so that they may blossom
And the seeds shall be fed to our
wavering kind
So you will be remembered
Behold!
Lotuses of swamps long been forgotten
Blooms that may only blossom within blooms
Whom that dwell in the mud of the ancients
Yet unstained
In our being, a black pearl
that grows from the fields of Israel
So that we, lotus lover
Are worshiped, venerated
and will be remembered
Jan 10, 2013
Jan 10, 2013 at 12:35 AM UTC
The Young woman
Took her savage lover
To a lotus pond
To see the flowers
Even at the risk
Of meeting people.
At the pond
The yeti and his flower
Look at the lotus flowers
Eacj lotus was a different colour
While the young
Was fascinated with the lotuses
The yeti was fascinated with his own flower.
There they couple
Embracing
And kissing
As if they just met
The passion
The pleasure
And the love.
Excited the young woman
Had her way with her skilled lover.
She equally skilled.
Dec 13, 2018
Dec 13, 2018 at 2:27 PM UTC
This is the last time our hands will touch
As I teach you to fold papers, clutch,
Patiently pull smooth hems, take it slow–
You say you’ll miss me. Oh, if only you know
How much I feel, how much I yearn,
For everything you are, but sadly, my turn
Has ended.
Can’t we stay for a bit more?
A second– a moment– is all I ask for.
But our time is up.
In absolute silence, stillness, my pain,
We fold the last lotus.
But it is too late to think of anything else.
Right now, folding lotuses beside you,
Let me enjoy your warmth, your voice,
Etch the contours of your face to my memory.
Let me love you eternally.
Before time takes us away, I pray,
I hope I will see you again someday.
Oct 20, 2019
Oct 20, 2019 at 7:24 AM UTC