Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "humanist-poems"

I thought I could bear the title poet,
But as it turns out, I cannot.
I can barely bear the title of scientist,
Let alone adding another next to it.
Each title feels like a burden herculean,
My heart cannot function with such burden.
If I am to create works of life and wholeness,
I must be free from titles, sane and insane.
My ideas are not born of mere thought,
If they were, there wouldn't be any torment.
My work comes from a land beyond labels,
A place deeper than thought can penetrate.
So you may call me whatever you like.
In my mind, I am but a nameless light.

Let us be oblivious to security and comfort,
In our pursuit and practice of humanity.
Let us be oblivious to personal happiness,
In our endeavors into the impossibility.
Let us throw all fear and anxiety overboard,
For the dreams that’ll determine our destiny.
Let us trample every foul desire for luxury,
And treat the hard problem of inhumanity.
Let us pay no heed to gain and pain,
In our course of constructing a whole society.
Let us not sit around praying for a messiah,
And stand up ourselves to carry out that duty.
Let others be oblivious to humanity if they want.
Even if it's doomsday, sapling of service we'll plant.

When I was a teenager,
There was a sticker on my desk.
My father had stuck it there,
Saying, till you reach your goal, don't rest.
Since that day I haven't stopped,
For I haven't reached my goal.
You may ask what the goal may be,
It is to die a lovenut lifting all.
Lovenut is one who is nuts,
Total bonkers for the benefit of society,
One whose lifeblood is sacrifice,
A revolutionary who is above all security.
I give a call to all the lovenuts of society.
Stop not till you remind all their humanity.

We used to worship the sun and the moon,
We used to worship stones and trees.
Then reason grew stronger along with imagination,
So our worship shifted from elements to entities.
Some of them were real and some fully fictitious,
We just needed an excuse to externalize our divinity.
Even today we keep inventing fictitious characters,
Despite knowing they are fiction we pledge our loyalty.
It seems like we are always holding out for a hero,
Outside our very own everyday, ordinary psyche.
Fiction is healthy so long as we grow no dependency,
Real heroes are just humans standing unbent on duty.
Enough with worship of fiction from comics and scriptures!
It's time to be the hero and take the world on our shoulders.

A Jew may say, Hebrew is the language of god.
A Christian may say, Aramaic is the language of god.
A Muslim will say, Arabic is the language of god.
A Hindu will say, Sanskrit is the language of god.
A biologist may say, DNA is the language of god.
Mathematicians say, math is the language of god.
A psychiatrist may say, libido is the language of god.
Physicists say, Quantum Mechanics is language of god.
A politician may say, control is the language of god.
A capitalist may say, currency is the language of god.
A cop may say, law and order are the language of god.
A philosopher may say, wisdom is the language of god.
I don't know all that, I'm a being most ordinary 'n simple.
I only know that kindness is the language of a human.

Aham dharmam, aham daivam,
Aham qurban for bhoolokam.
Aham nyayam, aham shastram,
Aham the end of all divisionism.
Aham prakriti, aham pralayam,
Aham the seed of all causality.
I am life, I am death as well,
Life to love ‘n death to inhumanity.
To most people family is the world,
But to me the world is family.
Because I am accountable for all life,
I am the epitome of collectivity.
All that is civilized starts with me.
Aham brahmandam, aham brahmasmi.

(aham: I am, dharmam: duty, daivam: divinity, qurban: sacrificed, bhoolokam: kingdom of earth, nyayam: justice, shastram: gospel, prakriti: nature, pralayam: apocalypse, brahmandam: universe, brahmasmi: almighty)

Whenever humanity degrades into inhumanity,
Whenever the oppressed cry out for a little dignity,
Whenever political animals come and sell hate,
Whenever morons 'n their yes men ruin harmony,
Whenever some cavemen fly the flag of tribalism,
Whenever love of luxury undermines accountability,
Whenever gentleness is overpowered by greed,
Whenever megalomania tramples heart's humility,
Whenever goodness is patronized by cold smartness,
Whenever compassion is vilified by indifference,
Whenever selfishness is accepted as norm and sanity,
Whenever accountability is deemed as an offence,
Embracing affliction, from the dust 'n dirt of soil 'n street,
You the Milkyway Messiah is to rise as the sentient shield.

Woman means not weakling, but wonder.
Woman means not obstinate, but original.
Woman means not man-slave, but mother.
Woman means not amorous, but amiable.
Woman means not neurotic, but nimble.
Man mustn't mean medieval, but moral.
Man mustn't mean abusive, but affable.
Man mustn't mean nefarious, but noble.
Trans doesn't mean titillating, but tenacious.
Trans doesn't mean riff-raff, but radiant.
It doesn't mean abhorrent, but affectionate.
It ain't nasty and sick, but nerved and sentient.
Gender has no role in society except in bed.
Person is known by character, not dongs 'n peaches.

Hard as steel and soft as flower,
That's the motto for a civilized human.
Tough as thunder, sweet as honey,
That's the motto for a braveheart human.
Not too much unguided sentiments,
Not too much intellectual coldness,
To give either of them total slack,
Is to bring destruction and lifelessness.
Corazón primero, después dinero,*
Thus speaks the human of revolution.
Humanidad primero, después verdad,**
That's the motto for the being of evolution.
Strength, warmth ‘n reason, all are needed.
And all are to be guided by oneness uncorrupted.


(*Heart first, money later. **Humanity first, truth later.)

My first and foremost love is society,
Romance 'n things are second priority.
My love seeks not to be loved in return,
In fact, my love thrives in cold nonreciprocity.
Mine is not to reason why, mine is to love and die,
There's no greater love than that of a one-sided lover.
The world is to me what Julia was to Saint Valentine,
And what the impoverished were to Nicholas Santa.
A world anemic in love needs a day to celebrate love,
I am a lover eternal, for me every day is valentine's day.
The world is my valentine, as such it is under my care,
It's my duty to protect it from Claudius' mischievous play.
I shall stop breathing before I break this pledge of mine.
There's no greater power than the pledge of a lover divine.