Alankar(Decor) -72 Poem by Indira Renganathan

Gokul (Cascade poem)

Cascade, a form created by Udit Bhatia, is all about receptiveness,
but in a smooth cascading way like a waterfall.
The poem does not have any rhyme scheme.

The elements of the Cascade are:

stanzaic, made up of 4 tercets or 5 quatrains or 6 cinquains or 7 sixains etc.
accentual, the rhythm of natural speech.
unrhymed.
composed with a refrain. The lines of the first stanza are sequentially repeated
as the last line of the subsequent stanzas.
ABC xxA xxB xxC or ABCD xxxA xxxB xxxC xxxD or ABCDE xxxxA xxxxB xxxxC xxxxD xxxxE, x being unrhymed.


Gokul

Cascading events marched in the dark
Tenebrous war of lightnings flashed
Crossing Yamuna Vasudev fled
Gokul sprang singing Krishna, Krishna

It was Kamsa the tyrant tortured
Feared of Devaki's child to kill him
He began killing each new born babe
Cascading events marched in the dark

Mathura grew dreadful by Kamsa
People were terrified and threatened
So also Krishna's parents were jailed
Tenebrous war of lightnings flashed

Watching their babies being slaughtered
They prayed atleast their eighth child be saved
Dream-blessed they were guided by Lord's words
Crossing Yamuna Vasudev fled

With the divine babe in his hands up
Guarded by Adhisesha he walked
Through godly night showers to Gokul
Gokul sprang singing Krishna, Krishna