श्रीराम वर्मा की कविता

Summary

The text presents a dense, metaphorical exploration of darkness, conflict, and the elusive search for a "gem" (मणि). The speaker describes an encroaching, bitter darkness that tests and consumes, likened to a touchstone that will continue to test. Hands join in a posture of submission or prayer (नमोमुद्रा) while being bitten. A serpentine tree collapses, and the darkness, described as stamped with the seal of destruction, will confront the body, consciousness, and faith directly. The speaker vows to survive like a gambler, even as the darkness intensifies and the gem bites. Poison pervades the wind, directions, and blood, spreading darkness from one void to another, creating a tangled web that sheds religion like a snake's skin. This darkness will break bones and consciousness; the gem may not be found, but light should remain, even as entities vanish. The individual, deprived of serpent-nature, becomes smoke. The darkness, described as blue-red and astonishing, fills the arteries, observing the core and the unexperienced, encircling the universe. A personal, unexperienced state persists, while desire continues to create the gem, which recedes, taking the person away. The serpent-gem recedes, laughing, as darkness persists. The gem will appear in darkness, revealing a struggle. A human, living in the midst of light, has crawled and slithered forward like a golden serpent-charmer. The dispossessed proletariat, deprived of wholeness, continues. The gem will appear in darkness, and it will be seen.