Welcome Beloved Monsoon

Welcome, beloved Monsoon,

Welcome from my deep

as you ballet on  earth’s  stage

You make the rain-born leap!

From side to side you sway

With gesture gushy and gay,

Rhythm of falling drops time

In the winds melodious play

Joyous children of Mother Nature

From behind the windows peep.

Horizons burn in flashing light

Even dirty urchins look so bright

Clouds beat the drum in rumble

 The sum is an unearthly sight

Stars and moon wait backstage

Their silent procession to keep!

Little rivers on the roads flow

Inviting my paper boats to row

Frogs in the mud pool raise yells

Farmers head to fields to plow

Baby seeds are eager to sprout

It’s  time to wake from sleep!

Xavier Bage 
Thurs, June22, 2017

The Ultimate Visitor

That the visitor will come

A truth, it is rock-like sure

But when, how and where

No human can conjecture!

One may have gathered glory

As feared ruler and emperor

He meets the very same fate

That waits a beggar and pauper!

One may have amassed wealth

By many means foul and fair

It cannot defer his departure

However much he may dare!

A child is born with breaths

Bundled for it in its chest

He begins to expend them

In his actions and in his rest

A river begins in the mountains

It hurries down the slope

No command can then halt it

To tie its flow there’s no rope

Once the stream runs its course

it will melt in the waiting sea

A little long, a little short perhaps

its journey  in world can be!

Let’s celebrate the jubilee

To thank and praise the Lord

He alone is the Master and King

He gifts us years as his accord!

Xavier Bage

Sun, June 17-18, 2017

The Unfenced

When she passes along the village path

With bowed head depressed

The women at the well

Whisper into each others’ ears

And speak in hushed voice

Secrets they think they know!

She was in her early twenties

when her good husband died

Of a mysterious fever

Her mother-in-law accused her

“You’ve eaten my son!”

The old superstitious crow!

Well, times have changed

A widow is not compelled

To go around with a shaved head

She needn’t be in a white dhoti

All her unfortunate life

Her widowhood to show!

She labors as dishwashing maid

In some well-to-do houses

She has to fend for herself

And her little son of two

She has to survive all odds

For him, until he can grow

But she is not invited to weddings

She is denied entry to birthdays

She shouldn’t be seen in mirthful

Parties and social gatherings

Her presence at such times is

Thought bad omen in joyous glow

She has to fight other battles

As there are men of lust

Gazing her with hungry eyes

Salivating minds for adultery

On the unlucky soul unfenced

For protection to Kali she’d bow!

Xavier Bage

Fri, June 16, 2017

Face to Face with Darkness

 

I saw it coming

First it was a dot

In the far horizon

Then it turned into a lump

Then the size of a bear

Then an adult elephant

Then a gigantic giant

Its head touching the sky!

It loomed over me

It glared at me

It roared at me

It gnashed its teeth at me

It surrounded me to crush

My spirit out of me

But for some secret in me

I am still alive and standing!

I thought I was dead

And gone to my ancestors

No there’s something within me

Something much stronger than

The evil-willed hellish darkness

It is eyeing me in surprise

And in frustrated fury 

My Savior it doesn’t know!

Xavier Bage

Fri, June 11, 2017