You asked
And asked
Where was the candle
In the dark and the utter delight
Of enjoying jazz and some fancy veal
To share the weal and woe of our life
Grand is a big word
You asked
And asked
Then, turned to look at the past
Shall we be friends?

If someone gives in the frayed expression
Assists the homeless scrounging for more power
Add to the five bucks
Found in a beggar's tin can
Ask him, will he believe in love after all this ****
He will say, 'yes.'
Even if he doesn't know what is power

In a hurling of sudden expression
My trauma ushered in instantly
Mindless, numbed, hysterical
Stuck on the empty highway
With nothing, but, my hands in pocket
No possessions
Just a sign saying, there's a road ahead

Is tomorrow another beginning
Or the end of the beginning
When does the perfect ending come
If it does arrive, what prescribes the reason
To precedent can we hold it to be worrisome
For us, tomorrow is just an anomaly
A wordless remark on the fruit of today
If it does have some patterned conscience, how do we stop hurting
Like birds without flight or wings
Grasping the sky, without purpose
Always singing the caged bird's song
Forever, even when tomorrow comes
Bolted doors will be removed and empty as windows
Opening of loading docks for homeless ships
To return, without knowing they ever left
Abandoning the captain of this vessel
Who believes in patience
And living in the present

We came from different places
It was the words that tied
Our minds like ropes
Except, you were learning the walk to heaven
As I descended into hell
Or maybe it was love.

Let us stride
On clouds that sway
As the sun slips away

When I think of you
The clouds come back
And it starts raining again

I am not sure if the rain
Is romantic or just the pain
That pours over my face

Sometimes, I remember
What you said, and how
You put two words together and made me feel

Special as a rainbow
In a grey sky
Without violet or blue

However, the tears
Still come and go
Like figments of imagination

The pain also comes back
Goes too, like that love
Between us, which was simply unexpected

That's when I feel worth nothing

I love the way
Your voice crackles
With the breaking pain
That shatters your heart
Completing you again

I love the way
Your stories sound
Like tales told from some
Fantasy I never have known
Or a poem passed down from tomes

Most of all, I love how you write so well
Even when you are hurt

Remember,
How your words were short
Raw and immersed in emotion
If you cannot bring that

It is okay
Remember,
Those words were short
Because you said something worthwhile

Before even knowing it.

A gust of wind brushes over the cold
My face as the sky hovers over my mold
Someday, when the earth wilts as flowers do
Flowers wilt on land as death looms

Huddled lovers in the smoky air filling
Many strangers in sight, sitting together
Where sullen earth finds nowhere to bloom
Falls ebbing into a stream of innocence

I can't sit
With you
On my mind

She runs to school
Every morning
Comes back with her friends
In the afternoon
Washing the dishes
When the moon comes out too
How does she live on the bucks
Of waiting tables all her life
Should living be a gust of wind
Or a rough strife

I felt truly
Happy
When I knew I could be heard
Even with a smile on

She has a mask
For every day
When she loves me
She can't kiss me
As she's got 20 masks
But, the one she has on
Is the one that protects me
From the years of struggle
And destiny
With her I know I am a real person
But, when I cough
She thinks I've got the pandemic
I wonder if love's a serious disease
Or COVID

You asked for my poems
I had none
Because all of the colors
My soul had been given without
Hesitation
Such is the beauty
Of inspiration

I love how
You fall into
The doorway
Crawling into
My arms
Into a shape of a
Kiss
It hurts now
Being misheard

Pleasure and pain
Are two sides of the same coin
One needs the other
To bring you wealth and happiness
Yet, when you are nearby
I feel neither
Just a longing
Hurting me
Like sticks entangled
In a thick forest
Unable to get out
Of the darkness
It is your smile
That all the pain seems
Worth that small pleasure
Of life

The way we look at each other
The road is home to strangers
Lights flicker together like a scripted picture
There's no danger of losing me, forever

The purple leaves flutter
As our hear beats palpitate
As if recognizing an unknown color
In sensual bliss our lips quiver

If you are a desolate landscape
Where a highway runs free
I'd love you still and know all your curves
As riders on a storm do on immaculate forests of azure

When I fell into depression
It felt as if I was being dragged
By a stone tied to my feet
Into an endless ocean
I guess I never learned to swim
Everyone got far ahead of me
At least I learned to float
To stay alive

I sat on a bench
Praying for rain
I was sure the sun
Was for me
Sunshine isn't for losers
So, I wait to fade
Into the night
I am sure
The moon gives back.

The sun is beautiful
If you hear the
The whisper of the wind
With it.
Such are memories
That remind me
Of the heartache.
An old clock
Brings me no peace
As it clicks like the years
As they pass by.

A natural order was seen
Living in the forests of time
Where wild men run free
As mothers keep providing

The mother hides in the shadows
Unaware of the crime of her children
Letting the life cycle move as clouds do
As the race for time will never find an end

When we live in the city
The cars live on the roads
Now and then, is a lot like
A forest of the day, hiding in the darkness of night

Under a canopy
Where the bright places are absent
The snails will move as clouds
Letting the clouds run free

Under a canopy
Where the shadows hide
The brightness of a tiger
A quest for life leads us to our destiny

You cast a spell on me
Put me in space
Where I am the center of the universe

How did you know
So much love
My friend

If you wanted to wake up
Why did you wake me up
Did you love someone?

