Tender
As the flow of water across a light reed
Flowing, gentle as the soft kiss of sunshine over the morning dew
Like the fireflies lightly glowing
Through the night of passionate embraces

Every dance, every smile, every secret meeting
The waves crashing around us, the sunset glow on your face
A slow dance of love in the rain
Sparkling eyes and water lightly disentangled from your lashes
The distance and the soft voice, like music
Stirring deep within, calm, a melody
Every night, the closeness through the distance

Your laughter, in the archway of dreams glowing
Alight in my universe, wild goddess with the quiet smile
Yet mad, a force invisible, powerful
A gale of passion and emotion
Raging, pulling together, night through night

Alight. My Eos, sweet dawn, shy as a deer
Sweet as the morning dew
Curtains of dreams that I walk through
Brushing my eyes lightly,
Making them water by their sheer beauty
The elegance of emotion, of caring

Of silence, and of sharing
The hour of departure
A moment of distance and
I return but the river has flown
The winds have gone
To a distant land
Where a melody lingers

Quiet
Hush child
You cannot cry
You’re no child
This is how it must be
It was (\not) your fault

Butterflies, with psychedelic wings
Moving gracefully in a kaleidoscope
Sparkling waves of life and light

Butterflies in thousands (and more)
Rising, like a deep breath
O’er the valley of flowers
Dancing playfully, with the lilies
Swinging to strange tunes

Butterflies, in the brown palm
Of a young farm boy
Swaying around him
Lifting him into the air by the wind in their wings
The colors sparkling in the eyes of the young boy
As he lifts his trident
And bursts into a million butterflies
Reaching for the source.

Butterflies, moving across the dark void
Giving color to the arms, to the sheer expanse
Of the Milky Way
Reaching for a source
Where it all began
Where the wings were spread,
And love was known

A young child
Sitting on the distant shore
of a dream-city,
Watching the golden sun
gleam on its silvery, glowing walls
Cried softly

And the tears of a million children
shone in the droplet
An ocean of hunger
The worms crawled

In the darkness of the dream
from the window etched in the wall
A bedraggled princess screamed
Her tears streamed
to meet the ocean

And the clouds flew
Fierce, dark
The little godlings shrank
from the eyes of the shapeless
Cruel and hungry

And in his hunger for fame
In her hunger for good
They flew, swift and smiling
The wind made their hair flow
Their iridescent skin alight
Their calls soft, magical, low

The worms burned
As their magic rose
The ocean rises, grows
She smiled, because she knows
Love arose

Hunger. Shapeless. Lives

I love you, I say
And it is lost
Like a teardrop on a summer afternoon
I love you truly, I shout
And my voice echoes
As if in a long-forgotten empty mansion hallway
I love you, I fall down sobbing
But it seems as if I’m trapped in a dream
And can’t escape this invisible dark boundary

I.......
fall
into silence
a sad, sad fall
Long I fall
Light quenched from my eyes
A smile stuck, hollow, on my face
Like a leaf withered before autumn

Love.......
A strange fruit
With bittersweet seeds
A ship on the horizon
Fading, distant
A deep yearning, pulling me ceaselessly
The smell of your hair, the feel of your skin
Like shadows joined in bright moonlight

You..........
A child
alive
incomplete
without me
killing me, softly
With your dark eyes and soft voice
I’m drowning in the strange ocean.... of love

You leave me incomplete
Wanting and waiting…
Constricted, floating in free fall
Listening for the soft call
Of the leaves that weep at night
When the shadow has trampled
Bent leaves bearing the panther’s mark
As he springs to satiate his need
And slips away, silent, majestic
Untouched by lust, or greed

You leave me
Incomplete
Watching the numb world move, chaotic, orderly, dead
An inner silence spread
Across a landscape of cars with doors closing
And the uncaring laughter of girls
When a paanwala with a sad smile
Looks askance at the days to go
And longs for home

You leave
Me
Incomplete and gazing
Out of the window
When old farts with loud voices talk
Discuss their businesses and addresses
The sound of the train over the river
And a child bounces
From seat to seat,
Balancing himself as others move
Lowering their heads and speeding by

You leave me incomplete, you
Leave me wanting and wan
And it helps me grow
Put the pain aside and flow
Hear the longing and pain
And long for this longing
To be lost again
In the embrace that awaits
Another night
Before we part
To meet again