Grandma is one with the mound of earth again
Like a fallen old flower, her left-over self rests quietly on a tiled-terrain
Her fragrance reaches me, in another corner of another continent, where I hear the words - ‘Grandma died’

Grandma is dead- and the day has rained tears on my bed
I’m drenched Drinking her absence- her presence - drinking in her memory once again
Silence falls, I search for Grandma then… in an old-gold bangle- she wore once
Tomorrow, her dust, bone and ashes will be washed by the river-bed
The river-stream of her will enter the great ocean - it’ll all be one, then- the earth, ocean and the river’s-bed

Her soul has long fled out the world-window into a divine light
I’ll be watching the stars every night...whispering a quiet prayer
Hoping, someday, we meet again… Grandma

There was a war within me
A ****** terrible war - of deception - and lies - of hurtful ties that became knots in my belly and threatened to end me
Darkness clouded over - a hundred wails rang in my ears
I lost my sight - I lost my mind - only my soul remained
A soul that knew only your name - it invoked you - again and again

You arrived
like a knight
a brilliant blue light
in all the darkness
to lift the veil
The masks fell apart in your presence
And I saw your face, pouring with unending love, so holy, so pure

The war turned into a dance
An eternal dance of us
My war cries have become songs
They flow like rivers into the ocean of you
Beloved

Only you could have loved me so
So deeply
So fully
Waiting patiently
For me to cross the barriers between us
Until I realized, I was always yours

Beloved, don’t be amazed by my inner weather
It’s the calm before a sun - storm
It’s my soul-corridor turning into an empty dorm hosting unexpected guests of revelation

The quiet of my heart-corridor
Is an after-story of terror
Of course, there’s a before-story

Of the ocean of me that was once a tsunami
In it, was my death
and rebirth
It’s from the heart of this ocean-tsunami
A world of words appear
And I weave them

You can raise your voice
As loudly as you please
I will only let my silence speak
My silence is louder than your noise

softly-uttered
sweet-sounding
syllables

I whisper them with deep mad longing

words
turn
into
poetry

in your name

Beloved

Like a threadbare rug
weaved in only the colour of moon
I carried you in my soul
long before
we met

Being with you
is like watching snowflakes
for the first time
Ice melts
warmth fills my soul
and a folk tune plays
in the universe

With every word
The rush of night waves lapping across my mind
turn quiet
Your light enters the dark room of my soul
And I am redeemed

A low hum turns into a roar
whispers become chants
thunder drums beat into the heart
of all that needs telling

In a slow
carefully woven tale
An old moss-ridden porch
longs for company
in a deserted neighbourhood

A refugee
has found
Home

In the arena
she carried
all her failures
her misgivings and regrets
her empathy and pain
her madness, bitter and vain

As if they were battle scars
and she held them close, like armour
because she knew, that without them, she wouldn't exist

She was covered in fallen leaves and flowers

I  heard a  strange sound

and spotted the plastic bottles


I plucked the plastic off her

she left out another soft sigh of pain

and then, it rained

A baby eagle
flies
in wake
of the sun
A quiet sea lies
in wait
I write letters
to my friends
and
slip them under the rug
For,Love cannot be expressed
A sentient truth
moves through
the crevices
of somewhere
Winter has almost died
‘it’s all fading’,
they tell me
‘Even if
you tried’
I sit and watch
as times passes
a baby eagle’s flight

Sunlight filters through the curtains
and falls on the floor
Cups of chai
are leftovers of our sunday morning
The cold air is quiet still
as if awaiting
poetry

I enter a deep state
of solitude
where soft whispers
are uttered delicately
like wildflower garlands
where worlds meet
without judgement

Where I find you
in all the patterns that come together
to become
a gathering
of me

O Beloved,
this magic of you
is the life pulsating
through my entire
universe

Crawl your way up
the bitter earth
Break open
And breathe

There’s a world out there
for you to see
but first
you must learn
to weather a storm
to swim a sea ...
and grow as if you were a tree
each day, everyday

you must live
like it is the beginning
as if the story has
just  started
and you are the master of your own mystery  

So, gather your soul
wait for the sunlight
stay rooted,feel the breeze
on your warm skin

And Breathe ...

A white cloud
has been passing along
the entirety of the skies

On the darkest night
I have seen
the brightest stars

Mountains
have echoed
the sound of my soul

Snow covers
all that
has fallen

Rivers
have met
in the ocean

The ocean is
only
the beginning

The search has no end
The quest is never dead
We are water lilies

Keep flowing,
Beloved
the universe is infinite

Pain teaches us
about storms
and their power of sweeping away

The lesson that, only when the old and unecessary
is gone
a new calmness can take it’s place

In your embrace
worlds of sorrow
fall apart
in shambles
Mountains crumble
into molehills
Oceans rise
and
My fear dissolves
into honey  
that turns piping hot tea, sweet

I'm left with that warm fuzzy feeling
that could cure any
ailment

O beloved
such is your love

As the world seeps in pain

And the wounds blind us

I invite you, O beloved

Let’s meet at the dinner table again

We have a lot to speak

But first, you need to be fed a home-made meal

In dreams,
I feel safe
So, I sleep

The flower on the sidewalk
was uprooted ...
planted in a garden

From the dusty road
to a safe haven

Winter
bloomed
as if it were the summer season

Where I have arrived,
is a story I long to tell

Take a slow walk, beloved
Enter the garden

My earth
rises
to meet your sky
And, it rains

the flowers of your longing
are blooming
in the forest of my soul
Don't pluck them, beloved
it hurts

Needles
piercing
my inner thigh

a nausea wave
in my belly

a hundred bottomless pits
in my gut

the dense gap
between my soul
and body

Breathe!
I tell my self
Just breathe

I fell
deep
and drowned
in the waters
of your universe
In your eyes
is the solace
and belonging
the sense
of returning
home

My heart split open
and bled
The sky turned
lead
Your words
tread
through my gut
coiled around my belly
Until
I stopped breathing

It rained that night
after we kissed
You closed your eyes
lucid dreamt our life
I stayed awake

Terrified