अशोक वाजपेयी की कविताएं

Summary

The text presents a series of poetic reflections on absence, loss, and the nature of endings. It begins by questioning whether a falling leaf knows it is dying, and whether a lost musical note in the ruins of a raga recognizes its own disappearance. The poem explores the paradox that non-existence cannot be expressed in language or poetry, as stepping outside time requires leaving language behind. Various images of decay and absence are evoked: broken steps in a stepwell, a sunset ending, an ancient corridor covered in dry leaves, a cold and scattered hearth, a yellowed book, a worn-out word from a lost language, and a mischievous act surviving only in an old woman’s fading memory. The text then shifts to questions about life and death, asking why a newborn shiver appears in aging, sagging skin, and how a green bud can stir on a bare autumn branch. It observes that life, like a spy, peers into death’s hollow eyes. The river is never completely silent, always carrying some sound or silence. It flows on the surface and beneath the drying sand, pausing near sudden endings. Despite the constant movement toward dissolution—of leaves, steps, words, sorrows, and wounds—life is constructed simply and appears buoyant. Death completes it. The water flows, indifferent to beginning and end, perhaps unaware that it is a river. The text is attributed to Ashok Vajpeyi’s poems and appears in Jain Bharati, October 2000.