I AM SEVENTY SEVEN
I am Seventy Seven,
yes, I am old as they say,
grey hair, receding hair line and chin with folds
but what shall I do
to the moons in my eyes,
the glint, the glow, the dreams,
and the endless streams
of thoughts and the unfinished tasks
the drafts of poems waiting to be polished
the untold stories yet to be told
the mystery of desires rearing to unfold
my Facebook friends, my e-mail buddies,
some faceless ones yet to be studied
those virtual profiles
tingle the grey cells hidden behind the freckled smiles
like them am I also a virtual reality?
***
I TROT AND TUMBLE
I wake, trot then tumble
Carrying my life’s tattered bundle
The sea mocked and the waves smile
Watching me lose my thunder
Your toothy smile
Which, made me walk a mile
Lies buried on a dusty track
The posters on the wall
Make the dreams recall
The days of yore
Like an ancient folklore,
Urged me to stand and explore
The seamy side of your smile
In the midst of who’s who
Of the city’s stinking loos
Under the glare of neon lights
Asserting their own nocturnal rights,
I wander far and wide
Watching the ebbing tide
Which I once chose to ride
In the wilderness of my pride
Slipping in the midst of a school of fish
I make my one last wish,
To be swept by a rollicking wave
Near an ancient mariner’s grave
When the stars fade in the sky
And morning birds are yet to fly.
***
TAMARIND TREE
Like a tamarind tree
The wishes have grown
Spread over shiny leaves
Shivering in gentle morning breeze,
The old mendicant who once came
Has come back again
To his resting place
Closing his eyes, he mumbles a song
Or perhaps a wish,
Or an ancient Shamana’s chant
What does he seek?
I don’t know
The old, crooked tree
Bears only sour fruits
© Jagdish Prakash
Born in Lahore, Jagdish Prakash has been writing poetry from his childhood years. Traumatic experiences of partition leading to his uprooting from the place of his birth, sights and sounds of his familiar environment, pain of separation from friends, created a sad impact on his young sensitive mind making him look inwards to seek answers of his personal pain which found reflection in his poems.
In the process of settlement in life he travelled from city to city in India. completing his post graduation in Commerce, he joined Steel Authority of India in a managerial position. Moving to Delhi in the 1990s, he is now associated with an education company in Gurgaon, India.
He writes poetry in Urdu and English. He has published four books of poems in Urdu and one in English. Another book of Urdu poems is under publication and will be available soon. Three of his books of Urdu poems have been given awards by Urdu Academy, Delhi for excellence in the field of Urdu literature.
His Urdu ghazals have been set to music and sung by a renowned music composer and singer, Yunus Malik. Another album of his poems sung by a well known Sufi and playback singer, Kavita Seth, has been released by Universal Music in 2012.
“Tempest in Silence” is a collection of English translation of his Urdu poems selected and translated by Prof. Muhammad Shanazar, a highly respected name in the field of literature in Pakistan.
He has recently been honoured as one among ten International Best Poets by the International Poetry Translation and Research Centre (IPTRC), China, and the journal of the World Poets Quarterly. His poems have also been translated into Chinese as well.
Jagdish Prakash is married, has two children and lives in Delhi, NCR.