Masks We Live By: Philosophic Outburst Read online



  Masks We Live By: Philosophic Outburst

  By Raja Sharma

  Copyright@2011Raja Sharma

  All Rights Reserved.

  Preface

  Thoughts which always seem to be in the back of our minds, but are never truly brought forth to consider the beauty and rhythms of the natural wonders with which this planet, and Man, have been blessed. Until they are given meaningful substance--more than a vague recognition, at any rate, and laid upon the canvas of our lives. With images painted bright and true, the artist allows us to share in his delights, and to join in a celebration of all things good, great or small, some seemingly insignificant and unworthy, but when presented by the thoughtful and the caring artist, we are witness to the miracles of Life. And Love.

  I thank you for this book. It is a very worthwhile accomplishment.

  Frank Fields

  Chapter 1: Masks We Live By

  Donning masks of ugly sublimity

  My smiles expertly conceal abhorrence

  That makes up for coveted humility

  Granting me disgusting welcome clearance.

  Love entangled in masks of worldly need

  Sobs and sighs in lines of Ibsen and Bard.

  Fife soundless no wind to shake Lucy’s reed

  Pope’s Belinda seen still playing her card.

  Words of Walter n Frank ambrosia of time

  Do reach me with subtle acquiescence here.

  Many a smithy waits for blessing in line

  Through book I admire many who are there.

  What would I be if masks were ripped off?

  Alone shall I go no one to see me off!

  Chapter 2: No Woods to Stop By

  The ultimate Sabbath of no return

  Limbs numb, eyes drowsy, mind sinking deep

  Eerie ambiance betokened now my turn

  The end of my miles, and promising sleep.

  Kinsfolk helpless, myriad expectations

  Haply joyous a few, some deeply down

  Fleeting moments assessing relations

  Once I had her glimpse in her starry gown.

  Would I exchange sublime slumber for life

  So highly reeking of greedy human?

  Why in those lovers' days of love n strife

  I mindless poor one made this cruel time run!

  O, sightless one! Explore with the sight here,

  Be disillusioned, see things crystal clear!

  Chapter 3: BC to Ad

  Walk three Magi, time BC,

  Morning star pursue with glee.

  A Child is born to alter course,

  Find to kill, use every force.

  King H. proud in power blind,

  Fear and death akin in mind.

  Baby Boy then Man Sage Lord,

  Son own human form praise God.

  Dark minds philistine with fear

  Crucify Lord with thieves near.

  One Soul Divine missed say me,

  Death gave time new page AD.

  Chapter 4: My Dancing God

  He dances; He revels,

  His nature so excels.

  You saint sad shroud,

  Life taint mad cloud.

  He grows; His flowers grow,

  He sows this, cowards mow.

  You cocooned mad saint,

  Rue, be fooled sad paint.

  He my dancing God Divine,

  Grape shy trancing Lord in vine.

  You cry His name all in vain,

  Avarice, hate, then fall in pain.

  He life bestows to live 'n' grow,

  See, he bellows, Lo! kill 'n' throw.

  Make His dance your rosy France,

  Take a glance, my poesy dance.

  Chapter 5: Humanity

  Hear now a heart cries

  Under worldly load it tries

  Make a move so sorrow flies.

  Ask with love a question deep

  Now where is the Maker of sheep?

  In you will find love to keep.

  Tears, sobs, pain give clear clue

  Sad how lone way out is through

  Yes, living God dwells in you.

  Chapter 6: Oh…World!

  Don't let them do this to us!

  Boom blaze burning towers

  Cut cries crushing powers

  Bring them back to us.

  Don't let them do this to us!

  Vacant window widow cries

  Tumbled tossed toddler tries

  Our sons come back to us.

  Don't let them do this to us!

  Big bellied boss smiles

  Rival rivaled raven flies

  Lost hopes now mock at us.

  Don't let them do this to us!

  Lord life love weep

  Sinful Adam sunk deep

  Make grass again seed to us.

  Don't let them do this to us!

  Chapter 7: Departed Tears!

  Love held back tears

  Heart weld at fears.

  Black hat pull over

  Grass short by mower.

  Love nor beloved no

  Decay hay plod sow.

  Shower lessen the pain

  Vain tears no gain.

