रेगिस्तान की रात / दीप्ति नवल

रेगिस्तान की रात है
और आँधियाँ से
बनते जाते हैं निशां
मिटते जाते हैं निशां

दो अकेले से क़दम
ना कोई रहनुमां
ना कोई हमसफ़र

रेत के सीने में दफ्न हैं
ख़्वाबों की नर्म साँसें
यह घुटी-घुटी सी नर्म साँसें ख़्वाबों की
थके-थके दो क़दमों का सहारा लिए
ढूँढ़ती फिरती हैं
सूखे बयाबानों में
शायद कहीं कोई साहिल मिल जाए

रात के आख़री पहर से लिपटे इन ख़्वाबों से
इन भटकते क़दमों से
इन उखड़ती सांसों से
कोई तो कह दो !
भला रेत के सीने में कहीं साहिल होते हैं ।

Cycle / Langston Hughes

So many little flowers 
Drop their tiny heads
But newer buds come to bloom
In their place instead.
I miss the little flowers
That have gone away.
But the newly budding blossoms
Are equally gay.

The Angel that presided o'er my birth / William Blake

The Angel that presided o'er my birth 
Said, 'Little creature, form'd of Joy and Mirth, 
'Go love without the help of any Thing on Earth.'

The Barbarous Chief / Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There was a kingdom known as the Mind, 
A kingdom vast as fair, 
And the brave king, Brain, had the right to reign, 
In royal splendor there. 
Oh! that was a beautiful, beautiful land, 
Which unto this king was given; 
Filled with everything good and grand, 
And it reached from earth to heaven. 

But a savage monster came one day 
From over a distant border; 
He warred with the king and disputed his sway, 
And set the whole land in disorder. 
He mounted the throne, which he made his own,
He sunk the kingdom in grief. 
There was trouble and shame from the hour he came- 
Illtemper, the barbarous chief. 


He threw down the castles of love and peace, 
He burned up the altars of prayers. 
He trod down the grain that was planted by Brain, 
And scattered thistles and tares. 
He wasted the store-house of knowledge and drove 
Queen Wisdom away in fright; 
And a terrible gloom, like the cloud of doom, 
Shrouded that land in night. 


Bent on more havoc away he rushed 
To the neighboring kingdom, Heart; 
And the blossoms of kindness and hope he crushed- 
And patience he pierced with his dart, 
And he even went on to the Isthmus Soul, 
That unites the mind with God, 
And its beautiful bowers of fragrant flowers 
With a ruthless heel he trod. 


To you is given this wonderful land 
Where the lordly Brain has sway; 
But the border ruffian is near at hand, 
Be on your guard, I pray. 
Beware of Illtemper, the barbarous chief, 
He is cruel as vice or sin, 
And your beautiful kingdom will come to grief 

If once you let him in.

नई औरत / पंखुरी सिन्हा

वह क्षण भर भी नहीं
उसका एक बारीक़-सा टुकड़ा था बस,
जब लगाम मेरे हाथ से छूट गई थी,
और सारी सड़क की भीड़ के साथ-साथ
गाड़ियों के अलग-अलग हार्न की मिली जुली
चीख़ के बीचोंबीच,
अचानक ब्रेक लगने से घिसटकर रुकते टायरों के नीचे से,
लाल हो गई ट्रैफ़िक की बत्ती के ऊपर से,
चील की तरह, बाज की तरह,
तुम भी मेरे खुले कंधों पर झपट पड़े थे,
मैं दिखाऊंगी नहीं तुम्हें,
पर मेरे कंधों पर तुम्हारे पंजों की खरोंच के निशान हैं,
और क्यों रखूँ मैं इन्हें?
सिर्फ़ इसलिए कि ये तुम्हारे दिए हुए निशान हैं?
नहीं, मैं बताऊंगी नहीं तुम्हें,
पर मैं धो रही हूँ इन्हें,
दूब की नर्मी से,
ओस की ठंडक से,
धो रही हूँ तुम्हारे खुरों के निशान,
अपने कंधों पर से
दुर्घटना सड़क पर नहीं, मेरे अन्दर घटी है,
पर मैं बताऊंगी नहीं तुम्हें
अब तुम मेरे राजदार नहीं रहे...

How The Little Kite Learned To Fly? / Katherine Pyle

"I never can do it," the little kite said,
As he looked at the others high over his head.

"I know I should fall if I tried to fly." 
"Try," said the big kite, only try!
Or I fear you never will learn at all." 
But the little kite said : "I'm afraid I'll fall."
The big kite nodded : "Ah, well, good-by; 
I am off." And he rose toward the tranquil sky.

Then the little kite's paper stirred at the sight.
And trembling he shook himself free for flight.
First whirling and frightened, then braver grown,
Up, up he rose through the air alone, 
Till the big kite looking down could see
The little one rising steadily.

Then how the little kite thrilled with pride,
As he sailed with the big kite side by side!
While far below he could see the ground,
And the boys like small spots moving round.
They rested high in the quiet air, 
And only the birds and clouds were there. 

"Oh, how happy I am,'.' the little kite cried.
"And all because I was brave and tried."

My Mother at Sixty-Six / Kamla Das

Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother, 
beside me, 
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear, 
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma, 
all I did was smile and smile and
smile......