It's a stark danger
a foot in the door
when it is slammed
your toes wouldn't be as before!

I am the perpetual cynic
  on people's foibles I pick

Too much-wanting
leads to begging

I've learnt--this I don't need
  to compete

With life
we are intimate
whether we live
in adoration or hate

sometimes a friendly hand
it stretches out
other times it chides
casting its every doubt

with life
we are allied
there's no escape
nowhere to hide

still I'll stand
on my chosen side
I'll learn to understand
in unswerving faith abide.

without you so late
I come to the maze alone

to the centre to find
our creature

alone & tired of waiting
turned to stone       (copyright of Kate)

Mine:

A moment frozen
alone and lost was I
my heart was silent
as the minutes ticked swiftly by

the hour was late
even weary was the evening sky
I have no cause to celebrate
more reason for me to cry

Old age has its  merits
silent and mellow
youth was boastful of its high-point
but only folly did it show

life is the progression
of seasons-- time has to flow
let's live with no regret
nothing is worth the throe of woe.

The seashore of life
is no place to look for treasures
here is but sand and pebbles
tide-battered shells
fragments of mussels
sunbaked seaweeds
fallen leaves, broken twigs
shreds of seared branches
and strange enough
even torn pages
of castaway
goodbye love-letters


a witness
to time's history
and its ravages
a testament of
mankind's sad
and silent chapters

if you should walk by
in the dead of night
you would hear
it singing the dirge
of unfulfilled lovers

of perished dreams
of sunken hopes
of painful despairs
in bitter sobs
and muted whispers

feel, oh feel well
the pulse of its melancholy
listen, oh listen
to its wild heart-beats
in wild tremours
imagine, oh image
how it howls
in its raging tempers

enquire, oh enquire
where it nestles

its home is none other
than the deluge
of the tattered heart-
the most tearful metaphor
of all known metaphors.

The listener
learns more
than the speaker

The cynic is
  not wicked
  while others lie
truth he does beget

Don't ever welcome worry as your guest
it would not leave-- the cause of your endless unrest

Follow me not
      my direction I forgot!

The person who is a chief
     is often prone to some mischief

Persona has layer after layer
       unknown even to its owner

What's that you think
          which makes you turn pink?

From the fool
     I learn more
    words of the wise
    I've heard too many before

Whether within or without
     you can't run away from doubt

To you he is kind
as he has benefit in mind

Tread lightly my heart
   do not weep
   after the ache
   comes the sleep

   love has lost its way
   dreams it will still keep
   it will return some day
   joy it will surely reap

   hear my lonely song
   as the night runs deep
   as the stars leave their home
   into the firmament they leap

   they know the pain of love
   as into my soul's recesses they peep
   may I wake to the promise of dawn
   after tonight's healing sleep

Appeal to the child
in the person
you'd win him over--with language mild-
in any season

Words do
or they undo
the shoe-lace
should fit the shoe

There are too many things I can't do
I've to leave to others and that includes you

Who is the sweetest person
             but the ubiquitous sales agent?

Love is a mood
sometimes, foul
other times, good

Knowledge I have but little
      but don't count me to be brittle

Pretence is the supreme skill
       even your worst enemy you can ****

The best husband
            is one at home never
             he made up for his shortcoming
             by learning to be the ideal lover

When I succeeded
        by none was I greeted
        when badly I did fail
         I became the city's favourite tale

Because the judge
         the point did miss
         he misjudged---the valid case
         he decided to dismiss

Everyone rushed to delete their name
       as there was nothing left to claim

You've been ruined
      by intelligence
      you're blind to life
      in your self-indulgence

I am a cynical person
   but bear no poison

Why does the heart
as such complain
it is homeless
in silent pain?

you stay away and wouldn't answer
though having heard this all over again
you have been in loose touch with it
all along as you've chosen to estrange.

If you are holding a picnic
don't ever invite a cynic

I am wary of people
          who claim to have knowledge
           they talk and boast to no end
           they put your nerves on edge

What's the issue?
  do you want an honest answer?
  it is none else but you!

He never liked me--my neighbour
but affection on my wife he did shower
you asked:  Who was that monster?
oh, he was her odious elder brother!

Life is not a teacher
   more, a teaser

I was the laziest teacher
I befriended the headmaster's wife
no work did I do--sometimes I slept in classes
but 25 years I managed to survive!

The cynical bug I've caught
     I can't stop
     but it's not my intention
     to make you sob!

They are bored--such people
delight in causing others trouble

The distance
between us
is not physical
but mental

Your freedom
  is my serfdom

Do I need be reminded
that winds blow
each in their own way
as life is in all its variations
that the encounter of every day
is a new awakening
and experiences
that can't be kept at bay?

Would I be
a changed person
or tied to an old self
for whatever reason?

life doesn't take sides
neither does words it say
I am an outsider
I'll have to chart my lonely way

amidst the mist of living
the angst, the doubts
the striving,  the desiring
the withins, the withouts
all that's to be discovered
is but a vague sense of being
that wouldn't go away

questions too many there are
I'll let my heart be at rest
perchance some day
might usher in some insight
to wipe away this my dismay

I took orders--don't blame me
        for your job you just lost
        if you are unhappy
        confront the boss!

The rose is born
   to *****
   you bleed
   as you pick

You wish to borrow my car?
         what's wrong with your newly acquired Volvo?
          oh, you wish to keep it in your garage
           it should not travel in the snow?

You need an answer?
         ask not the professor
         nor the philosopher
         go to your grandfather!

Don't you fool with me
    you nasty brat--I know your father-
    you asked who I was
    I'm your dad's elder brother!

Revenge is not bad
   if unbearable wounds you've suffered