New Poem: Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem

Here I am,

And I am running for I am late,

The sun has almost set, and I must reach my haunt in time,

I reach a bend by the stream and take my place,

The sky is a majestic eclectic mix of auburn, golden, red and blue hues,

And large ominous clouds have begun to appear in the sky,

Red on the eastern sunset end and dark on the other,

The sun is now barely visible through the trees,

It will be dark soon.

A herdswoman gathers her cattle behind me,

She clicks her tongue beckoning them to hasten,

But I continue to sit there impeding their path,

Some of them go quietly around me,

A calf looks at me curiously,

To my left on the branches of a dry semal tree the crows have gathered to roost,

Their chatter is cacophonic,

The calf comes closer and smells my jeans,

I do not wish that I scare her by moving,

She contemplates over whether it is edible or not,

And decides to have a try,

Denim isn’t quite her cup of tea,

It is bland and tasteless she decides,

She then loses her interest in me,

The herd has moved on and she hurries to join them.

There are a pair of red breasted king fisher hovering above the stream,

How about one more fish before a good night’s sleep?

The brahmini kites and eagles soar high in the sky,

The light is fast fading,

They have sharp vision,

But it might have become too dark for them to hunt prey today.

A laggard lone male calf still chews his grass behind me,

The herdswoman appears exasperated,

She races back with her stick,

Calling him,

Soon he’ll be a full grown bull,

Stately and regal,

Too strong for her to control,

She won’t be taking him on walks then,

And she’ll have to leave him behind in the barn.

An Imam commences his Salat-ul-maghrib namaz,

Calling the faithful to prayer,

His voice is lucid,

It doesn’t disturb me,

It is faint yet discernable,

In tune with the surroundings.

Twilight is fleeting,

Night is almost upon us,

A man comes cycling along the opposite bank,

Behind him paddy fields,

And the last of the Western Ghat mountains in the horizon,

Tall, imposing and commanding respect,

I watch his reflection,

As it cycles on and into the horizon,

Oblivious of me watching.

I get up now,

In five minutes it will be dark,

And I must return,

There is an aura of suspense in the air,

Powers beyond my control conspire causing night and darkness to befall.

I start walking,

Someone invites me into a temple,

I enter,

It is dedicated to snakes,

I pray to the idol,

‘May you help protect those to whom you have been dedicated to,

For they need you more than us’,

In the same vicinity some time back on the road I spotted a dead cobra,

It had been beaten and killed,

There was blood everywhere,

Its head had been smashed in,

May its soul rest in peace.

I break into a trot yet once again,

Through a road that was once a paddy field,

And now new houses have sprung up,

I too have contributed to it.

I overtake the herd of cows which had passed me,

They have left a trail of dung behind them,

In a village cow dung has a fresh earthy smell,

It is not as vile and disgusting as it is in a city,

Where it is full of plastic and half-digested waste,

I smile at the herdswoman,

And pat a cow as I move on.

Carpe diem,

Seize the day,

Or seize the moment,

A friend has oft told me,

But time, it flows past like a river,

How do I stop it?

Capture it or seize it?

The more I’ve tried the faster it has flown past,

Life is like a journey on a boat,

And I am rowing the boat down the stream of time.

Experienced boatmen will tell you,

You can never fight the river,

Just row along and enjoy it,

And that is your safest bet.

Mukund Palat Rao (January 14, 2010)

(Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera along with me today, so I've attached a few photographs I have at taken at the same place in the recent past)