The Final Voyage

[As the blessed son of Maha Saraswati, Sri Manoj Das, leaves for his heavenly abode, here is a small tribute to his departed soul! #SriManojDas]

Orphan words now
Pine for their lost father!
Pen and paper long for
Touch of that familiar finger!
The drawing room chair
Misses its silent thinker!
And the silence around
Yearns for the benign scholar,
Transformed now into a star afar!

The light that has gone
Has but left much to ignite
All those thinking brain
That can shed its ego,
Take instead the selfless lane!

As the soul of the sage
Takes the final voyage,
Come, let’s take a pledge
To emulate his ways
In our remnant days –
To pay him the best homage!

Copyright © Arun Dash. All rights reserved.

O Revered Soldier

Your lifelong preparedness
To defend our motherland
Against the dreadful enemies
Ensures normalcy all around.

Your incessant, alert vision,
Drawing inspiration from your dogged discipline,
Earns us all a peaceful sleep
Bereft of any fear or fuss.

Your grit to survive,
Against all odds,
To crush the opponents upfront
Lends us all a lesson or two.

Your rare lessons of sacrifice
Scattered across the life’s path
Oft challenge the high decibel
Of our plastic pledges.

Your ardent agonies, O Revered Soldier,
For not seeing your child’s first smile
Or your grandma’s last, shall never go in vain,
And win you in turn a lasting smile
On the face of our motherland.

[Published earlier at StoryMirror]

Remembering You, Dear Teacher!

O Dear Teacher!
You LIT yourself to ENLIGHTEN us;
STRAIN yourself to EDIFY us;
PAIN yourself to ignite SMILES in us.

You guide us along the path to success,
Rejoice most when we get its kisses,
Guard us against all odds,
And foresee our future,
Long before our parents can decipher!

In despair, when we look for an inspirer,
You come in as saviour and bless us to prosper.
Your invisible presence infuses faith in us
Unearthing the latent talent in us.

Never can we repay
What you have bequeathed us.
May we just pray you to bless us
To revere you until the end of this cosmos!

[Submitted at StoryMirror]