Madhu Sriwastav's Poems


Teesta Review: A Journal of Poetry, Volume 3, Number 1. May 2020. ISSN: 2581-7094



Apocalypse

Hungry for power, show of strength
Retaliation, recalcitrance
Dance of demagoguery
Abuse of greats
Had they been alive
I wonder how they would
Respond, recreate, retrieve
Our culture, spirituality, our inner strength
All that went into making us proud
An inspiration, an example for the world
Dog eats dog, now man eats dog and man
Turning one against another
Apocalypse lurks only in the horizon
Nearing with heat waves, vandalism, and terrorism
To put all to rest!



Expiry Date

                                                --- Madhu Sriwastav

Expiry date extols certainty
A silver lining in an uncertain world
The dry crops look up for  much awaited rains
A hungry  puppy yelps  for juicy joint
A vendor shouts to sell his wares
A mother bird scales the sky to feed it's young
A wobbly fish struggles to escape the net
An exhausted mom lulls the child to sleep
There's no expiry date to the struggles of life
A tired day embraces the lap of night
A steamy night refreshes itself at dawn
The cycle of endless life goes on
Till death or apocalypse expires all!



People’s Nation
People form Nation
Or Nation forges people?
National leaders
Human torches
Leading the mindless
Through dark times
What if the torches
Falter and flicker
And set alight
The place to secure
Destroy the hearth
As a Lakshagriha
Caution is the key
To unmask the faces of friends in foes
To connect with the thinking
Who can take up the cudgel
Unite and hold hands
Express mindful solidarity
A well thought out plan
To counter the fire set ablaze
The tyranny loosened to spur
The youth , the future of a nation
The sky is foggy
Sunshine eludes
Yet the blowing wind
Drifts the clouds apart
The golden Sun in parts
Shines through the mist
Surely there will be light
All will be right
Where is a Nation without its heart
People  swear by
Take oaths in its path.



Pebble
                        --- Madhu Sriwastav

I rush as a pebble on the spring
Innocent, raw, trusting, naive
Thrusting myself on friends and foes
Ignorant of man's various nature
Jibbed and jostled by ravaging nature
Falling, striving, chinking my self
I gradually take shape…
As I flow down the river bed
Learning to respond, less to react
Introspecting my thoughts and future course
I find all are linked to me
The soil, plants and fishes too
All flow together towards the sea
Humans, animals, mounds of waste
Carcass, debris, broken idols
Streaming boats and fishing nets
Clutter, move encroach the bed
Warm, cool rays flow and shimmer
Penetrating sublime cosmic hues
I thank the lord for my existence
A small pebble in the vast universe!



Pining Rain
                                      --- Madhu Sriwastav  

The dome above looks clear
Mirroring the summer heat
The earth has bared it's teeth
A desperate farmer toils
Sweating his blood and might
Bare ,expectant eyes hurt
Innate hunger burning
A sudden wind picks up
Blowing the dust around
Grey clouds begin to gather
From nowhere come abound
The trees bow to it
The birds begin to fly
A drop spills over his skin
The clouds begin to shed
He stands in suppliance
Crying ..heart full of glee!
The sole efforts of his soulful toil
May now bear fruit
If not ...many like him
Who know nothing else
And give their all
To nurture the earth
Wrest their own breath
When in endless gloom!