She said
'keep it private'
and winked at me,
now, her whisper on my ear:
'this is between us'
she blushed, a red red hibiscus flower,
for a moment i thought,
"she is elder, my mentor"
then i saw
that glint in her eyes,
wasn't it exquisite!
pain scented with pleasure,
i know not what,
it kindled the dormant fire,
we walked hand in hand,
along the hibiscus lined path.

They found their rendezvous in a house of secrets.
She smelled myrrh and frankeincense
Time never bound them within  its band
Space was theirs as much as they want
They went long evening walks though
winding road that went up, to the top of the  hill
ending below the yard, star paved sky,
then with a rare fervor traveled beyond light years
she embraced , he felt grace from past encircling him.

The house of secrets had numerous rooms,
not on the solid piles of reality it stood-
he suspected, though it filled mind,
Was she an apparition, creation of mind,
"What is real, what is myth?"
looking downhill at the plains, extending
far horizons, she asked in  mind's whispers
to hear her he needed no voice
birds in strange formations, he saw
flying against the crimson curtain evening spread,
they watched the drama of life, flowing with time,
never they were aware,
they belonged to two different time frames,
understanding  the undercurrents they smiled.
They walked back to the house of silence,
through different roads, to hunt secrets.

The trees in the valley far down remains to the viewer's eyes green,
she came back cleaving the hills of dead leaves, blocking the way
her songs vibrant,indeed like it was in a  time long past,hard to forget,

One is in for wonders if the time travel is done mindful,dispassionate,
life is a garden full of strange flowers, bloomed at various times ,
standing still, magically fresh, all along ready to be plucked at  will,

But one easily falls to corruption, blinded are the eyes of the fallen,
this is a  game, playing the role alone matters,nothing else elevates,
don't forget, flowing with the current alone ,takes the drop to the ocean.

She came back, I suppose to complete the circle of illusion,we are in
nevertheless the imaginary places she scented,still cause me an elation.

sky wears a shimmer,
as black clouds stop dance for now;
run up for cloudburst!

In this avaricious, amorphous haze,
spreading it's net around to usurp all at sight,
everything in no time lose color, dissolve,
except my unflinching hope in love, that ever keeps vigil--
those silver rays of light, your eyes save for me day and night.

Shipwrecked and  all at sea, yet I float on, looking  for that one beacon,
when the twilight colors of mind too is getting washed in darkness,
your ray of love awaited from distance, is my only solace
my heart asks: will you find me here,before the waters eat all?

1.
Show me your inky night
and dreaming darkness,
the passing clouds, moonlit,
wind driven, impassioned,
that never would know where
they wound culminate,
or what transformations
will take place between the
nebulous begining and the end
as they speed through as if
they are programmed to perform
feats that move the wheels forward.
2.
Show me the constellations magnificent,
that baffle me every time I stare,
countless stars in your milky way
like a  progression, dying or being born,
some glittering, some death pale,
red, blue or any hue one could imagine,
and the endless mystery that envelops,
all the wondrous things, making' being'
as a part of 'nothingness' eternal,
one in which "Maya"*unfolds as apparitions.
3.
Show me,how you drown me in  your
boundless love that makes
every moment born, transcend
beyond black holes of deaths
and cycles of births connected
like tunnel of wormholes.Make me listen
the subtle music being conducted within
every tiny spec, that takes part in this
eternal ecstatic dance of the sublime.
4.
Show me your magical might,
that would make me both,
Schrodinger's cat alive, in it's playful self,
and simultaneously in a sleep like death,
existing while it is non existent,
and one with everything in this multiverse
dead , dying, alive or emerging from gloom,
all at once, while, reposing  
within a consciousness, limitless.