I love our world
I think it shouldn't be hurt
Or destroyed

It must be reborn.

I know you love
The grass as it whispers
I know you hate me
Because I make you cry

I think you hurt me
Because I made life perfect
But you needed
Purpose

You are world, the wind
And fire with the water
That makes up the air I breathe
I take in your breath
In many ways
And reduce my existence
To a simple world
Which knows only war and destruction
Why do I know you?
Because you have thrown me
In here
With your being
Where we touch our lips
And drown in each other's blood
Absolving each other of our sins
We don't need love
We need no God
We need a life beyond pleasure

How much time have we left
To go south with abandon
There is no sun on the horizon
Only oceans that flow

What does a shoemaker make
Is it enough to walk with the rich
Or is he poor enough to work
For an eternity devoted to servitude

When does the rain become a storm
Is it when the purple sky hurts
As well as the
Soul

At night
It rains
I gazed
I could see
At the sky
The sunshine
The beautiful day
As pure as ever
To walk on
I had my pride
A mirror looked
Back at me
My hair was all wrong
From the storm
The candle burned
In the back
My papers lay
A fire burns honestly
To keep me warm
Wondering when
All happiness
Arrives

The sun is beautiful
To not care means
You simply know that

The sun fell on the valley
I don't know if you saw it
Maybe, you should've
Because that was the first time
I saw a silver lining on a grey cloud

I remember how you still felt warm
As if you had just caught a cold
Summer had become a bit torn
Without you beside me to live and love

The blankets cover the wounds and lies
When I look at your morning eyes
It all flies and the pain wears a disguise
There is a cloud winding on the sunlit skies

Don't try
If you can't
You aren't my kind of woman

You were beautiful once
Like the autumn breeze
Now the leaves are raked away

By someone who refuses to remember
What he had
The stars pave the way those who try

While, those who don't try
The morning begins
Tomorrow, tomorrow after the night

I had a case of the butterflies
My girl had her summer clothes
I found her inside, wearing them
While, I robbed a liquor store
The days seemed longer
The nights grew stronger as the stars
When the rain came
We went outside to the farm
I never could believe she
Left me in the summer

The morning came again
Unafraid of heat and whispers in the air
Bringing a storm, forever
I stood against the rain, half-dead
The women passed a stare
The rain comes in, so look away
The people with their papers will miss it
I can't help it, if you need to leave again
I know it's too much to ask
The cool rain fell on a spear of summer grass

I thought our paths would cross
You were just interested in the journey
I did all I could
Now, just the love drowns my mind
Our footsteps are out of reach
So, when destiny tore us away
My love pulled me in
The cool rain will hide your tears
So, come out when you’re over me
I've been waiting ever since

You left my heart naked
What the hell do I do?
It was stupid, I stopped loving you

My ghosts stopped chasing
They kept haunting your memory
It was stupid, I stopped loving you

You left my heart broken
Where do I go?
It was lovely, now you love someone

It has never been harder
To look as easy as a summer breeze
I stopped loving those things too

You hurt my joy
Took my sleep
Left a boy with no pride

I have nothing to love about you
What do I do?

Love is unforgettable
Let me tell you a story
About how I fell for you

Your smile is true
Hear my song
About how I hated those lies

Our conversations are frequent
Let me recite a soliloquy
Between our lips

Your kiss is sweet
Let me tell you a story
On how they make me feel

Your beauty is addictive
Hear my song
About ecstasy

What in the world
Should I do
If I love you too?

Catch a fading star
Hold me now in Mars
If the universe goes a bit far
Don't worry, let the world stare through

Catch a burning supernova
Hold me now in Neptune
If the universe seems blue
Don't worry, the world won't fade away too

Catch an interminable wormhole
Hover over the rings of Saturn
If the universe feels like a cradle
Don't worry, the civilization can depend on you

Just let the stars shine on you, you fool
On the moon

In the room where you held us
As the messengers lead the young ones
Find your voice, that may scream

Old and new cannot screech as newborn ones
As a lover cannot trust or lose
Find your voice, be free and truthful

Where the man finds it easy
Let the sun burn them all

So, you must find your wife today
In the room that betrays you, the next day
As murmurs fade away

When the bell tolls, yesterday will be yesterday
As life changes, today will be today
For when the time comes, it will you and you only

Where the sun burns them all
The whispers will tell you, find your voice

Soon, the curls of the clouds will fall
Like a frail finger of beautiful new life
As tendril twists from the fingertips of a twig

Summer is easy, but, the winter is breezing
Let us dance as freely as the wheels of love
And fall down as soon as the rain calls us too

When the ground calls us
Let the sun burn them all

Whistles of a train, spray the sky like a raven
Humming its wings, unknowingly
Let the fields watch on as civilization leaves in a second

When, love leaves us in a fleeting second
Let the room die as soon as we are born
Let the truth prevail as soon as we die in this world

