http://DarkLadyPoetry.com/GoogleSitemap.xml Dark Lady Poetry - Sunil P. Narayan

 

 

 

Sunil P. Narayan 


 

 

 

Pānchālī

 

 

 

Pulled into my husbands’ court by my uncombed hair
Thrown onto the floor where hundreds of feet touch their thick, red silk
The flowing carpet rises and falls like the mist of my garden
I know you are immovable in your rage Shákuni

Your ego knows no limits, it is like a snake stalking a mouse
Quietly without remorse in its meager heart

All eyes watch me cry in anguish as you pull my sari
To end of this room it flows like the Gaṅgā
Shining with its thin, gold-laden fabric
And crippled by your greedy fingers

Dignified beauty you tossed with your dice
Human emotions you sacrificed with your heart
Bring your eyes to mine to see one word: regret
Ha! You are the nectar’s enemy: regret!

If you took me then Kṛṣṇa will smite you right now!
His chakra a knife for your spineless body

All my fears that followed me at night with my friends
Nibbling on their black pearls while I watched roses rise
They are you…a shadow that rapes the moon
I cannot give you my body for it belongs to Keśava!

My life will one day be returned to his home
To live as a cowherd while churning milk for his hungry lips
The boyish smile and curly hair that barely touches his shoulders
His eyes so wide yet shaped like the waning moon

Little specks in the corner of both eyes are galaxies unknown to us
So far away other people exist for whom Kṛṣṇa is their king

If I am his then he is my king too
Shákuni, you are the drunken ego, a corrupted seed for humanity!
My body is a vase holding the virtues of Sūrya
He touched my spirit to give me a bite of his own

Disrobing me in front of my husbands and all the Āryas of their kingdom
is a sacrilege!
I cry to you to stop this great injustice!
Can’t you see I have sunken into a sea of distress!?
No, you are busy drowning my voice with your wicked laughter
Brahmā gave you a boon that protects your life from any physical or divine harm
Yet, has he no shame when seeing this monstrous deed?

Ma! You are Sarvāsuravināśā, come to my rescue!
Show your terrifying face to this savage
Make him cower under your crippling stare, ma!
Turn his limbs into brittle sticks so he will stop treating my honor like a toy

 


Yearning of The Night

 


I am the Mistress of the everlasting Night!
You, Sūrya, shall bow down to my black feet!
If your eyes wander to side of this grassy pathway…
If your lips kiss anything other than my smoke-covered skin…

Know my heart will not tolerate such laziness!
A noose to pull your light into the copper jar
It makes me wonder if those poor souls are worthy of your touch
You whore! To follow someone other than my great beauty is a sin!

Is my body not slim enough for your liking?
Adorned with the finest gemstones of our Father’s heavenly paradise
Picked by fortunate servants who worship my voice and reason
They pray for a kiss from my lips yet you pray for release from the clutches of my shadow

If the sunlight is burned like the skin of a baby’s flesh from being touched by a candle
It is no reason to whine like a child
Whimpers and little tears are reserved for the rain
But your sunlight…such a glorious entity you are!

I followed you after the birth of this universe
Our Mother created us for her amusement
An inner joy filled her mind to cause a smile
From that came her immortal children, beings of raw light

We were too hot to touch, so you became the sun and I became the empty hole in your nightmares
My enemy from birth, the one who tried to squash me like a cockroach!
I pulled you by the arms into my embrace
The wind felt it and whispered to us to merge into one creature

Sūrya, you sit down, waiting for me to show you what true godhood is
The immeasurable weight of my lust holds you to the purple sea of stars
I don’t moan but listen to your own…the sound is the bells of our mother’s temple
It is sweet yet meager if compared to my hunger when dawn joins me

Do not feel inferior my love, even the thunder of the sky is small to my ears
Can you see why I must subjugate your tangible body?
Fire cannot be touched unless someone wants to become a monster
But I can feel it in my hands and yearn for your enticing kisses

You run away if I look at you for a second
Maybe I engulfed your enormous body too fast
The next universe already has a sun, don’t make matters worse!
If you leave then my heart break into pieces and fall to Bhūmī-Devī’s mountains

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Sunil P. Narayan is an Indian American poet living in Beaverton, Oregon. Sunil's work has been a long, enriching journey that absorbed the world's
eccentricities to create a masterpiece of color, surrealism and human emotion. The past two years witnessed a climatic moment in which his writing churned out emotionally- inducing poems. It is his intent to help people access feelings they rarely get to experience.