on the road
there are skulls
and I can see
houses and vehicles
and the landscape
turning into cranium
of various sizes
with the holes
for the eyes
and the nose
and the teeth
starting
to chatter
and there is
so much noise
I close my ears
and find myself
thrown around
with such force
by the changing
terrain
I bleed all over
as I hit white bone
again and again
and die.
the black monkey looks
in the distance
leaping on the treetops
and this morning
its echoing hoo hoo
reminded me of
the beauty of the forest
its trees and animals
and birds
and rolling mountains
and yesterday
the brown cow sitting
on the grass
far away
was so calming
so peaceful it was
and I became
its beating heart
its serenity
and I was one
with the universe
in the evening
and the parrots
flew green
and gorgeous
above me
and small black birds
sang flying
and when the moon
came out
it said hello
and as we shook hands
the stars smiled
and clapped
in the sky.
us off its surface
it’s sick of us
and as we walk
we begin to fly
over this landscape
and realise that
there is no gravity
we float over these
green valleys
rising higher and higher
into the sky
and it is only
by late evening
that we reach
the moon
and we touch
her silver ground
as we float
and her famous beauty
we kiss.
is a perennial problem
see what life does to you
your mind is splattered
like in a Tom and Jerry cartoon
and reels of your life
keep rolling by your eyes
and emotion tugs at you
like a train
in my youth in Bombay
the landscape was greater
than a film
the buildings the slums
the drums packed high
and the streets and the squares
and the people
though later it cracked me
the squalor the heat the noise
took my body’s strength
and my sleep was stolen
by the night shifts I did
and I decided to come to Kumily
and here I feel better
the cool weather
makes me sleep more
and the beautiful landscape
delights me no end
and the neighbourhood is nice
but then life is like a sea
sometimes calm
sometimes turbulent
and here too
it tugs at my heart
and drags me like
these huge clouds
in the sky
so I am not at peace
there are problems
that have nailed me
to the ground
like Gulliver
and I am prepared to die
I am not frightened
but that doesn’t make living
any easier
and I don’t know
what to do anymore
I stand before life
like a beggar
ready to receive
anything
and understand
the true meaning
of existence
how I am not even
a breath in time
and it makes me gasp
at the sky
and pain flies like birds
and I close my eyes
and make darkness
my friend
and I tell it
you are my only
true pal
because you I will become
and I open my eyes now
and look at the living world
and smile.
to die
you can’t beat that
so the blue of the sky
seems like a work of magic
and everything that lives
and everything that dies
is a part of this story
and you are a character
with a name you were given
and when the birds chirp
so sweetly in the morning
you remember yourself
as a child
and you remember the green
even then
it was the earth
it was your element
you were conjoined twins
you were so attached to each other
you took love and life
in your stride
and then you became roads
you became rivers
you were the golden colour
of the sun
the silver of the moon
you were the voice of the singing stars
you were the breath of the universe
your mind was multitudes
you were given so many lives to keep
within yourself
and they multiplied and filled the planet
and now you are prepared
to give up your body
and go
you will become invisible
and light as air
and soon you are no more
you are over
you have no senses no self
you have been freed of yourself
and you are nothing but the wind
blowing through the trees
and through this everyone
you will please
without knowing it
that will be the ultimate magic
in your life
your death.
hello hello
look at this new greengold world
isn’t it beautiful
aren’t you happy to be alive
and I reply
of course
there is magic in these mountains
inside them are the children of joy
our children who will sail the oceans
and travel through space like us
and how we fly like the birds
who are kin to us in body
and beauty and song
and how they navigate the air
like children at play
and I remember
myself running as a boy
and speaking to the stars
in our special silver language
and I felt the happiness
of the moon smiling
how she showered me
with motherly affection
and the old streets
were full of people and feeling
and our hearts and minds soaked
in the sublime golden sunset
and we knew what it was
to be human and beyond that
that was the reassurance
the sky gave us
that was what
it told us we were made for
so I looked at the buildings
down the years and saw
they had grown old
with the responsibilities
of parents withered
still they looked on smiling
at their children
marching down the skies
on and on
and we were airborne
our hearts were aloft
and laughing at the world
we were now flying
in and out of
hysterically roaring at
the comedy of it all
we fell into each other’s arms
and the seas sang
and we were picked up and kissed
by the sun
with love.
trains I remember
lots of them
one going over an endless river
and the red earth
and the green water the blue seas
O so intoxicating it is
the breeze across the rain drenched fields
the women bending working
and the towns the houses flying past
and the children with their happy faces waving
yesterday this very pretty yellow and black bird
flew into the trees and I saw this golden cat enter my property
the green hills are bliss they are magic they are the best actors
they can become anything and the trees the canopy O so haunting
so much power it has like a big green cave meditating and through its power
inviting you and you can hear the silence you can feel it now in your hands
flowing between your fingers you can feel the quietness in you begin to grow
and you know now as you close your eyes night comes in the sky and when you open them
the music of the cosmos is in this stillness this perfect calm inside the body the equilibrium
of the mind the balance when the universe hangs free and weightless you slowly rise into the atmosphere
and how you are now all delight formless brilliance shining how you are light glowing the world inside
you now and you breathing inside inside inside into such depths you are all air you are no more
yourself at all you are flowing you are no more one person or one entity you are no more tied you are free.
of this quiet hill
all around is green
and the morning is fresh
and comfortably warm
and the crickets are unusually
loud for this time
of the day
and the parrots screech
as they fly
and other birds chirp
as the sun shines
and the entire valley is quiet
and you can feel
the pure joy of this silence
inside you
and the sky that covers all
is so beautiful
white and blue
with such big white clouds
so wonderful
so blissfully still
mesmerising you
and now a dog barks
and it is strangely so nice
then a cock crows
and there is a woman
saying something
and someone opens
a door
and a big black butterfly
flits about
perhaps the crickets
have a purpose
perhaps they are
celebrating something
we don’t know
so be happy
and enjoy the day
and goodbye before
I fly away.
in emotions
they draw you
time and again
so much
they become you
and you haunt yourself
and then the mind
collapses
it has had enough
it is useless
and you look at
the familiar white
and black cat
in the distance
you look at the birds
the treetops in all their
beautiful colours
in the forest
and you are returned
to yourself
intact once again
and you are puzzled
at yourself
first all a jumble
stumble and tumble
and then free air
the emerald green
of the mountains
the wide white and blue
of the sky
to which
you now open your wings
and fly.
its broken buildings
lie scattered all around
the shattered sky
is on the ground
in pieces of blue and white
you walk still breathing
your eyes misplaced
your tongue lost
your body a mere ghost
that doesn’t even
recognise you
your broken bones
your skull you now
hold in your hands
is your begging bowl
with no one
to give you any alms
and soon the moon
melts under your feet
and you are now
falling into the darkness
where stars burst
into silver fire
burning you
to ash
flying.
Dominic Alapat 