MYDAVOLU VENKATA SESHA SATHYANARAYANA - POEMS

MYDAVOLU VENKATA SESHA SATHYANARAYANA who writes with the penname  'mahathi' is a postgraduate in law and once a practising lawyer in Nellore and later an officer in Central Industries ministry. He retired from Government service in 2014
 'Mahathi' is considered as one of the finest Indian English poets of modern times, whose poetry is replete with high imagery, clear diction, humour, pun and satire. He is adept with both formal and free verse though most of his later works were composed in formal verse.
So far his poetry was published as 6 collections and 3 epic long poems.
His poems were published in a number of print journals and magazines like METVERSE MUSE, WESTWARD QUARTERLY MAGAZINE(Illinois) Society of Classical poets (New York), Bhakti Nivedana (US). His SUNDARA KANDA was serialized in SAPTAGIRI English MAGAZINE (TTD Publications) and many other articles and poems were published in the said magazine. 

BROKEN GLASS
​

Its brittler than a heart,  this piece of glass
...when kissed a heartless rock slivered with clanks
and wine this, thinner than the tears, alas,
gushed out anon, towards the gloomy banks.
 
But there is more in bottle, and more tears
in eyes; ready to fill me more, and more
to spill, till vision blurs, deafen the ears
and seeps this poison deep into the core.
 
A seesaw state; between sweet memories
and oblivion, like hiking up the hill
and dribbling down. There're painful reveries
and mirthful nightmares... wow they're all and nil.
 
This's living too,  though not it's living right.
But for lovelorns,  nothing is left of right.
(Dedicated to Omar Khayyam)
​

AN OLD STORY
​

​An  old story...
I tell,
but you can't recall!
Those redolent rose petals once crushed
under the time-wheel can never come to life!
Many Springs and Autumns passed from then...
I'm still here at the same place,
but miles away in time,
like any stoic banyan!
A long ago I stopped greeting my newly sprouting leaves
and looking at those fallen at my feet.
 
When you perched on my topmost bough;
as I said, a long, long ago,
I had some odd tickles..something new
that gave me a taste sweet and unforgettable!
 
But you're business-like, I suppose...
looked around, flashed a lovely smile at me,
pecked few fruits, made rounds,
collected fallen ripe fruits from the soil around my feet...
all the while smiling at me
and alas flew away without a parting word!
 
A rendezvous so short, that lasted just few minutes
but of lasting impression.
 
Now again you came back
and perching on the same bough, that became older now
and creaking with sugery reminiscences!
Your stares are queer, as if I'm a stranger
or as if you perched on a wrong tree!
 
Damn it, I want to say now
all that I wanted to say then.
But, what's there to say,
as much as the empty wind my boughs blow
and meaningless ripples my leaves whisper?
But still, I insist...
yes, I have a story to tell...
our story, old story...age old story...
but you can't recall!
 

CLOUD SONG
​

​O' cloud-maiden, O' cloud-maiden,
don't weep, don't weep!
What jest thy yonder-man did croon,
don't leap, don't leap!
Let stars espy, planets lampoon...
their peep is cheap.
 
Thou lament well, to douse thy woe...
silly, silly!
No reason though I see well so
really, really!
Jolly drizzles thy smiles, gusto
chilly, shrilly!
But lo, deluge thy wail, oh no
vilely, vilely!
O' cloud-maiden, O' cloud-maiden,
don't weep, don't weep.
 
Whence fill our rivers, lakes and main
as rain and sleet
thee slake our thirst, thee make our grain.
How sweet, how sweet!
Thy tears of joy are pearls in chain
of grace replete.
Puddles thee make echo refrains
of childhood tweets.
O' cloud-maiden, O' cloud-maiden,
don't weep, don't weep.
 
Are fun, love fights, when tempers fly;
they say, they say!
He slurs, thee purr, he pries, thee vie;
ye play, ye play!
It's game, thee win, he wins, sly, sly…
but pray, we pray!
Ye mind, thy neighbors living nigh
O' yeah, O' yeah!
He loves thee much, thy man the sky…
allay, allay.
O' cloud-maiden, O' cloud-maiden,
don't weep, don't weep.
 

OBLIVION
​

​It's good...
people's memory is short!
The moments I rued
that my good deeds were forgotten;
of late, started melting down,
when I realized that
they let slip from their memories
my misdemeanors too!
 
Now my craving for glory died away
as much as the fear of infamy!
My walk became steady,
my eyes stopped veering around
for some face
either acquainted or much hated;
and mind, well
as empty as a summer furlough!
 
 
 

THE TALES I DIDN'T TELL
​

​I told you my little harmless tales O' friend
and made you laugh at my silly peccadilloes.
But those blunders I did; those grossest
sins I did perpetrate
and those moments when my head
had to hang down in shame
my mouth had failed to utter dear.
 
Forgive my reticence O' friend.
 
It's human that I'm such a hypocrite.
But carrying I'm, the load of my follies
heavy on my heart's shoulders
and traipsing hard to reach that
Judgment Day
for pouring them out as confessions
before the ONE
Who neither frowns nor laughs at them
...but simply executes His decision.