  Those smiles with tear'

  Knew you were near.

  Shock pain fear tear

  Death pine mute smear.

  Chapter 8: Poetic Priest

  Fail to see Frost in a blade of grass?

  Pray,ask thee a Tyger who Blake was!

  Mingle the self to see Marvell's Glass,

  Twinkle of Keats to give God in Brass,

  Single thou, fold hands, bow, join the Mass.

  Try to rekindle the fire,

  See yourself out of the MIRE.

  Chapter 9: A Tribute to a Forgotten Poet

  Lay me anywhere you like,

  For bottles sans wine don't amuse.

  Say, let me sleep in dark night,

  Cry you aloud, my ears refuse,

  Image lost: poet recluse.

  They cursed, howled, in a dim sight,

  For words my own're lost in muse.

  Dead poet now is shown the light,

  Cry you aloud, my ears refuse,

  Image lost: poet recluse.

  Chapter 10: Then You Slowly Come to Me

  Then you slowly come to me.

  I will always be there,

  I will always be there.

  If heart-broken you are left alone,

  Submerged in tears to sigh and moan,

  When leaves of spring far and gone,

  Humming birds now yonder flown,

  Then you slowly come to me.

  I will always be there,

  I will always be there.

  Now you are an ocean of glamour,

  Many a lotus will grow in the manor,

  When youth shies away from you,

  And the mirror always frightens you,

  Then you slowly come to me.

  I will always be there,

  I will always be there.

  Chapter 11: Nothing Remains

  Seed

  of life

  Sun and light

  Learn eat drink grow

  Enjoy the youth to zenith

  Sluggish words decline

  Step by step

  Waning moon

  Tomb

  Chapter 12: Death of Poesy

  A dark slow death I smell in air

  Old poesy moans both nude and bare

  A Chaucer tale in infancy

  Chaos now heard everywhere.

  Lines twelve Bard ended with a pa
ir

  Lucy’s Wordsworth gave nature’s care

  Blake and Shelly dared new fancy

  Milton added a divine share.

  Now says this is all that I care

  Wolf devours every lamb and hare

  Sly and ugly beguiling as death

  Old poet stands in tears to stare.

  Chapter 13: Now I Speak

  Mind blank as slate sans any thought

  First sound stirs the darkness deep

  Voice struggles to break first block

  Adds words some lost some to keep.

  Steps raise hold father’s finger

  Shake stumble with fear unknown

  Mother is first heard singer

  Giggles and cries fill sweet home.

  Glass fills fast and body grows

  Thoughts form voice mind all are there

  Parents proud joy plenty shows

  This is life new now and here.

  Sons shall rise against fathers

  Learned suited scorn for all

  No confluence tries as harder

  Young and old with spleen and gall.

  Chapter 14: No “Coming” Now

  Scattered numbers of Adams wait,

  Why is that Second Coming late?

  Throngs baffle Lord at the Hell’s gate,

  Why Adam chose his ugly fate?

  Yonder, poet in dark thought of light!

  Scribbles lines of Adam in plight.

  Why is bliss an eternal night?

  Beware! These Adams gnaw ‘n’ bite!

  Now shrouds, coffins, and graves they sell,

  Touch their land water air, they yell!

  Deaf was, has been, is to the knell,

  Where, if He comes, will now He dwell?

  Chapter 15: The Dark Boss

  To Money, Sex, Drugs, and Drinks,

  All call in their fun:

  And to these virtues of dark

  Return their thankfulness.

  For Money, Sex, Drugs, and Drinks,

  Is Boss, our mentor dear:

  And Money, Sex, Drugs, and Drinks,

  Is Man, his child and care.

  For Money has a satanic heart,

  Sex an ugly face:

  And Drugs, the hazy form crime,

  And Drinks, the social dress.

  Then everyman of every clime,

  That jumps in this surplus

  Prays to the hazy form crime,

  Drink, Money, Sex, Drugs.

  All must hate the hazy form,

  In Hindu, Muslim, or You.

  Where Money, Sex, Drugs dwell

  There Boss is dwelling too!

  Chapter 16: Promise Kept

  Forced, far, far, and quite forlorn,

  Away from you I be gone.

  Destination, point of no return,

  Recognition mine lost in the run.

