Schwarzwaldlyrik By Satis Shroff:

THE SEA SWELLS (Satis Shroff)

The sea shells on the sea shore
Suddenly the sea swells.
Ring the church and temple bells.
All is not well.
The sea has gone back.

Brown-burnt Tarzans and Janes
From different continents,
Wonder what’s going on.
A man from Sweden
Is immersed in his thriller under the palms.
A mother and daughter from Germany
Frolic on the white sunny beach.

Even the sea-gulls stop and listen
To the foreboding silence.

The sea swells,
Comes back
And brings an apocalyptic destruction:
Sweeping humans, huts and hotels,
Boats, billboards and debris.
Cries for help are stifled

By the roaring waves.

The sea goes back.
Leaving behind lost souls,
Caught in suspended animation.
I close my eyes.
Everything dies.

Tsunami. Tsunami.
Om Shanti. Om shanti.

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Love Songs On a Misty Morning (Satis Shroff)

Do You Remember?

On a misty morning at Pokhara,

We sat in a dugout canoe

With our college friends.

The misty veil slowly disappeared.

Mirrored on the torquoise waters

Of the lake Phewa

Were the virgin white peaks

Crowned by Machhapuchare,

The fish-tailed one.

Placid, serene, majestic,

A moment of magic.

Do you remember?

The love songs I sang from our canoe,

Strumming on my guitar

Were meant for you.

For you alone.

Even the Himalayan birds

Stopped chirping

To eavesdrop at our wondrous melodies,

Like at a Rodighar.

Our friends sang in chorus:

Nepalese folk-songs,

Bollywood, Urdu

And English lyrics

On that misty morning.

Songs sung in chorus

To share our feelings,

Of the beauty of Nature

And human attachments.

Breaking the tranquillity

Of the misty morning in the Lake Phewa.

A motley symphony in the morning.

The elderly Phewa-fisher smiled,

As he rowed the long canoe.

A knowing smile,

For he too had sung love lyrics

When he was young.

The jhaurey and ghasi songs

A frugal life in the Annapurna hills,

Trying hard to make ends meet.

He had his life behind him,

We had ours before us.

Life was cruel,

But love was everywhere.

The Symphony of the Morning (Satis Shroff)

I discern the recurring chirps and whistles

Of the birds in the vast foliage of an oak tree,

A German Eiche.

Whistles, chirps, hoots

And melodious symphony,

Like the incessant waves

Slashing on the shores of the Atlantic.

A single bird gives the tact,

A strong monotonous chirp.

The others follow suit,

Not in unison

But still in harmony.

You discern so many melodies

When you eavesdrop

In the quiet comfort of your bed.

The natural symphony of the morning:

Adagio, crescendo,

It’s all there

For your fine ears.

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CHIRPS IN MY GARDEN (Satis Shroff)

Ach,
To lie in bed
And listen to the birds sing.
I peer at the pine trees above,
Heavily laden with fluffy snow,
Like sentinels of the Black Forest.

I discern something moving:
Three deer with moist black noses,
Sniffing the Kappler air,
Strut among the low bushes
In all their elegance,
Only to vanish silently,
Into the recesses of the Foret Noir.

I hear the robin,
Rotkehlchen,
With its clear, loud, pearly tone,
As it greets the day.
Just before sunrise the black bird,
Amsel,
Which flies high on the tree tops,
Delivers its early arias.
The great titmouse stretches its wings
And starts to sing.

The brown sparrows turn up
With their repertoire,
Rap in the garden,
Twitter and chirp aloud.
All this noise makes the bullfinch alert,
For it also wants to be heard.
It starts its high pitched melody
With gusto in the early hours.

The starling clears its throat:
What comes is whistles,
Mingled with smacking sounds.
The woodpecker,
Specht,
Isn’t an early bird,
Starts its day late.
Pecks with its beak,
At a hurried tempo.

If that doesn’t get you out of your bed,
I’m sure you’re on holiday,
Or thank God it’s Sunday.
Other feathered friends
Who frequent our Black Forest house,
Are the green finch, the jay,
Goldfinch which we call ‘Stieglitz,’
Larks, thrush and the oriole,
The Bird of the Year,
On rare occasions.

Glossary:
English, German, Latin names
Robin (Rotkehlchen): Erithacus rubecula
Black bird (Amsel): Turdus merula
Titmouse (Kohlmeise): Parus major
Bullfinch (Rotfinke):
Greenfinch (jay): Chloris chloris
Starling: Sturnus vulgaris
Woodpecker (Specht):
Stieglitz: Carduelis carduelis
Oriole: Oriolus oriolus

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