Starry Night & Lover’s Call

"Starry Night Over the Rhone" by Vincent van Gogh, September 1888.

many times while walking late at night like tonight, i gaze at sky to feel that i am not alone and having sparkling company. that’s the advantage you have when you are not living in the city flooded with lights all the night. at midnight if not in my town i go and walk on highway, listening zooming sound of vehicles passed besides me and sometimes feeling vibrations by them under my feet.

if in gonadal, i go at old high-school ground, surrounded by some old trees, a grand gothic structure build by maharaja and recently added few adorable playing puppies on the ground. but while whole city sleeps under the windy calm of solitude, besides music from the ear plugs its the stars who give me company. :-“

they are tiny. sure. but shiny! after departure of rainy clouds, they again started to make the nights bright, especially in absence of full moon. its like many eyes of fairies from the sky look after us. smiling, without asking much of questions. just watching an insane creature of planet earth walking insanely on path of life.

wise people says, god must be an indian. yeah, an indian municipal commissioner to be precise before creating the universe 😉 roads are equally uneven and surrounded with potholes – be they are of life or our local cities. 😛

looking at the stars under vast black dome of bluish greyish hues of sky gave different insights and inspirations through centuries. they gave us spark of scientific innovations and poetic imaginations. but to me as i told they give me company. be it its midnight stroll at Orlando or Mumbai, Gondal or Ahmadabad -friends do change, gps locations too. but these loyal audience of mine remains with me forever, everywhere.

beautifully unorganized, randomly twinkling and casting Obliviate spell of Harmonie , erasing some memories for time being ! at same time creating some fresh ones too,  while a clam river flowing besides my step, fragrance of milky night flowers crawling in my lungs and some branches of tree smoothly dancing under silvery moonlight like royal princess in icy white wedding gown!

i love to listen some special favorite songs or when i’m not talking on phone, remembering some velvet verses. tonight it came from Gibran. one of the mystic masters who became one with flow of consciousness and glow from within like tagore or rumi or richard bach or polo coelho or rajnish or …oops these list is endless like shining stars under the sky.

this, one of my favorite love poem of all time, failed to make place many times in my articles because of its sheer length. even in the article printed today ignited after i had seen film ‘mausam’ – i had thought to begin with this poem once.

that article was written sitting in my car like with sudden urge from within i am writing this post right now. the desperation to write that  piece, close to my heart was such – that first time since last 15 years i had dropped my navratri special article, even though i was ready with new content this time too.

so , here is the poem which once again i omitted out from the article, considered 1 of the 100 best poems of the world. intense, dark, slow moving, shinning, passionate, full of blues , flood of heartbeats.like kalidasa’s “Meghdoot” it carries void created by love.

like night. like starry night.  if not home for aliens or angels, if not mission target for cosmonauts or tail for movie reviews,  stars may be flowers of god’s garden. and one bright star fell from the sky tonight. turned into red rose.

that’s how poetry came to us. 🙂

*****

painting by khalil gibran

A Lover’s Call XXVII

Where are you, my beloved? Are you in that little

Paradise, watering the flowers who look upon you

As infants look upon the breast of their mothers?

Or are you in your chamber where the shrine of

Virtue has been placed in your honor, and upon

Which you offer my heart and soul as sacrifice?

Or amongst the books, seeking human knowledge,

While you are replete with heavenly wisdom?

Oh companion of my soul, where are you? Are you

Praying in the temple? Or calling Nature in the

Field, haven of your dreams?

Are you in the huts of the poor, consoling the

Broken-hearted with the sweetness of your soul, and

Filling their hands with your bounty?

You are God’s spirit everywhere;

You are stronger than the ages.

Do you have memory of the day we met, when the halo of

You spirit surrounded us, and the Angels of Love

Floated about, singing the praise of the soul’s deed?

Do you recollect our sitting in the shade of the

Branches, sheltering ourselves from Humanity, as the ribs

Protect the divine secret of the heart from injury?

Remember you the trails and forest we walked, with hands

Joined, and our heads leaning against each other, as if

We were hiding ourselves within ourselves?

Recall you the hour I bade you farewell,

And the Maritime kiss you placed on my lips?

That kiss taught me that joining of lips in Love

Reveals heavenly secrets which the tongue cannot utter!

That kiss was introduction to a great sigh,

Like the Almighty’s breath that turned earth into man.

That sigh led my way into the spiritual world,

Announcing the glory of my soul; and there

It shall perpetuate until again we meet.

I remember when you kissed me and kissed me,

With tears coursing your cheeks, and you said,

“Earthly bodies must often separate for earthly purpose,

And must live apart impelled by worldly intent.”

But the spirit remains joined safely in the hands of

Love, until death arrives and takes joined souls to God.

“Go, my beloved; Love has chosen you her delegate;

Over her, for she is Beauty who offers to her follower

The cup of the sweetness of life.

As for my own empty arms, your love shall remain my

Comforting groom; your memory, my Eternal wedding.”

Where are you now, my other self? Are you awake in

The silence of the night? Let the clean breeze convey

To you my heart’s every beat and affection.

Are you fondling my face in your memory? That image

Is no longer my own, for Sorrow has dropped his

Shadow on my happy countenance of the past.

Sobs have withered my eyes which reflected your beauty

And dried my lips which you sweetened with kisses.

Where are you, my beloved? Do you hear my weeping

From beyond the ocean? Do you understand my need?

Do you know the greatness of my patience?

Is there any spirit in the air capable of conveying

To you the breath of this dying youth?

Is there any secret communication between angels that will carry to

You my complaint?

Where are you, my beautiful star? The obscurity of life

Has cast me upon its bosom; sorrow has conquered me.

Sail your smile into the air; it will reach and enliven me!

Breathe your fragrance into the air; it will sustain me!

Where are you, me beloved?

Oh, how great is Love!

And how little am I!

~ Khalil Gibran

an image captured by me. night at disneyland, LA september 2004.