little                                                           ­                                                                 ­                                     bird



                                            

                                           the






                                                       ­                             tinly



                           ­                                                         kissing
­



                                                             ­                         of your wings


                                                         ­                             in the always






                                                    ­                                   stooping to kiss






                                                      ­                                  brightly morning are










                                                   ­                                   a perhaps song











                                                 ­                                                                 ­                                                    like
        ­                                                                 ­                                                                 ­                   (little bird)
                                                           ­                                                                 ­                                  the velvet
                                                          ­                                                                 ­                                 pocket of a
                                                               ­                                                                 ­                           violin



















                                       ­                                   rising























­
                                                                ­     chord
























                                   ­                                 'pon























    ­                                                                 ­             chord

























                     ­                                                             to the
























                                        ­                                         slender fragile aching


























                                ­                                                        immeasura­ble pretty



































                       ­                                                                 ­    of sky
















                                             ­                                                forever

Born to die,
yet still we try
to live as possible.
So many try to hide,
try to avoid the inevitable.

Can't they see,
their destiny,
lies past the darkness in death?
Yet they seem to be,
against everything life meant.

Life gives pain,
as well as shame,
but still some remain ignorant.
Some live it in disdain,
to try and remain indifferent.

Nothing works,
life has no perks,
It's darkness engulfs everything.
The good, the bad, the nice, the jerks,
they all end up with nothing.

Some die early,
or escape it nearly,
to save death for another day.
Others see it clearly,
that never is there an escape.
In a life so dark there never will be.

They say blood is thicker than water
Maybe if we were blood you wouldn't have disappeared.

I looked up to you,
but then you left and never came back.
So what happens now,
I wasn't as important as you once said.

Would you recognize me if you saw me
walking down the street?
And if you did, would you care to stop
and ask how I've been?
Let me tell you something that you
never cared to stop and ask:

I'm okay without you,
not like you gave me a choice.
You never seem to care,
once you left you turned your back.
Do I even exist to you anymore.

Remember me,
the “little brother” you didn't have.
The kid you gave advice to
The kid who ran to you.
Do these memories exist to you
or did they leave when you did.
Do you remember the talks where I trusted you
Do you remember the times when I wanted to
quit but you wouldn't let me.

Do you remember the child I used to be
because frankly I'm not that kid anymore.
You missed me grow up
because you never show up
to anything important in my life.
You moved away and never looked back
at the kid you left with a tear in his eye.

So tell me, who are you again,
I can't seem to remember,
the days passed by,
you never stopped by,
So forgive me if I can't remember the
“Big brother” who left and never returned.

My child…

My sweet red rose,
The thorns of life’s wars have not yet marked their scars,
Snuggle next to me,
There, there,
Be warm and let me tell you about a love deeper than time…

In the perfumed halls of Eternity,
Once, when Time was yet an infant,
The Eternal Beloved of all sprinkled Love,
And the purest glittering particles settled
Upon a Mother and her sleeping newly born Child.

And love there was,
Timeless,
Universal,
Eternal,
True and pure.

My baby, rest easy,
My child, breathe easy,
My son, play easy,
My daughter, sleep easy,
The memory of love will light away any dark dreams.

I have loved life
And I have loved the seasons,
I have loved the scent of beauty
And I have loved God Eternal,
Remember well, my child, my love is always here for you.



©Rangzeb Hussain

The expendable existence.
That uncomfortable rat on your skin.
The cut in your gums that bleeds when you chew.

The last feasible member to fit on an ascending elevator.
Warm.
Hot.
Itching.

The spinach in your teeth.
The tear in your jeans located too close to “there”
The treacherous unzipped jean fiasco.

That crumb on your face.
Where is it?
‘To the left’
Is it gone?
‘A little more’
How ‘bout now?
‘Got it.’

The untied shoe.
The untucked shirt.
The eyelash stranded on your face.

The rainy wedding day.
The gold earring under the fridge.
The luggage thats flying to London instead of Zimbabwe.

These are the unwanted little honeybees of everyday being.
cracked mirrors, guitar-snapped strings,
welts of fire and third wheel things.

Sweet revenge
To have tasted you
And then your bitter -
Nay, poisonous -
Aftertaste

I don't need to.
I know what that feels like.

Nice for a second, gone for a century,
Scarred for an age.

A sunflower grows
"tall and simple".
And so does a cancer
small and simple.
Holes grow larger
around me.
A field of sunflowers
and headstones.
The power of recovery and discovery;
the kick of a pen
during unconscious behavior.
Chatty beats taking control
of the morgue.
Not letting the rivers in--
only the shivers.
Chatty beats taking the liver,
putting it in a living corpse.
Chatty beats opening the door in the clouds.
That's but a bedtime story that's
read to the youth and
told as the truth.
Hypnotize so I can't criticize,
stick my face in the water
and show me the baby otters I loved
from my childhood bedtime stories.
The glories of floating
on my back into a
brand new habitat
filled with sunflowers
"tall and simple"
and holes growing larger
to keep me warm and breathing
under the water.

I’ll be waiting for you
on the dock
as the day breaks
again and again
I will know you as the sea
that pushes the sand
between my toes
I will know you
as the smell of brine
and the sea will swallow me whole
because that is where Id rather be
at the bottom
with you

I rather brave the storms
rowing my oars
than face the thunder that pounds
in my chest
whenever those cold thoughts
rise in me as the tide
every day with the sun and night with the moon
those memories of your smile
pushing through and through and through
as waves crest on the fingers of the sun
pull my eyes to the horizon
I will row to the bottom for you
I will take the plunge into the cold depths
of your salty heart
so that I may lay your smile to rest
at the bottom
with you

Goodnight,
       to the distant man
               who's always there,
                             but never here..

                                                         ­     forgetting
                                                 ­                 or letting,
                                    controlling,        ­                                open,
                           ­                      phrase,                                       cage,
                                                                ­                                         escape,
                                                                ­                   wage,
                                             tell me secrets,
                                                      li­es,                                  hide,
                                                                ­                                 lost,
     abyss,
                                                          ­                                           everyone wants,
                                                         needs,
                                                            desi­res,
                                                            ­                                               give,
                                                                ­                           take,
                                                                ­                                        waste,
                  ­                                                                 ­              why?
                                                            ­                   sigh
                                                          ­                    escape:
                                                                ­                high
                                            ­                                                 I don't know anything,
                                                       ­                                               too young to realize,

past tense too late,
                                       Help!
                                  I can't;
                                                          ­          sad song,
                                                           ­                tune of the world
                                                           ­                           slowly dying,
                                                          ­                                     crying
                                                          ­                                                  solves nothing,
                                                        ­                                 water the Earth?
                   Love?..
                   avoid,
                 = dismay
                                        confusion,
                                             never clear
go away,
   always there,
       but never here.