On the lower rung of the ladder she stands wide eyed,
that ambiguous smile on her lips and my yearning
has a mysterious kinship, with the mysteries of the semi-lit attic,
I could discern from the bits and pieces she revealed
with that sly look as we walked  hand in hand
through the garden path as slowly as we can.
The ladies in the neighborhood would stand in groups
and look curiously at us as we walk, a sight rare in the village
where movement in thickets were the symbol of unspeakable pleasures!
A shy boy and a girl unusually bold; no demure Indian girl she is!
"See how she leads the boy, knows how to play her tune, so well
sometimes I spy the pair  stand together at
the mouth of that dark cave, contemplating mysteries perhaps"
overhearing their words, I would cast eyes down as if guilty.

Beyond the uppermost rung of the ladder, is the attic
I haven't seen it yet, but she is a girl and a woman in one
who could see far beyond a boy's ken, she acts her age
what her nail marks etched on my skin  is the map of her desires.
In our stealthy expeditions through winding paths my lungs
get filled with feminine smells that are intense in certain times,
our feet become slow and stop without prompt at shaded corners
scented by musky orchid blooms, where blue beetles
hum amorous tunes, then  longing takes many forms of expressions.

She knew the art of looking in to my heart,
through the peep holes of eyes, then I hear her whisper as if possessed,
"You are full of sweet poetry, it's beats permeate to my body
when I hold you closer to my *****, but you need me to make it loud"
In the dark attic where the  scent of  black pepper and dry ginger raged
she kept her promise, her lips caressed mine,with such urgency
my eyes involuntarily, close  tightly and I hear her murmurs
it was her way of bringing out my inner poetry, making it flow out
such subtle power it had, we rolled uncontrollably on the floor,
when we did we sighed together, plunging in to a wonder moment.

Butterfly finds
immortality
a nuisance

Distant star
cries out light

Wizard of words
drinks silence

Confidence is
the God of silence

Sun never craves
for encore

Ominous silence!
All clocks chime in unison,
Silence recoils quick

Silver lily of the pond,
drunk with the wine of moonshine,
went to sleep, with a smile on her face
still dreaming moon's embrace.

The breeze that tickled leaves,
made them laugh, without control
now whispers, hush hush,
A lovelorn cloud with her transparent lace,
wipes the moon's misty face.

Down below, in an unseen corner,
concealing her doleful heart's desires,
a faint  shadow of the night light,
adoringly looks at the moon,
her beloved she silently desires.
*But this love, tragic and futile,
is not known even to the moon

In that din of dining,
a constant presence
in the unserved table
was moving silence.
Everyone talked about
gnawing pain in hushed voice
with such compulsion,
when he found his pain
following each foot step
without even letting him know,

The ethereal transactions of two pairs of eyes,
has happened at the speed of lightening.
A decision was struck in a moment, at a secret space
for communion,  far beyond the conscious mind,
with the precision of a chemical reaction orchestrated,
where past, present and the unknown, miraculously converged.

A deal is done effortlessly; the desired finish of a chain reaction.
Nucleic acid double helix strummed tunes,for the composition,
the commerce two bodies have transacted for nature, has echoes
beyond the scope of mathematical equations to explain the event,
it zooms to the beyond, in to the secret accounts of cosmos eternal,
where the matter assumes the blissful form of "pure consciousness".

When I have a yen to sin , I do it with my unbounded pen.

Thick black ink turns blood, spills in a mysterious patterns,

And it simultaneously writes my own redemption.

My spirit undergoes a transformation,sings freedom song.

In this unreal plane of my action, I become  superhuman.

Every word that swims in the deluge of emotions quickly,

Sends SOSs, incessant, demanding sublimation.It's done.

I pay heed and then find,  I am in the word's possession.

That decides, what would be my next course of action.

I stay firmly put between agitating emotions and imagination.

