Woman, Oh woman!
I've tried and tried
to peel you tenderly
layer by layer
hoping to see all your glory
but I know it's futile
you'd just evanesce
into thin air
and all I'd get would be a whiff
of your lingering fragrance.

Woman,  I've tried and tried
to rain on you
with gentle sun showers
hoping to rouse you from languor.
I've touched you, tasted you
I've tried to hug you
for eternities that burst like water bubbles
I've tried sharp logic
to see what's inside of you
but all I'd get would be
some finely chopped confusion
some teary eyes
and some of your juices

Woman, oh woman!
I've tried and tried
I've eyed you, I've weighed you
I've measured you, sized you
I've sketched you, shot you
painted you over and over
in black, in white, in all shades of grey
and in a seven million hues too.
I've finally even thrown words,
wet gooey words,
onto my potter's wheel
coaxing them with clumsy hands
to mould your voluptuousness
your curves, your smile,
your love, your strength,
your fiery impatience
your very core essence--
but all I'd get would be
a limp blob
of pathetic poetry.

I've tried and tried
unraveling, deciphering you;
a mere likeness, a semblance
is all I'd get of you
but no, it still wouldn't be you.

The earth here is red my friend
Because if you dig it up
You'll find the congealed blood
That was spilt in so many silly battles
Over ownership and honour and faith
And that blooms today as roses
And hibiscus and a thousand other flowers

The earth here is red my friend
Because it's already clotted
And waiting for more to be interred
While they wail and mourn yet again
As vendetta spawns vendetta
And ****** cockfights fuel the thirst
For more blood, more gore

The earth here is red my friend
Because her lust for blood is insatiable
And yet look how she clothes herself
In a luxurious glimmering verdant silk
Hums one of her sweet birdsongs
And smiles at you, innocently
Beckoning you like a coquette.

When the night bled,
little streams of silver light
trickled down my hair and beard
and despite my inferiority
I glowed an ethereal glow.

When I roamed the Earth
my gait heavy with guilt,
my head glowed
like a bobbing ball
through the dark labyrinths
of sleeping groves.

A swarm of termites
followed me all the way
to the grotto of silence
by the lotus lake
where I sat
lost
still
silent.

And they salved me
and covered my wounds
cocooning me within their mound
that smelt of the Earth and my tears
and I sat there
lost
still
silent.
for eons.

Until that morning
when a monstrous twang
pierced my heart
and brought
the Sarus crane down
writhing in agony
while his mate wailed.
and I cursed the hunter
to his own eternal hell
of regret.

When the crane died
words were born
in metre and rhyme
and I emerged
from my earthen mound
of silence,
singing.

In pain,
in empathy,
I found my voice again.

Inside our silken cocoon
it's always two in the morning
dark and throbbing silence within,
chaos  without.

And I'm always hungry,
my whole being
forever snuggling caressing,
snaking, searching, seeking
soft mounts and peaks...
Ah your hair your hair!
jasmine -scented serpents
all over my face and chest
writhing in ecstasy!

I breathe you in
and let you out
in delicate rings
that float away
in vanishing wisps

Someday soon
will we, my dearest,
shed this cocoon
and seek the light together
for flowers and nectar?

moonlit silver night
like a spider
weaving
this fine web of silence
around me

trapping in it
tiny pearls of dew
forlorn calls of lonely koels
suppressed sighs of yearning
tormenting thoughts pacing about
sobs buried in drenched pillows
pleasure escaping in moans
as nails titillate

dark inky night
doggedly weaving
to the cricket's staccato rhythm
this fine web of silence
around me

trapping in it
remembrances
of things past and forgotten
of humiliation and angst
of jubilation and smiles
of tenderness and love

Every time I try
to curl up in this cosy silence
the raucous cockerel
rips it to shreds
letting in golden streams.

Often
I keep quiet
I purse my lips
Even allow myself to grimace
From the effort to resist
The temptation to name
The thought that wells in me
Despite myself.

I wear this silence
Like a shroud
Because the unnamed
Is magical, mysterious.
Because to name would be
Violent sacrilege
To voice,
Wanton transgression.

Under the shroud
I boil bubble froth
In terrible unrest
Like a druid's cauldron
And yet I refrain
I hold back
I don't want to break
The torment
Of imminent release

But I'm as human as you are
Because sometimes
Despite myself
I let go
I burst
I sing and cry
I join the celestial chorus
Warbling chirping tweeting
And my voice
Adds ink and pink
To my sky

Half hidden
under his motheaten blanket
the moon
pockmarked and sullen
distilled the night
over and over again.
All around,
a brooding silence.

Only his still growled
like distant thunder.
And from  time to time
his fire crackled.
All else was still.

Then
slowly
little droplets
started falling
clear as drops of tear
And i raised my head skyward
and pushed my tongue out

Heavy and heady drops.
The ***** stung,
tasting vaguely
of suppressed sobs
of unrequited love
juvenile fantasies
****** dreams.
And a hint of birdsong.

I guess the rogue
had wrung the neck of
my songbird
and tossed him into the still too.
Because now
only a lone insane rooster
crows repeatedly
as darkness fades.

Stop it oh Ringmaster,
Stop it you fool!
Can't you see it's pointless
To crack that whip any more?
Your stupid beast has fled in terror
Back to his cage,  trembling.
Where once he used to pace
In majestic pride ,
He now cowers in a corner
Afraid,  very afraid.
He's not half the miserable beast
He's already been.
For he seems to hear
A whip deadlier,  a whip unseen.
Every now and then he shakes
In mortal fear of his new fear!
His new Ringmaster is mightier
And way too nastier
'Coz he cracks a whip
That's frozen time, stopped everything
From meaning anything.
Neither night nor day nor love nor lust
Has any more to it now.
Look how he's forgotten
To urinate to defecate to fornicate.
The meat you threw yesterday
Lies untouched in his cage.
Is it that he's hungry no more
Or has he forgotten he's hungry?
Look how he trembles at every footfall
Of even the scurrying rats!
Of every whiff of air even,
Of even his cagemate!
No. He won't dance anymore
Not to your tune,  not to anybody's!
His time's up,  his show done.
He's figured out he's only a sucker
Running from fear to fear
Whip him hard but he won't budge
You don't scare him no more.
This new whip,  unseen but lethal
Is now his new master and Lord.

I love the hourglass,
Its voluptuousness, its curves.
The way it reminds me
Of love handles oh so soft
And the hours of lascivious indulgence
Of sighs of passions
And fleeting moments of exquisite delight.

And I hate it
For its inexorability, its adamance.
Not one grain of it
Can be lured to pause, to linger
As it hurtles on
To join the growing heap below
In unseemly hurry to yell at me
That my Time's up.

But beyond love and hate
Truth lies.
And beyond pleasure and pain
Death lives.
When Time stops,
Eternity begins.
Or doesn't it?