I got a wrought iron heart
You know it's been through the fire
And you can't tear it apart
It's tougher than a barbed wire

You think I loved you from the start
You think I lost my best friend
You think it hurts me we're apart
I think you better think again

I got a wrought iron heart...

Like a toddler taking maiden steps
The narrow stream moves through the woods
Tripping and falling over pebbles and boulders
Chiming its silver anklets

Forcing itself in irrepressible flow
It thrusts and shoves its way down
Through thickets and a line of ferns
And the tangle of creepers and thorny brambles

Drowning the whisper of bamboo leaves
Its sweet murmur falls in my ears
As an eternal living melody
The cosmic song heard over eons

As the water sluices down the rocks
It becomes a frothing braided torrent
Producing a harsh grating roar
Like the crescendo of a tribal symphony

There it forms into a small pool
With its waves gently rippling
Where birds merrily come to take a dip
And sunning their feathers, fly back refreshed

Sometimes travelling unseen
It suddenly emerges into the open
Cutting its way through cracks and fissures
Never willing to surrender before hurdles

With a bearing immaculate in grace
It sends out waves of pure delight
What joy it is to watch the dilly dally
Of this sedate pilgrim moving to its destination

Between the departing day and the descending night
If it suddenly rains as a bolt from the blue
With no umbrella to shield our heads
How I wish to walk with you
My hands twined around your waist
And no one around but only you and me

As the sun hides behind the Western gats
Bleeding red and waxing pale
How I wish to ramble hand in hand
      Along the sea shore under the canopy of the sky
Sharing silent thoughts and counting the waves
Lost in our private world, just you and me

On a bright clear day when the Southern Bay
Like a voluptuous maid lies draped in blue
And its placid surface dotted with sailing boats
How I wish to get into one
And drift afar to some unknown destination
With no one else but you and me

On a silent morn, standing on a rocky precipice
How I wish to proclaim aloud to a waking world,
Slowly emerging from the haze of mist
That you are mine and mine only
And to its rebounding echo, a spectral form from far
Responding- ‘We are one, you and me’

Somewhere in a sheltered nook,
Screened from the buzzing crowd with a river winding by
And the clear waters snoozing on the white sand
In a small sequestered cottage,
Where nightly winds flute on the window panes
How I wish to build a life with only you and me

As we stand in a tight warm embrace
When my hot breath falls on the nape of your neck
And as you pant with passion like a frightened deer
How I wish to get enrobed in your mystery
And sail down to the abyss of an unknown experience
When nobody else matters, but only you and me!
…………………………………………………………

When life takes an obliterating course,
When suddenly the night closes over
And dangers prowl around us like carnivores beasts,
How I wish we could still remain one in spirit and soul
And the vagrant fate or the wanton death
Could never separate us, you and me!

Here, in this
Revolving island,
Surrounded by spacious galaxies,
Crumbling and growing
In chorus

You and I
Stand still, astonished,
Make love beneath
The faces of sunlit raindrops,
Promising forever

A third eye
Behind the forehead, sleeps
Throughout infinity,
Still we enlighten and paint
Each other's heart with our aura’s
Burning colours

Over our hundred years
Old soul, mortal us,
Wearing the coat of stardust,
Changing faces,
Arrive time after time

Through this intense
Whirling ride on a boulder
Called earth, we meet
In the middle of somewhere
And begin our
Beloved meaning of life

While it was raining heavily outside,
Two children in shabby, tattered dress
Stormed into our glass roofed patio
And at the door, for mercy did pause

They said they were out to buy empty cans
To make a living and support their family
The only work they could do at their age
And it was not their intent to dilly dally

I was in no mood to entertain them
As my hands with pending works were tight
A week’s laundry and some shopping to do
But was rather indisposed to send them outright

As I looked onto their starved faces
I felt a hard tug deep from within
After a moment’s thought, when I invited them in
In innocent mirth, their eyes did spin

When I brewed for them two cups of coffee
And gave some homemade snacks to munch
Their little faces bloomed in joy
As if savoring a favorite fruit punch.

All the while their curious eyes went
Flashing from nook to nook and every corner
On my well stacked shelves of china pottery
And the costly gadgets and the gas burner

When they were about to leave
They simply said- “Oh! You are rich!”
Of course a new revelation, it was to me
Something I had never thought over much

Yes, with a roof overhead
With enough means to feed my kids
And with a steady income every month
How rich I am compared to those hapless lads

Now, though many years have slipped by
I reiterate to myself what those children said
‘Oh! You are rich’ lest I shall ever forget again,
How rich I am and this thought keeps me ahead!