Sanity

 
Sanity

Amidst the horrors all around, we see
The things of beauty, hear the sounds of joy,
Observe the workings of compassion, care—
And so find solace still—and sanity.

To only note the horror, being blind
To all that still remains of living grace,
Is clearly partial. So it also is
To turn away from cruel miseries,
As if these things were mere imaginings.

How easy it can be to close the eyes,
The ears, and heart and mind, to misery;
How hard it is to turn to it, to try
To ease that pain—or point to it at least,
So others firstly see and then decry
Yet more of endless pain and suffering,
And act together then to end this curse.

******

There is a time for action and a time
For needed rest, reflection and repose.

One needs to close one’s eyes and savor peace—

Whatever little fortune might dispense—
And so to gather strength to live, to think,
To speak and act in ways that benefit
The beings who are helpless and besieged—
No matter what their kind or heritage.

******

When madness dire has seized the populace,
Then thoughts and words and acts are deemed insane
That try to turn from madness back to sanity.
And those who still persist are vilified
And labeled this and that and even worse,
And so, in time or rapidly, they lose
Their friends, their jobs and often even more.

******

We each are subject to what others think
And how they speak and act as they react
To what we say and do. And this is good,
As this constrains us when we are amiss.

But when we take account of frailties
That might be ours and still in peace conclude
That we should speak and act to try at least
Prevent injustice, death and suffering,
Then that is what we need to do, or else
Forfeit what still remains of sanity.

2024, January 28, Mon.
Berkeley, California

Kichu Bhalobaxa-কিছু ভালোবাসা-A Bit of Love

 
A lightly edited version of Google Translate's translation into English follows the Bangla (Bengali) text below. I will try to improve the translation later.

   কিছু ভালোবাসা

শ্রমের জীবনের শেষের সাঁঝে, 
আঁধারে যখন হেঁটেছি ধীরে, 
জগতের নিষ্ঠুরতার মাঝে,
তোমার স্মৃতি এসেছে ফিরে।
 
ক্লান্ত দেহে, বিমর্ষ মনে, 
করুণার আলো, আদি, চিরতন, 
পেয়েছি তখন মানসের কোণে। 
পেয়েছি দৃষ্টির, সাহসের রতন।
 
এটুকু কৃপা, এটুকু আলো, 
তোমার দেওয়া, রইবে সাথে। 
তোমাকে তাই বাসবো ভালো, 
যতই ব্যথা, গভীর রাতে।
 
আসবে আবার, ভরসা-ভরা ভোর। 
নতুন প্রজন্মে জাগবে আশা। 
দিয়ে যাবো তাই, যা কিছু মোর—
পেয়েছি যখন কিছু ভালোবাসা।
 
  রবিবার, ২৮ জানুয়ারি, ২০২৪ খ্রি
  বার্ক্লি, ক্যালিফোর্নিয়া
 
-----------------------------------------------------------
   A Bit of Love
  
At the end of my working life,
Walking slowly in the evening's dark,
Amidst the cruelty of the world,
My memory of you returned.
  
With tired body and exhausted mind,
I found again, in a corner of my soul,
The light of mercy, ancient and eternal.
This gave me vision and courage again.
  
This bit of grace, this bit of light,
That came from you, will stay with me.
And that is why I will remember you,
No matter how painful and dark the night.
  
The hope-filled dawn will come again,
And hope will arise in a new generation.
And that is why I will give whatever I have,
Having received that bit of love. 
  
  Sunday, January 28, 2024 
   Berkeley, California
  

Blindness, Evil and Greed

 
Blindness, Evil and Greed

“Out of sight is out of mind.”

And this, the rulers know.

So humans can be blasted, burned,

In places far away—

And other species tortured, killed, 

In places out of sight,

So those of us who do not see

Can watch our TV shows

And carry on, as if these things

Were mere imaginings.

 

And there are those, with hardened hearts,

Who find their entertainment

In parties on a hilltop, where

They watch the bombs exploding

Within the city they have cursed

As children burn and die—

A cause for celebration, since

They might “grow up to fight”.

 

So people who are prominent

Quite publicly declare

Support for endless massacres

And even loudly cheer

Destruction, death, and suffering,

Till those they see as “vermin”

That plague the promised land 

Are dead or fled and cleared.

 

So some are blind to evil, while

Some others seek revenge—

Not “an eye for an eye”, but a hundredfold—

Not soldiers fighting others,

But bombs that rain, for months on end,

On those defenseless, trapped—

On children, women, elders, men,

Removing limbs and skin,

And leaving others who survive

To perish, buried deep.

 

So some are blind or seek revenge,

And these are everywhere,

But others simply want to clear

The nuisance that resists—

That stands against their endless greed—

By chance—or act of will.

 

And these are they who start these things

And these are they who steer

The rest, through lies and influence,

Towards more and more of war.

 

So what we see in Gazza—that

Is not an aberration,

But just the latest episode

Within that local roil

Of death and grief and suffering

That never seems to end.

And there are others we forget

Or never even knew of, 

Who suffered through their genocides,

Unseen, unheard—as though

They never had existed.

And some, who visit where they lived,

May find their silent bones,

And linger, for a while, perhaps,

Where once they'd built their homes,

Deserted now—or filled with those

Who came and took their place,

Not knowing or reviling those

Whose crime was mere existence. 

We think these things are far away

In distance or in time,

And see no reason why we should

Be bothered by these troubles. 

Yet all the world is joined and one.

In blindness or in vision,

What happens there will happen here, 

Unless we see and act.

2024  January 25th, Thu.
Berkeley, California 
 

Circles

 
Circles

We all admire compassion,
Except when it's expressed
For those that we've excluded
From the circles we have drawn. 

So should my care be only
For the persons or the beings
That fall within the circle
Or the sphere I call my own?

That circle that surrounds me
Can shrink or grow in size—
A measure of capacity 
Of body, heart and mind.

******

So many fellow humans
Are struggling to survive.
And yet, among the poorest,
We find the heart that smiles.

We see the one that’s weeping
At another being’s plight.
We note the one that ventures 
To even risk his life.

That faith we’d lost in humans
We find revived again.
The circles, dense with darkness,
Are seen to spread with light.

******

We hail the acts of courage.
We join the helping hands,
Remember those who’ve perished,
Been injured, robbed, bereaved.

The Buddhas and the Jinas
Had seen through maaya’s mist
And sensed that every sentient 
To each and all is kin. 

And each, by simply pausing
And seeing straight through sin,
Can clearly sense that oneness
That clears the circle’s line.

****** 

Whenever hearts are hardened
And dreadful deeds are done,
The circles drawn have shielded
The ones who then are blind.

Dissolve, dissolve that circle
And look beyond that sphere.
Extend that edge so humans
Are always each within.

But do not stop at humans.
There's pleasure and there's pain.
There's happiness and sorrow.
What's left to then explain?

2024 January 23rd, Tue.
Berkeley, California