maloom [rubai]

If maybe I am the friend of you 
I'll maybe descry no end of you
if maybe yours be mine own hid heart 
how many the ways I'll wend of you!

"The Honeybee's Love" [rubai]

Since life in the world is a worrisome thing    at times
the path to the friend has a definite ring    at times
where the pith of existence manifests    in duality
the honeybee's love has a definite sting    at times

"Black cat in a coal bin" [rubai]

Black cat in a coal bin    in a cave at night!
Can't say how your eyes gleam     with a trace of light!
Blindness is endemic     to the world at large!
Maya though systemic     is dispelled by sight!

"A journey" [rubai]

A tremor of love when the heart breaks    is my poem
a glimmer of gold that the dawn makes    is my poem
is poetry two-thirds shadow    & one-third dream?
a journey the wakening soul takes    is my poem

After Rumi [rubai]

Beloved! (I said)     you became
                                                         the beautiful Idol of my life!

If you are mine    why do you talk about
                                                    (replied the beloved) your life?

Well and why do you (my rejoinder)
                                                   jab me with your jewely blade?

Because still (his answer came)
                                      your claim's a lie!   you love your life!

=======

[Based on a literal translation done by Mehernoush McPherson, for which thanks.]

God is the great existentialist! [rubai]

God is the great     existentialist!
he who is both     a potentialist
& realizes     his own existence
if one is but        an eventualist!


============
"God, the Great Existentialist!"
line borrowed from Max Reif [Facebook status update], with thanks

Hari Hara (1/13/13)

May peace & joy         greet Harihar

who carried music            very far

within whose name are names conjoined

of Lord Vishnu         & Lord Shankar

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =


For Harihar Rao (January 21, 1927 - January 13, 2013)

 

www.rubai

The world-wide-web being woven through the night
its strands are fashioned of filaments of light
it'll suckle your brain until you're plain addicted
with its darkling grip so slowly pulling tight!

=============

riffing on a quote:

Overnight, the World Wide Web weaves tightly around you. A novelty at first, then invaluable, then life support, then heroin.

--the narrator of "To the Measures Fall" (2010), a short story by Richard Powers

"Love's chitchat" (a petit Christmas morning rubaiyat)

Like a blank slate rests all the world    though I see it not so
while I've got scant liking for cold    yet I'm longing for snow
might this winter differ   from other winters before it?
if the heart's slate's fleetingly blank    is there nothing to know?

once again   the fragrance of love    is picked up by the soul
if anon   the heart enjoys inklings    has mind yet a role?
does love's chitchat burble like water?   or fizz like champagne?
pain & pleasure dart here & yon    like a deer in the knoll

where the canvas beckons the brush   is there something to do?
where the silence flirts with the flute   is the melody new?
golden harp strings sound in the deep   might the bhajan unfold?
where pure beauty glints in the eye   are there stories a'brew?

"roses & bamboo" [rubai]

roses & bamboo
palmtrees in skyblue
nothing here is lacking
save the sight of you

"Karma" [rubai]

Karma never sleeps
dharma rarely weeps
all things have a purpose
in the misty deeps

"Impossible beloveds" [rubai]

1.  "Impossible beloveds"

What if unrequited love's the standard script?
yet what numbskull such a pattern would encrypt?
when you doggedly seek impossible beloveds
by what doggone agony you're often gripped!

July 31

(Verse rumination dashed off on a mobile
amidst a nocturnal dag-walking saunter.)


==============

2.  "The dog walkers"

Are the dog walkers   a breed apart?
their astrology's   not hard to chart
a trined dog star bolsters friendliness
in a dog-eat-dog world   have a heart!

Aug. 1

(This is more a Sirius poem than a serious poem.)

"Under A Tree" [rubaiyat]

You who appear out of nowhere   under a tree
why do you come and inquire   something of me
asking if I might decipher   ornate designs
likely encoding the name of   divinity?

how could you see I'm a student   of the hid way?
and when I mention tomorrow   is my birthday
how could it be you're replying   it is mine too?
is this a plausible dialogue   would you say?

here where we stand on a mountain   ancient & fresh
are we but pawns in a game that's   played by Mahesh?
O Paramatman! you who're   beyond the beyond!
down in the weave Maya's weaving   deep is the mesh!

"Ineffable fragrance" [rubai]

The anti-evangelism evangelist
was riding his steed amid the Mayavic mist
his proclamations delivered in lovely silence
the quietude by ineffable fragrance kissed

Burbank Bob Hope Airport

I landed in Burb
with little perturb
if God is a noun
is Maya a verb?

Four Similies [rubai]

It's all like a dream    but where does wakefulness dwell?
it's all like a tale    someone was eager to tell
the world is a myth    whose sense I've yet to discern
a plot-twisting play    whose end is apt to compel

==============

(on the occasion of my 56th birthday)

Quatrain in Answer to Shelley [rubai]

It's the Sadgurus     who are unacknowledged legislators
whereas poets are     (way-on-down-the-river) cogitators
if the truth can never be uttered     what's the gab all about?
are the poets utterly clueless?     or prevaricators?

Megadhutam Riff [rubai]

The low-hanging cloud-mass was high enough tech    for me
the messenger tarried (if only a sec)    for me
when banished & distant from one whom the heart    adores
that heavenly email looked lovely as heck    for me

What is the remedy for an irony deficiency? [rubai]

Ironically the supplements of irony
but rarely stimulate the sense of irony
is irony a kind of double vision?
post-Eden who but God repents of irony?

"You decide" [rubai]

The beloved's lip or last autumn's leaf?   you decide
the dark goblet's sip or the world's tart grief?   you decide
all phenomena reveal something     I can't fathom what!
beauty's timely gift or clues to heart's thief?   you decide