Dhanujatra (A World Famous Festival In Our Town) Poem by Rajendra padhi

DHANUJATRA (A world famous festival in our town)

The king rides an elephant
Fashioned in an age unusually
When cars brisk in streets,
A crowd guarding the king
Down long years in plea
A story someone wrote
Unfolded and stretched
As real in people’s mind.

Laughter in sinuous rhythm
Excited eyes forget reality,
The quick steps of girls on stage
The king enjoys in an old town
Hung around a melodic heaven
Ablaze with pride
Obliterate compassion
To kill his nephew
Re-enacted every year
In the glamour of a story.

A brimful of spectators
Flushed in fantasy
Leaped up like sun and moon
Embark upon time
Quite hungry for past
A festival in their blood
Without configuration of
Loss and benefit
Wear in feelings of gold.

Time stealthily swallows
Every beginning
Wears the mask of an end
The streets are empty now
Frozen and hungry
For another year
Every end has a new beginning
So different.