Hillol Ray

PRISONER OF HOPE

My own destiny since my birth has always traveled
On rocky roads and without a narrow single pause –
At times, I wonder about my own being and relief
Of human sufferings hidden behind the silent cause!
As a victim of the ruthless society and hapless fortune,
I lost my father at an early age –
When the ‘war’ just began for me,
While my mother flipped through the sadness page!

Rainbows of my estranged life today view the future
As the bank of an old river wrapped with sorrow and joy –
Moistened in the morning dews, like the blades of green grasses
On which the toddlers play with favorite toy!
Destinies without any destination resemble the napkins,
Busy with wiping the nails and hand –
Likewise my life craves for relief of human misery
And air of freedom now in a foreign land!

By virtue of birth, I was born in a developing country,
Plagued by tortures and lack of freedom as well –
While oppression was hidden and sacrifice was weaving own webs,
Where my thoughts used to dwell!
The wings of my only heart, damaged by depressions,
Were yearning for a new horizon to fly –
And finally they landed on American soil,
Where my efforts with missions began to multiply!

Pollution of global environment obsessed my heart,
Like the strings of a guitar do in a music or song –
And inspired me to find grass root causes,
While exploring the solutions that could certainly prolong!
Through endless research and sleepless nights, I heard
The agonies of Mother Nature and her solo suffering tale –
While the speechless echoes in my conscious mind formed
Many hopes in layers, as found in glaciated shale!

Unconsciously I sensed the ‘pollutions’ in a few human hearts
That control the innocent millions’ fate –
Who are kept in total darkness, behind the prison walls
And slowly pushed towards the heaven’s gate!
The tears on these million eyes, like the origin of a river
From the snowy hill, now mingle with mine –
And provoke me to become an instant rebel on their behalf
To paint whole world with words on line!

My heart as a visionary cries alone in silence
And aches with anomalous greed of human sense –
While my beloved missions, torn between life and being,
Immerse often in an aboriginal tense!
Living through sacrifice is the sacred ‘mantra’
That Mother Teresa planted in my adolescent thought –
And so I find true solace with heavenly peace,
Even on treacherous moods, whenever I have sought!

Prides of my restless pen explore the planet where
Nature and humanity can form a monolithic joint –
And live in harmony without exploitations
In the millenniums ahead, or stress on this pivotal point!
Conniving schemes, followed by deceptions,
May bring us a very “short-term” gain –
But my belief in the devotion of God
And fellow human being will never go in vain!

On the wings of love, I trot the globe to hear
The squalor from the wretched of the Earth –
And depict the pictures in all my millennium poems
That will serve as a volcanic hearth!
‘True’ emotions are my empathy that keeps me awake
To bring sympathies and test my soul –
But my rebellious mind fumes in anger
And guides my thought to achieve millennium goal!

Valley of death calls me ‘home’ and warns me
Of land mines laid along my think tank’s field –
But I am dauntless and bear my sharpened pen
To share silenced voice used as human shield!
Emotion and love from my faithful readers
Help me to shine like a blazing sun –
While I lit up the webs of agonies
And prove that pen is mightier than the gun!

Still, I am nothing but a tiny walking shadow now,
Beneath the human trees on our global map –
Where my mighty hands are tied with strings of thoughts,
Bemused by a daring pen on my lap!
At times, I feel like thunder; but sometimes,
I like to set sail on dark clouds or in torrential rain –
And swiftly wash away the polluted globe
With human minds drenched with the nagging pain!
So, as the millennium turns, a few words erupt
From my pens today to sensitize the mankind for whom I strive –
And dedicate my inner feelings to function as a platform
Where the others in ‘my absence’ could surely thrive!
Do remember, the mounds of sands drifted by the currents
Of water have to endure the agonies they don’t like to cope –
But finally they will settle with elapse of time and build
New banks, on which I will dream on as a prisoner of hope!!!