I was sitting on the breakfast table with my first cup of coffee in hand. My wife was on the phone with her sister, visiting my eighty plus mother-in-law. Physically they were some ten thousand miles apart but modern technology had made it easier to stay connected. They were discussing how to make it easier for my fiercely independent but increasingly feisty mother-in-law navigate the impending two weeks long lock down to be implemented in a couple of days to combat increasing cases of COVID -19. Bits and pieces of their conversation that I overheard resulted in my mind digress from the cup of coffee in my hand. Result, a cup of cold coffee and the random thoughts below. I wrote the poem in my mother tongue Axomiya (Assamese) first and then translated to English now. Here the order is in reverse.
Life -A Unique Feeling
Because no straight lines in nature,
Life to tread a tortuous path?
Does it make any sense?
*****
Day I learnt to measure life
In terms of material wealth,
Life became worthless.
*****
To make one understand my desire, not my responsibility.
Expecting everyone to understand me,
Foolishness or my audacity?
*****
Past and future unknown mystery, in between treads life,
Tomorrow everyone will go their own way,
For the ephemeral moment, why the illusory attachment?
জীৱন – এটা অনুভূতি
প্ৰকৃতিত হেনো সৰল ৰেখা নাই,
সেয়ে জীৱনৰ পথ হ’ব ঘূৰণীয়া, জটিল,
কিনো মানে হয়?
*****
যিদিনাই শিকিলো টকা পইচাৰ তুলাচনিত
জুখিব জীৱনৰ মূল্যবোধ,
জীৱন হ’ল মূল্যহীন।
*****
মই কি বিচাৰো বুজাব ৰাইজক নহয় মোৰ কৰ্তব্য,
সকলোৱে বুজিব মোক আশা কৰাটো
মোৰ মূৰ্খতা নে ধৃষ্টতা?
****
আগলৈও নাই, পিচলৈও নাই, মাজত সীমিত জীৱন,
কালি সকলোৱে আকৌ আপোন পথত,
দুঘড়ীৰ বাবে কিয় এই মায়াৰ বান্ধোন?
Author: pranabaxom
Poetry is my passion. I am not a methodical writer. I have no set topics to write about. What I feel, perceive, think about, I will like to share in this blog. I open my mind to the world. Like the weather, sometimes my poems are cloudy, sometimes stormy. I always like to see sunshine streaming through the leaves of trees, so I hope I can share some of those sunshine with my readers.
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Fleeting Muse 
Now those are weighty questions. I can understand why you are posing them now. I especially like the second stanza, but the last one has such a lot in it to think about.
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Thanks Jane.
Life is so simple if we lower our wants and expectations but then dancing to the tunes of others we make it so complicated.
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There’s a growing movement for scaling down the economy rather than constantly expanding it. A lot of people believe that we need to slow down and appreciate simpler things rather than chasing after novelty, and being pushed into spend spend spend. The business leaders disagree, of course.
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and those business leaders will also like the population to explode as otherwise their market won’t grow.
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Populations with buying power to sell to. The rest they use in the sweat shops.
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need both, one for production and one for consumption. and then the weapon dealers will sell weapons of mass destruction
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What a cage we’ve built for ourselves.
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Yeah.
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😦
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Beautiful, meaningful thoughts poured out as words after the morning distraction. Both the Assamese original and the English translation are equally enjoyable.
In Nature, almost everything is curvy, still Light is generally believed to travel on straight lines. Follow the Light. But longer paths can turn out to be tiresome, as well as, enriching and enjoyable.
I would just refuse to put Life on that balance of worldly assets. But that’s me.
If your expectations of others to understand you, and others’ failure to do just that, results in
sadness or unhappiness on your part, even tiny bit, then it is your responsibility to make them understand, and your foolishness and audacity not to do so, perhaps out of pride.
Life is ephemeral, but don’t the tiny rainbows on the dew-drenched grass by the cascading Sunlight fill one with pure joy, making the momentary miniscule phenomenon worth it’s while?
Thank you for sharing your poetry, and other thoughts, as well.
Jebeen
NB: In Urdu, Dew is Shabnam
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Thank you for the thoughtful comments.
Yes, light generally travels in a straight line but light can bend around corners without any external influence.
I am not a good follower. Not that I claim to be a good leader😀.
Only way I see that one can refuse to be put on the balance of worldly assets is not to care how one is judged by others. If one has really been able to do that without feeling a tinge of regret/unhappiness has attained spiritual bliss. I bow to them.
Thanks for the Urdu word.
As Keats would say, ” A thing of beauty is joy forever”.
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Thank you dada.
Looking forward to more of your beautiful poems and random thoughts.
Regards,
Jebeen
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🙏🙏
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Thank you dada.
Looking forward to more of your beautiful poems and random thoughts.
Regards,
Jebeen
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🙏🙏
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Day I learnt to measure life
In terms of material wealth,
Life became worthless.
PB, this is priceless. Thank you. 🙂
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🙏🙏 Appreciate Joan.
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