Indian Poetry Quotes

“When we two parted,
there was no agony in either
of the two
who
lived all our lives together,
so close and near,
and so, so dear
one could hardly guess
one from the other.”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“Time has wasted itself
doing absolutely nothing!
I only wish it could turn back
and bring
me another opportunity
to experience and see,
fathom and breathe,
live with her and leave
the world on its own,
that night of passionate solitude.”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“No heartbreak can make a poet!
Poetry doesn’t stem from a broken heart
which fell apart
merely because someone left
and left a few marks to be felt,
dealt with and smelt
with emptiness and shallowness
of the breast.”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“Only if I knew
that knowing it would bring
a burden I could seldom carry
and ferry among those I know,
only to be rejected.”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“And we are still here
walking in this maze of perplexing
entries and problematic exits.
No words exchanged.
Even our eyes seldom throw
some letters of compassion or contempt
on each other.
I believe you, and I do so.
I know only you may show
the final door to enter
with no exit that follows.”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“Justice


A mother will die.
A child will be saved.
A serpent will always bite.
Beyond the sentimental values
we often inscribe on whatever we can,
the jury and the executioner, in this case,
are one and the same, and their perception of justice –
airtight!
Untouched by the melodrama.”
― Alok Mishra, Thoughts Between Life and Death

“The Indian Sonnet

All through history India has provided sanctuary,
To the persecuted, shunned and alienated of the world.
Everyone from everywhere has toiled in India's making,
Many cultures beat together within the Indian heart.

Of course, there are peddlers of intolerance and hate,
Those who have been trying to build an extremist nation.
These primitive apes fail to think with their pea brain,
Of the word "hindu" the sanatana texts bear no mention.

The ancient citizens of India had no organized religion,
Life was just an expression of nonduality or undivision.
Indus valley is a rare land that assimilated all,
Without ever spreading the tentacles of invasion.

Many fervor, many faiths, thus India is made.
India without secularism is India of the dead.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo