A DESPERATE ENDEAVOR OF A POET TO STOP THE WAR!

Santosh Kumar Pokharel

Santosh Kumar Pokharel, a well-established international multilingual poet from Nepal, this time made his debut as an anti-war poet on the international literary platform calling for relieving tensions at the Russia-Ukraine border a month before the start of the ongoing war in eastern Europe. He dedicated the poem to Russia and Ukraine Border Dispute with his long account of the brotherhood of Russians, Byelorussians, and Ukrainians. The war commenced on February 24, 2022 despite the call of a poet and still goes on having left Ukrainian cities ruined by Russian missiles and deserted by their inhabitants. Thousands of Russian soldiers and Ukrainians have been killed so far. And he dedicated his second poem THE FUTILE WAR where the poet tries his best to prove the futility of war where he says the war is a meaningless folly of fanatics. He says this war is between no enemies but Slavic brothers.

A poet by nature is a peace-loving human being and in addition to that, a person full of compassion who reflects on his surroundings outwardly and inwardly. His sense of gratitude for the human world and nature distinguishes a poet from the rest of the people. They worship human lives and nature, dance to their well-being, and cry in clandestine at their woes. They celebrate their failure by shedding some tears behind the doors.  By saying this a poet seems to have been sent to this world to regard that immaculate divine that has created lives here. The war erupted. Warheads won’t listen to mellows of a poet, bullets have always sounded much and very high compared to the voices for peace here. Then he wrote the third poem BECOME SOIL. The innocence of a poet calls the rivals and their people to become like a lump of soil for their coexistence and sadly that too didn’t work. The war escalated. The poet becomes desperate and tries to act in the hearts of the two brotherly sides who were already enemies now. He creates a poem Prisoners of War-THE POW.

With THE POW the poet tries to impart his tender feelings to the hearts of the soldiers that killing each other is not the goal but love for their families and children and their places is something more important in life. In this poem as in his other poems, he has been successful to bring forth a scenario of catharsis in the hearts of the two rivals when they shed tears. Poetry is a powerful tool that can change cruelty to kindness. The poet cried too in clandestine as the fierce war took temp.

A modest creature of creation himself creates another poem addressing Russian President Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky to come to peace negotiation and a truce. He not only asks for a truce but encourages Putin to play on piano and Zelensky to sing a khokhol song. The poet knows these two leaders’ skills well that Putin is a good pianist and Zelensky a good artist comedian. He appears here with his poem ‘Putin, play the Russian piano, Zelensky sing a khokhol song!’ And the poet suggests that Russian and Ukrainian people hug each other and dance and live in peace. This style of the poem and this much courage in a poet should be a scarce trace in the world literary history, where a poet from another point of the globe dared call this in public. Every word used in the poems is properly weighed and finished and every line of the poem is modest and the message of the poem is direct. Nepal stands for world peace!

Neither Putin would play on his Russian piano nor Zelensky would sing his Ukrainian song. And no chance of seeing Russians and Khokhols dancing together in brotherhood. They have become enemies. Neither of the sides has gained anything but surely Ukraine has got its cities ruined, people killed and thousands of Russian soldiers lost their lives. Both suffered a heavy loss-women widowed, children orphaned and millions deserting Ukraine.

 Let the warmongers rule the deserted silent cities. Then last but not yet least his poem STOP THE WAR comes into being with a message to stop the ongoing war. Many houses were felled, and cities were ruined. People’s dreams were also ruined and people were fleeing their country.

The cities were destroyed too. On the contrary, Zelensky would ask for arms and ammunition standing on the bloodstained ground where soldiers have died for nothing. Poet Santosh Kumar Pokharel, who is me (or who else could my feelings to the readers impart well if not I?) writes in his two last stanzas what would compel us to think if arms can be a solution to war?
The ground was covered with blood

The leader then there stood
On the same blood-stained ground
Though to you it may not well sound
But this was so true
And many would him pursue.

His face shined bright
I was shocked at this sight,
As he was asking
He needs more weapons.

That’s why I usher my readers read my poems the freshest first, and at last the first poem where I called for relieving tension at the boarders a month ago before the war erupted. There are six poems all dedicated to Russia-Ukrainian War. Let peace prevail in the world! May people live in harmony and there is no more war! #NoToWar.
 
Poems follow:

STOP THE WAR

I recited my poems for peace
Warships did not listen, rockets and missiles did not listen
Neither the machine guns nor the tanks would me hear
None of them was kind to me appear
and my poem got lost in the fog of war
To infinity ….
The war commenced.

The war was going on
Many houses were felled, and cities were ruined
People’s dreams were also ruined
People were fleeing
Stop you won’t them woo
The cities were destroyed too.

The ground was covered with blood
The leader then there stood
On the same blood-stained ground
Though to you it may not well sound
But this was so true
And many would him pursue.

His face shined bright
I was shocked at this sight,
As he was asking
He needs more weapons.

April 4, 2022 Bhaktapur Nepal

***

PUTIN, PLAY THE RUSSIAN PIANO, ZELENSKY, SING A KHOKHOL SONG!

I want Putin to play a Russian piano
And Zelensky sing a khokhol song
Russians and Ukrainians dance
Feast and Peace prolong.
Stop fighting now!

Because war is a war after all
The war never ends on its own
Those do not get defeated who should
The winners make a big leap also not would.
Take care
War is a horror!

Do not call the names of the weapons, more
Killing still persists
Women have become widows, and orphans, many kids
War could not be stopped despite many bids.
Soil cannot be bigger than a human life
Come on! Let all survive.

Light peace lamps in the name of the dead,
I have cried a lot
Some tears you also shall shed.
How long more to crying remain?
Take an oath not to fight again!

Now you appear together,
Give a smile at the world in a while
Don’t be too slow, act to peace prolong
Let Putin play a Russian piano,
And Zelensky sing a khokhol song!

April 01, 2022 Bhaktapur Nepal.

(Putin plays well on Piano and Zelensky is a good Artist).
Khokhol = Ukrainian

***

THE POW

I would have died
I am alive since I still breathe
I grew weak and thin
The food given by the enemy is bad or akin.
I have lost my appetite today,
or what more could I say?

My wife came to my mind
The baby came even more
Who else would more I adore?
In war, I only heard
The sound of bombs and the people scream
And a dead silence would prevail
Got shattered my team.

That moment, I remembered my village with pain,
See it comes again!
When I have been made a war captive
I have been caught and brought
Now I feel I miss home
I miss my village, my town
All of a sudden, I stun
Today I remembered my little son.

I became so emotional
I shed some tears
for those who were far, and
for those who were nears
I finally did this emotion endure
I turned into a human being for sure.

An enemy striking his boots appeared
I saw the compulsion on his face
He must have lost his race
There could be no woo and no boo
I cried, he cried too.

March 25, 2022, Bhaktapur, Nepal

***

BECOME SOIL

I was not looking for a country
I was taught that the country means soil
I put it in my hand and looked at it
There was no country
But particles of soil.
But the fragrance was definitely there,
wafting wide
Probably not every particle gave off
But some of the particles did this fragrance provide.

As all were in one and none could them spoil
They are all clay particles
They are soil.

I looked again, it was a mere clay
There were no borders.
There were but dust particles of different colors
Sticking together in a lump for life to start
Instead of living apart,
A lump of soil!

So, become soil, learn fragrance to impart
Make sure of your identity
You are soil.

March 12, 2022, Bhaktapur Nepal
***

A FUTILE WAR

There were bodies on the road sides
Scattered, unattended, and unhid
Well under the combat dress
Their hearts they hid
Neither spoke a word
Nor hands did they press
What will you to them, address?

Were they soldiers battling afront?
Or only deaths to confront
Yes, they confronted death and then died
They lay here and there on the roadsides
With their chest upward wide
The soldiers!

They were fighting each other
Fighting not enemies but brothers
Ready to kill and ready to die
They fell on bare grounds
Some of them grinned toward the sky
As if they felt shy!

Hearts of many may smolder
Oh! the Russian and the Ukrainian Soldiers.

February 28, 2022. Bhaktapur, Nepal.

***

RELIEVE TENSION AT THE BORDER

Interstate struggles are follies
Graves are ugly wars
Let live humans their life
No to killings! no to wars!

A country is not made of lines
Nor a border that divides
A country is where people live
And love in hearts resides.

Where love for own enthralls
And happiness glides.
A deserted land is a dead land
Wars fought are lives lost
Soil moistened with human blood
Is an asylum for the ghosts.

A human shall not be a ghost
At any cost!

It’s yours now and it was others’ before
I shouldn’t tell you more
Humility shall always prevail
History tells us from yore.

(ON RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN BORDER DISPUTE)

January29,2022. Bhaktapur, Nepal.

***
(The writer is a multilingual world poet from Nepal)