2 Poems by Ram Krishna Singh

BODY

The body is precious
a vehicle for awakening
treat it with care, said Buddha

I love its stillness
beauty and sanctity
here and now

sink into its calm
to hear the whispers in all
its ebbs and flows

erect, penetrate
the edge of life and loss
return to wholeness


CLAY DREAMS

They make my face
ugly in my own sight

what shall I see in the mirror?

there is no beauty
or holiness left
in the naked nation:

the streams flow dark
and the hinges of doors moan
politics of corruption

I weep for its names
and the faces they deface
with clay dreams


Bionote

Ram Krishna Singh,  born, brought up and educated in Varanasi, India, is a widely published Indian English poet, reviewer and critic of repute, with over 160 academic articles, 175 book reviews and 36 books to his credit. His poetry books include The River Returns (2006), Sexless Solitude and Other Poems (2009), Sense and Silence: Collected Poems (2010), and New and Selected Poems Tanka and Haiku (2012). Translated into French, German, Greek, Spanish,  Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Serbian, Slovene, Croatian, Portuguese, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil,  and Bangla,  he has received many awards and honours. Dr Singh has been  teaching English language skills to students of earth and mineral sciences at Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad since 1976. email: profrksingh@gmail.com   Web: rksinghpoet.blogspot.in