Friendship, Law And War
C P Aboobaker
Poet to soldiers
Camped on shore
Beyond iron bars:
No ships come in search of you
Not even a play boat
You are the dreamers
Crossing oceans
With thoughts of unseen shores,
Yet to conquer what you discover
Yet to rejoice in wealth and power
Ho, you are merely passive voices.
Rough rows have hardened your fingers
That have forgotten the piano's keys
You, somnambulists
Pretend to ache with wounds
Hugged by Queen Elizabeth
Winning victories over the Armada
You continue to sleep
Bloom in the zeal of bugles
And tambourines of war
Never intoxicated by symphonies of love
And ever afraid of smiling ships.
Your lips never sob for ailing children
Autumn dreams never pour over you
Their fragrance of lilies
Neither have fairies blessed you
With peaceful sleep
You dream
Unaware of woeful setbacks
And loving spouses in mourning
And the rhythms of flowers blooming.
You sleep on, in hope of war
II
I laugh at you
In prison's freedom
My laughter
Booms in silence
Oh, soldier,
You are sure to miss your sleep
The symphonies of cities
Kill my daytime sleep
And sing lullabies to snores
Coming from cellars
I wanted to write a poem
About electrical posts
In the rhythm of propellers
No stormy petrels
Soar up into my breast.
III
I have always looked at the sea
As the greatest fulfillment
Her noises have always
Cuddled me to sleep
Blossoming as seas
Rising as waves
Splashing into surf
Are my young dreams.
C P Aboobaker - C.P. ABOOBACKER, editor of thanalonline, belongs to Calicut in Kerala. His interests include writing, publishing poems, essays, and many more literary things. Latest writing is about Channels and Globalizations. He is a retired professor of history.
e-mail: cpaboobacker@gmail.com