Freezing cold, a  strange night of rain and thunder,
it got registred deep in his consciousness,
as a squiggling liquid presence;
an abstract painting, taken in, with layers of meaning,
a deluge, the result of injustices heaped against the female principle.
The rain lashed out, in the flashes of lightning
in between, through the window sills
when the curtains where swept aside
by a subversive wind, painful face
of a frightened girl was visible,
at the window of a highrise building,
shameful secrets kept concealed peeped out
yelling out "HELP"in the shocking words of silence.
That night was difficult for an exile from life like him to endure,
subconscious echoed terror filled cries;
sewer water flowed, towards oblivion,
carrying embryos, not fully formed from terminated pregnancies,
he heared tree toads speaking in strange tongues,
like jilted women seeking vengeance,
coyotes hunting in packs with blood thirst howled in delight.

In his nightmare, blood dripped from wet trees,
"who will rescue our bloodied orphaned planet?"
his heart with a collective guilt , beyond words wailed.
From denuded mountain slopes, muddy red water
copiously gushed  downhill, nature's menstrual flow
out of cycle, devastated hillsides cleaving gashes,
like scorned woman's fury baring long sharp  fangs-
landslides opened gaping wounds.
Liquid's rule took over the space of night,
lying awake on his bed,
he became conscious of the burden of women,
who moved around with invisible bridles
pretending free, nervously smiling.
Swimming in the amniotic fluid of the past
he is forced to recount the past sins,
nature and women have endured and ask
for forgiveness seeking salvation.

We had sin for breakfast,
along with cereal,
she found me too avid
and backed off from the pact.

In deep layers of silence
I used to hear music,
without words or instruments
it did flow,
the birds used tell me-
secrets of listening to nature.
Parakeets spoke in resonances of green
crows and egrets
complemented again and again,
the music, I thought, was a divine hallucination,
but now
it all turns upside down,
You, complain
you keep on hearing someone crying,
from within.
I see eyes welling up,
which are those memories
that blow up, surge out?

Shh..keep quiet for a moment,
a commotion is getting nearer and nearer,
the ice caps are melting,
but who cares,
the crowd has no mind,
they are braying for blood,
Whose blood?
their own, but can the blind distinguish?
*"come, this is my blood, drink it,
cut this bread in to pieces,
eat it, be satisfied.."

this bar is a cacophony of voices and sounds-
here, we all are in each one's world
when i jump inside me,
though right here, every thing is obliterated
i understand
a bar is a place to seek truth.

Sorry, it's difficult
to make you believe,
that not allways a ***** is a *****
it could take you to the truth you search,
if you take it as a tool to go farther.

it's complex like the life itself--
most simple lives cut that confusing knot,
with the sharpened edge of their tranquil minds.

let me explain this , situation in this bar-
the bartender, moody and extra quick
is really a seeker (of truth)
observing human nature at places of vices
and making amends is his real job,

the bar maid has an equanimous mind,
no one ever suspects here what she  really is
a yoga guru par excellence, by compulsion of life
accomplished, she could reach Samadhi
which means touching the superconsciosness,
(if you would believe)
she has zen awareness,
effortlessly trvels the path of enlightenment,
amidst serving concocted drinks,
hearing sozzled rants,
swaring and evil chants.
she could easily be a saint!

do i look soaked in liquor?
i come here to let myself go
like all of us here, but with a difference,
i liberate my self, shaking off my pretensions
(all through the day, i live in formality and pain)
by acting a common drunken man,
not the one questing for the elusive meaning.

Deep from her eyes, he doesn't fail to notice, cruelty peeps out,
the hidden message he reads: beware eager to pounce.
Her ample cleavage signals there is warmth in store,
making the picture, quickly cozy and clear.

Grumpy grey sky stares,
At the conquered water world;
Armies of clouds roar!

Western sky canvas.
Two skydiving birds alter,
The dynamics !

sky dining table.
much loaves of bread, butter heaps;
windswept the leftover.

My sweet Helen,
this is heaven-
where stars dance
and angels sing:
"Its coming,coming"
your face
in happy contortion,
is a study in contrast of,
Nirvana and transience-
moment after moment.
I ride the white dragon,
diving down through clouds
so sudden!
Helen's heaven
one is the other
for the time being.
Thundering sweet silence
then-
same affirmation again,
a ladder however long
would never reach heaven,
my sweet Helen.