We help or save
As the helpless men
Look for law and order
As oppression rules the nation
That does care to look or judge
But, arrest it does
As the helpless men
Struggle and fight
There is no verse or speech
That can give a dying man
His last breath

The bud of a delicate being
Awakening to a sun ray, daintily
Dries in the rainy splore while birds flee
Lisping in the cacophony of the wings

After every morning shower as the nest empties
The flower goes to sleep with the tall trees
Where the smoke of a stoked fire burns
Whilst choking the breeze and the birds

Brightly clasping onto the clutches of the  sky
Where the sun showers on its hue
And puts on a glorious smile in the afternoon
Hiding behind a penumbra, waiting to blossom

Fleeing as ghosts do from an enchanter
The bud cascades freely in the desert air
Where the stares of nearby petals wander
As the fragrance of a blossomed flower laces the air

The more I look around
I see people involved
In their lives, with another lover

Writing short poems and expressing
Deeper thoughts, only to fit in
With the masses

Maybe, this poem is too patterned
To my taste, but, that is how I feel
Why cannot a rose be a rose?

It is strange
How women adore the right men
But, despise the wrong one
Love is so right
So broken in its ideals
So wrong in its beauty
And so pathetic in its necessity
An entire generation pushing babes
Into cinema screens
Dealing slave work for women
And women only
Women are beautiful
Only because they think they need
Men

I am dead
Only God lives
You must find him
He lives in my bones
Strewn like cigarette ashes
He seeps into my flesh
That has lost its yearning
He laughs in excitement
Through my wide eyes
If you look at my skull
You will see, I am not blind

Lonely and dreadful
Is the night
That does not come after day

To write a lyric on your scrounged out drawers
Would be war of a poet's smiles
So, I take a flower from your hat
Are you Thomas or Bob?
I can't ignore the broken corners near the eye

You need **** the thirst of buds
With the graves of men and women
Bow at the altar of the Joan of Arc
As she billows like the flames and blood

Everything is faded
As she fakes
Like a guileless child
Or a woman who is mine

He: so do you want to go out?
She: does that mean dinner or bed
He: maybe, you aren't that pretty
She: so, I guess bed.

It's a lovely day
I bring flowers for you from
A green bayou that has become muddied
With our memories

The books lay bare
Strewn like the reeds
And seaweed on the surface of the flimsy
Waters, where water lilies once lived

War and peace lives harmoniously
A cricket beats, a bird sings
The dead land breathes, and so do
I, where the water flows to

Why are women so forbidden
If love is the first impulse we have?

The moon often visited
Our house
Looking at it from a distant window
Some nights would pass
As we would stare at the lit-up stores
Under streets of rain and fire
On the fire they would cook
Under the rain, they would drink cups of tea
As the rain would turn into heavier downpour
The cars would never come to a halt
On the fire the blood and sweat would become apparent
To bystanders
Not us who were busy wondering where the moon would be
The tea held by cupped hands would merge with the petrichor
As the days passed into absence of rain
I would wait and wait for the people to drink their chai
Under the comfort of my roof, I would wait
Wondering the homeless men who would return to nowhere
The petrichor absent for a long time
That was the season of love
I haven't felt that in a long time
Now the smell, too, has disappeared
The moon still visits
But, the wait no longer helps

When people ask me, after you have gone
What am I?
I say I am no one in this vast world of contours
Thoughts and dreams
Colors that could make the body of my poems
Where your love finds freedom, releasing warmth in them
Now I know no color
No real tragedy
The only tragedy I know is
When people asked me what I was
I said,"I am a poet."
With every the dignified response
The rejoinder was often
"Why was I so sure in a world that writes more than it reads?"
It was because I had you as my inspiration
I was your poet
Who confessed his sins to your soul
The sameness with which we kissed too was poetic
A zephyr that would blow across your hair
That too was poetic
Now, all that remains
Are fragmented lines
Of a fragmented love song
Of a heart completely
Broken

Shall I compose a tragedy
On the canisters of meat and food lined on empty stores
Next to the aisles as sold-out grocers
Tomorrow is no place for the stares of vegetables

The depths of the ocean are blank not blue
As the deck of the ship under the sun without a tune
Captain's call reaches a few onboard
Tomorrow surrounds us like dew on a leaf flown

Shall I compose a tragedy
Pile lines after lines, as they do in slaughter houses
Deciding whether to leave a smell of freedom
For the prisoners inside

Tomorrow is not for the man on the pavement
For it may be the coldest winter next
Tomorrow is not for the grieving widow
If she were to find love behind the locked door

Softly laced
Between your legs and mine
You breathe short heavy sighs
As I kiss your rhymes with mine
Your twilight sky glimmers
Only the horizon
Intertwined with my hips
Press your lips
Hypnotize my eyes
Our love will birth a child
From this small prize
As your back bows
The sun in your eyes will leave
Till then,
Stay in my embrace and cry
Let the sceptred snake slither
Under your torso and adjacent to your limbs
Caress every crevice
I'd say I love you
Just feel the leather
Of the serpent

People watched
As girls jumped from
Bridges
To their death
The ones who waited on
The porch
Were the ones who found love
Then died with old love