About CC

Bharati Nayak (1962) grew up in Cuttack and graduated from the famous Ravenshaw College. She completed her Masters Degree in Political Science from Utkal University,Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar. She is a bilingual writer. She has one book of English poetry namely ‘Words Are Such Perfect Traitors’ (2016) to her credit. She resides at M.I.G.-1/180, Satya Sai Enclave, Khandagiri, Bhubaneswar, Odish, India; and can also be contacted through e-mail: bharati1962@rediffmail.com.

1. Mother

Who can judge your
greatness, oh mother!
Who can ever
count the million moments
you sacrificed for
Who can ever measure
the depth of your love
Who can realize
the pain and agonies
you have gone through
to bear and bring up
the child
Who can ever
count the painful nights
you sat through without batting your eye lids
by the sick child's bedside
Who can ever
value the nectar you pour
in the mouth of the baby
who can judge the value of your life
as you give it away
seconds, minutes and hours
in the prayer
in your toil and labor
for the child's well being?

Oh mother!
Who can ever
give back to you
the price of your breath
the value of your kiss
the warmth of your hug
the depth of your prayer
and the unceasing love
that you vow to give
to your last minute?

2. Earthquake

Me, the earth
you see my beautiful face
the beautiful sky and greeneries
lovely flowers and sweet chirping birds

You dig
dig and build
your sky rise

You burn
burn my woods
you cut
cut my forest

You stop
stop my flow of rivers

The exhausts of your vehicles
the shoots of your industries
the toxins
of your weapons
pollute
my water and air
my children
animals and birds
forest and flowers
die of exhaustion

I cry
cry of pain
cry of anguish
cry out of anger
boil and boil, under
my crust

I heave hard
boil anger
shake and shake
I want to bring down
your sky rise
crush them to ground
I become angry
really angry
I shake your prides
crush your vanity
raze them to ground
then i sigh of relief
and become normal
once again
I engage in my creation.

3. I Speak Not

I speak not
as I feel
speaking is not essential
silence speaks for itself
even eyes speak
speak thousand words my quivering lips
unsaid words travel million miles
sun speaks
moon speaks
speaks the thunderstorm
when hearts meet
mouth says no words
only the closeness knows
how louder is the heart
when it beats
beating the loudness of sea-roars.

4. Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, my friend
let your pages
be filled with
flowers and poetry

Many wrinkles
life's years have added
but they have
also given us
many reasons to smile
to turn the wrinkles
into milestones
in the annals of history

Life has given you
the power
to turn water into vapor
to make a cloud
and a rainfall
on the parched ground
where greens will grow

Let the dullness
be wiped from any grey day
be filled with brightness
and turn it a full day
let the seven colors of life
make it as white
as the brightest day.

5. Poetry

It is that pain
which torments you always
It is that sorrow
which wants to come out,
but alas, can not

It is that pain
which shivers on your lips
and sits as a tear drop
in the corner of your eyes
it is that ache
that like an arrow
pierces your heart

It is that pain
which sometimes
flows in torrents
like a river
and spreads the whole world
like water vapour
blooms to beauty
like a flower
it is poetry
of life
it is
the rhythmic dance
of sorrow and happiness
woven into words.