Sunday, July 27, 2008

Poems - Dinkima Sailo


The Narrow Path

Silent screams, past and present
Frozen ice slowly simmers
And the chicken enters the shell
Back from where it came
And barren lands bear fruits.

Illusions no longer fool
And dreams are lived
Where words from depths of times
Speaks and thus be
“Let there be life”.

Drowning men seek out
And charlatans win.
As we tread the straight path crookedly.

To rein kalokagathia
Holy, Holy, Holy.

~~~


We Will Rise Above

Sing again , the song you sang
Lovely in the field
With swaying women
In crimson and pink.

Plucking paddy before the dew
Sift the shaft
And dance and sway
I will meet you late at night.

Hold my hand and we will run
Far away and plough a field
For we need to warm the pot
Millions will feed on what we reap.

If the village elders bare us both
And tell us, nigh and nigh….
Many fields will wait for us
Sundari, shall we meet by the paddy fields?

We are feeders of the Nation…above all else.

~~~

Laldinkima Sailo has published a book of poems titled Spectrum: A Plethora of Rhapsody.

Picture: In the Dark by Tlangrokhuma

Friday, July 11, 2008

Poems - Dawngi Chawngthu




The Mask

Your voice
Coming over the telephone
Across measureless miles
Still remains a mystery
As always

I am
Once more at a loss
Searching for, maybe, a hint of tenderness
Into polite enquiries
Of how things are with me

I try
To decipher
Hidden meanings
Into words you speak
So effortlessly - hats off to you

I fail
Miserably...
None the wiser
As to how things are
With you and me



Voice

Each morning
I awake to a day
That promises nothing new
Just a vague question of
What for breakfast...
The day then drags on
To a finale of
What for dinner...
But sometimes
On luckier mornings
I awake
To a faraway voice in my head
That says
I care...


Photograph: Zualteii Poonte