JASWANT DEED
JASWANT DEED (India)
Writer and Broadcast executive. Asstt. Station Director, Doordarshan, Jalandhar. Former Member, Advisory Board for Punjabi Sahitya Academy (New Delhi). Producer of musical programmes, and a specialist on T.V. films and documentaries. Jaswant Deed has won several National Awards for Production and for literature, Prof. Mohan Singh Award. He has several published works to his credit.
Pressure
Believe me,
Writing poetry is not my hobby.I only remove,
The stones littered on the pathway.
One by one.
Most of them
Looking half-broken from within.I only arrange words – nay stones
One after the other.
And –
Thrust them aside in a corner.
‘cos
The stone,
Coming under a wheel
May bounce
And bleed a forehead.Or, even lying as such
It may bruise a feet underneath
May be, also
A street urchin tosses it in the air
Or a pariah gets fed up with
Treading on the stones.
I keep clearing the path, thus –
Storing the pebbles on one side, and –
A day comes,
To my wonderment
At the ever heightening pile of stones.
My own,
Yeah! My own collection.
My God!
They could make a beautiful road.
And then,
I keep driving,
A monster road – engine
Crushing under its heavy wheels
The rattle of stones.
Moving slowing, at behest of
The steering – wheel
The engine