  Tale so sad that bard cannot relate,

  My life, once again, like a blank slate.

  Nothing hidden yet nothing was shown.

  Forced, far, far, and quite forlorn,

  Away from you I be gone.

  Trepidation stills memory of name,

  Exhibition of tears drink of shame.

  Pledge will force me to go on living,

  Your image will refuse my bidding.

  Happy clouds with dark winds will be blown.

  Forced, far, far, and quite forlorn,

  Away from you I be gone.

  Chapter 17: Quest for Human

  I'd like to meet a human here and now

  Blake's weary Tyger won't inspire hard bones

  Do you discern values, of lamb or cow?

  Will Wordsworth's own rainbow obscure the tones?

  Will changing 'Y' to 'I' make it better?

  Lamb to them is but mutton on a plate

  Divinity gone: now beef serves them better

  Bring swine with you and aggravate the hate.

  Whiteness has always fueled apartheid

  Ethnic struggle with hope brings zest to life

  Shades of color won't find a place to hide

  Mr. Noone, a loon, disregards life's strife.

  If you meet a Human, please send him soon

  Any form or substance will be a boon.

  Chapter 18: Blue Flower

  Love to me is not a bard's metaphor

  An ardent longing with myriad shadows

  My love Marvell's mistress at a distant shore.

  Play did I with passion when youth was prime

  Pray, play of bodies was Phoenix revived

  Wanton ways did this body sway with time.

  Ever faithful, forever your, is noise

  Heard learned applied was Novella's Flower

  Clamoring world leaves poet sans any choice.

  Come once slowly, don't tread, hark this heart's call

  Shed self, discern vision with heart not eyes

  This outcast Odysseus has love for all.

  Chapter 19: I Wondered

  We flourish on the blood money

  We all eat drink in flood, honey.

  Air

  Land

  Sea

  All plundered

  Adam

  Man

  Manus

  None wondered?

  We come, die, become history

  We who come now face mystery.

  Hitler

  Mao

  Stalin

  Killed unnumbered!

  NATO

  UN

  US

  Failed blundered!

  We the dark pilgrims of dark land

  We will not learn to lend a hand?

  Castro

  Osama

  Saddam

  Days numbered?

  Comes

  Next

  Who

  I wondered!

  Chapter 20: Christmas Gift

  Gloomy little girl gazing up

  Saw a bright little star fall down.

  Pastoral hopes were not yet shut,

  For Pa'd come home from the town.

  Lights, goodies she'd hang on tree

  With little doll she'd dance around.

  Heavenly bliss'd add to glee

  Her little feet won't stay on ground.

  Xmas carol, the music of band

  Which seemed to her the sweetest sound.

  Uncle John'd come from England

  Not a dollar, a golden pound.

  Yonder, hateful rattling Devil

  Broke the music in jovial town.

  Xmas bells sang,"Why shoot and kill?"

  Wailed with the bodies on the ground.

  Gloomy little girl, sleepy eyes

  Looked to the door whence came a sound.

  A hearse black halted with deep sighs

  And she found her Pa without sound.

  Little girl's carol glued to tongue

  When Pa was gently laid on ground.

  Wanted to shout, refused the lung

  The Devil sent gift poor girl found!

  Chapter 21: Life’s Celebration

  Lonely pilgrim travels to reach nowhere

  Here one he meets, one leaves; will all be there?

  Pastor's saw to be revered, science sows doubt,

  Why then there be row when life's dark as cloud?

  Harsh one succeeds, wins, winks, and powers shine,

  Will humble souls get the blessings divine?

  He scorns at poet's meditations in poesy,

  Tautology makes bland nature rosy.

  Let his God remain a mystery deep,

  No marvel in Tyger, and sheep is sheep!

  He celebrates life's festival all days,

  Pilgrim's heart leaps with joy in myriad ways.

  Hedonist he is sure not, he implores,

  Happy Sisyphus happily stone rolls.

  Chapter 22: All that Wis
dom

  When it began nothing was pleasant, dear,

  Letter, word, phrase, line, and teacher's harsh voice,

  Three score years now, that treasure I find here.

  Listen, read, write, and speak with joyless face,

  Passed, jumped, like neverending load it grew,

  Now the premise knows the strength of the base.

  Speed, think fast, tell, glory of passing days,