I am in awe of the word 'hiatus'
it seems to hold many secrets

Is there reason
  for breaking the silence?
  speech impeaches
  intrinsic is the latent

  the mind searches
  the heart knows its place
  the unravelling blemishes
  the inner peace and grace

  is there reason
  love to reawaken?
  she sleeps in contentment
  let her dreams be unbroken

  the evening languishes
  of its own-- nothing is stolen
  that which is the natural flow
  of life must abide--no words need be spoken.

Little did I learn from philosophy
much from the wisdom of dogology.

Cup the water of life
with your palms in gratitude
let not a drop fall away
life will bear you the desired fruit.

Twitter, twitter, twitter, twitter!
Is the world getting worse or better?

At twenty, I lived in glory
     at forty     I began to feel weary
     at sixty,    I realised my folly
     at eighty, I no longer know me!

Don't whisper to me
let everyone around your story hear
hiding away is folly
baring yourself shouldn't strike any fear

I was born to live
           not seeking to know
           much knowledge is grief
           I'll  learn as I go

What would you find
         in love revisited?
         would it be sublime
         or would you be chided?

Better remember to forget
that would eliminate the upset

Myself I'd like to forget
          why remember me?
          when everything aside I've set
          I'll be totally free

They like their song
I've no reason to sing along

When to take
           the back-seat
           might save your life
           few obstacles you'd meet

What if the heart
has lost its heart?

Life is too intricate
let's not further complicate

Life is entry
    and exit
    people come
    and leave
    they change
    that's it!

   nothing is static
   our mind and heart
   with life's tide
   along we drift

   when people gather
   there's bound
   to be conflict
   differences abound

   some loved you
   even the dearest
   felt they had enough
   for some reason
   left hard pressed

  for reasons
  they wouldn't tell
  their grievances
  they hid

  yet
  there is
  saving grace
in exit

the room
is full
fresh air
is needed

there's hardly
anything to blame
three cheers then
for exit!

Poetry is my healing
life's woes aside I'll set
herein is the purifying
let me not live in regret

Down the labyrinth of time
memories could only imagine
some scenes are invented
pasted on places self had never been

for what was once before
seemed but a fractured dream
illusions we love and treasure
though life is not part of this scheme

we are our own unanswered question
drifting aimlessly in life's distant stream
in the horizon a mirage looms large
the day is dark without a single beam

down the labyrinth of time
a different person I did seem
of the future I had no thought then
now I wake as though from a broken dream

To sleep
to forget
not to
get out of bed

there's nothing
only a vacuum
the numbness of feeling
the delirious dream

in the mind
the phantoms roam
the emaciated eyes
seem blinded by foam

one more, just one more
the hand stretches for the syringe
to oblivion, sweet oblivion
another shot on the tattered skin.

Hers: (copyright)
Remembering
how when we
were young,
we were so full
of life
and had
barely lived.

_

my response:

Every phase of life
has its intimate story
nothing is forgotten
in later memory-

we were young
without regret or care
time we held in our palm
our hearts we laid bare

in embrace of moments
soaked with wonder
love was in the air
over us bliss did hover

if dreams of youth
were fragile-- we'll still remember
the gentle touch of hands
the innocence that will last forever.

Saying 'perhaps' and 'maybe'
         places me in safe territory

Marriage defies every definition
    it defines itself at the end of the destination

Let them sing
    it's their right
    if they are out of tune
    that's not your plight

Over-emotional attention
tends to add tension

I am half
  the trouble
  the other half
  is of course other people

Friendship is in
inverse proportion to time
it somehow wears thin
unhappy is the outcome

What separates people
   is not distance but the mind
   in reaching out to others
   magnanimity one would find

People love to magnify
when it has to do with the 'I'

The cousin of Ambition
is named Competition

Love is not just kisses and beauty
but more by way of responsibility and duty

Overweight
is healthy
when it is
on the side of charity

Dear Fellow-writers

I had no intention in the first place
to embark upon such but, after starting,
new ideas led me on.

It was hard to stop and I have had a sense
of liberation with the release of every such thought.

I do not court agreement
and please feel free to disagree-
that will make me happy.

We write as we find freedom
in doing so-- it's like us opening
the window of our heart and mind
to the sunlight outside
instead of staying in the
lonely recesses of our closed self-
this release is not only therapeutic
but gives our life meaning and purpose-
every writer is a traveller and adventurer-
he often doesn't know where he is heading
but it is precisely this unknown that impels
him to explore, to venture into terra incognita,
to test his limits and to discover 'that something'
which he can't yet define and which hitherto has eluded him-
the quest of the ultimate beauty and truth, life's deepest mysteries and contradictions, the meaning beyond meaning, his true self
and the poverty of his past existence?

At the end, he might not find what he had sought for
or perhaps might have only discovered 'something' dimly or partially but the quest has not been in vain as he would have become larger than his previous self and emerged as a person, somewhat purified, renewed, humbled and unbroken.

The day has exhausted its colour
        to that of night's it must yield
        I'll return to love--my safest harbour
        my heart will be content and still-

        to her gentle beauty I'll gladly surrender
        the sweetest flower  I'll bring her from the field
        every tender kiss of hers I'll remember
        my every dream will be fulfilled

We are each a colour
when it comes to feeling and loving
that's the mystery and wonder
beyond the realm of thinking-

but we should admit to this:
colours do not stay the same
there is a new message in every kiss
to which the lovers can't give an exact name

We are parts
          of other people
          we are not our own
          sometimes, of others, a double

I' will always somehow return
   to myself--that much I did learn

In illusion we choose to live
       as it brings relief

So many place their trust
        not in the present but in the past

Feigned charity-
       devoid of humanity

Too many friends I had
I was lost
myself I neglected
much it had cost!

Over-satiety
       is such misery!

Seeking a compromise
      is giving in
      self is surrendered
      virtue runs thin

I can't and will not beg
         for any favour
         even starving to death
         in the hungriest winter

To be sure
has nothing to do
with being right
isn't this true?

Never trust completely
         90% should well do
         keep the 10%
         that might some day save you

It's never anyone's duty
        to remember me

It's never you
          but other people
          that's the cause
          of trouble

The belly
        is more important
        than the mind
        when the owner is hungry

The self is a stranger
         in large measure to its owner

You can't believe?
            your friends value
            their newly-acquired car
             or their dog, than you.