There's a homeless man,
Just by the first escalators 
Down on the way to the metro. 

I don't think I've seen
Just such a light in men's eyes
As when I told him "Good night!"

Like the light of a lover 
Just before a kiss, huddled 
In mock cold, hold her tight-

He is wrapped by a glove
Of lone nights, averted stares
As cold as dark as reality's plight.

And when the days grow on the soul
like a shadow at noon,
the night sets in deep, after
the stars retire,
the winds go silent in the valley,
there yet comes a time,
when that throb
of nameless pasts comes alive.

You have everyone,
yet, I know, you have no one:
is this how I love you?

I see you disappear:
the last bird into the swallowing
cloak of the fast-setting night.
After the rains, you disappeared
into the pond, hopping on lotus leaves.

An anger at my lapse,
smoulders on in winter's moist depths;
An anger at yours, hovers over
like the last cloud of the late monsoon.
Yes, when the sky weeps her
agony out,
all the hidden embers glimmer.

Now I open the window and sit longing
for the mellow autumn rains.

Feel a scare
Every time I change the calendar
When on the last day of each month
I turn the page
Take it to the next day
Though today is still there.

I feel a little flutter
Seeing before me the next day
Only number content unknown
And mutter

*What if I ain’t there, hey?

See, wide open the gates are in welcome,
I am the city of tranquility
that appeared in your thoughts from nowhere,
you may choose to live for now,
       perhaps for ever or never.
having crossed many toll gates
in your long drive to reach here,
don't you wait, drive straight,
the capitol looms above bright,
occupy the citadel most secure
in which a few like you stayed for a while
till they figured out  what they seek,
when they resumed their journey
with heartful of joy

keep at bay the angst that chases you
from a wrong turn once you took,
experience the weather, peaceful atmosphere,
till it dawns to you, the magic of this ambience,
air, water and land unspoiled, like old times,
don't you miss the birds that
never forget to sing, be it
a harsh summer or a frozen winter.
they all make your soul
listen to the  beating heart, the city has
A free bird you are, be aware,
do whatever freedom demands,
if you choose to come back
this city sky is all yours.

thousands of miles traveled
longing to reach that place
where I would see you
your face
know you
your mind
touch you
your heart

but thought I hadn't found you
had yet to travel many more miles
search you once more from the start...

*I found you too had traveled

with me

in my heart!

The mellow winter sun falls on the newspaper

he loves it with the wisp of the steam
rising from the finest porcelein

his morn's elemental happiness

another blessed day, he thought
staring at the ***
and the two cups filled with the brew

a bitter smile passed his face

he drank from one cup

then the other...

*feeling he has company!