****** smartphone,
in a trance she always was!
her world never called.

Softness has no measure,
you would suppose,
but your eyes whisper
intimate love secrets, that I gather,
those  gentle waves of softness
my eyes would finely record,
and my heart will resonate
tenderly with its every nuance.

Every look conceals alphabets of
softness, for the one intended,
as those eye lashes flutter, like a dove,
its exact measure, my mind captures,
This softness I receive and respond,
and you send moment by moment,
is the essence of passion we  deeply share.

Your voice quivers, my heart jitters,
a stylus fashioned from thought,
will etch each word,
in our inner caves, for ever to remain.
Softness spreads in the air
when you are near;
from the lovely thoughts you bring,
it permeates defying all science,
conventions and understanding,
I swing in to high gear with love fever.

*Your touch; isn't it condensed softness?
with that flower soft touch, a new level of awareness
in love, comes in to being, I fly in the air,without wings!
yet my heart craves for your eyes' special interest,

won't you oblige?

Once each one made a lotus bloom in other's blood pool,
by each brooding on the thought of the other, but time flies,
their songs, adventurous white swans, flew to distant lands,
in meditative moments they can see, those birds rest in eternity's nest-
hitting the bull's eye triggering enlightenment, but the blue bird
their pet, both loved, is still perched somewhere in a higher branch, not that visible,
echoes of ecstasy visit them now and then, but they knew illusions won't last.

He is now fire and wind, she is earth and water, time to part it is
tears welling in her eyes, she asks: what shall I offer, as a parting gift?
"A bit of salt, from your blood, sweat and tears, too I appreciate"
his voice peters out to silence.Eternity their true abode, is waiting.

Hear this beloved river, in halcyon days
I was loyal to this majestic tree, I am attached,
to the sun I often spoke how loving
the tree is to me, and how eager I too am
to transfer sun's boons to my object of adoration.

Each season did visit us, with a  message
different, and I gathered this with joy:
The tree is a book of nature for all to read
and get exhilarated by the poems colorful
that speak in metaphors the tree invent
with water from  it's heart and sun's fire
working the magic only a tree is capable of
to show us as  flowers, fruits or  seeds that, attract
satiate, drive to the pinnacle of aesthetic delight
at times  create forests of future,with a vision too.

I am just a word, with a limited meaning I hold,
in the book of the tree ,that contains millions like me
my unconditional love to the tree is my fulfillment,
in return he loves every word that make his poem complete.

We were in love all through the time I was green,
the day I wore  yellow, got crinkled at the ends,I began
to think of you, river, with a devotion unknown until then,
though you a silver ribbon, was in my eye view , singing a song
of mirth flowing towards the unknown, imagined in our dreams

Our lives, at turns take directions that are not known
the tree once all I have is now from my world detached
flying down from the branch now a freedom I enjoy
receive me on your bellowing bed of water, comfortable
Let's flow together to the beloved destination,you've in mind.

Yesterday night
driving back,
from a party
where, I was
lonely in the crowd,
felt lost, disturbed
by the sound and fury
signifying nothing,
talking *******
little too much,
exasperated,
stopped
at a watering hole,
to feel once again
that I was still myself.
I sat lost in thoughts,
it felt good,
so went bit far, and then,
saw someone like you
sitting alone, looking at me ,
as if to recollect, who I was
with such keen interest.
For a moment
I forgot the time and place
and wondered:
"How could she forget me ever?"
*Someone like you ! how could I think?
there wasn't anyone like you, ever after.

Someone stabbed me from behind,
they found it was my sweetheart,
I was thankful to her, as life was
demanding a price too much of late,

I wanted to believe it's her, and was glad,
I knew how much she loved me, to do this herself,
finding a solution to end the existential pain forever.
But when she came, in tears seeking forgiveness,
and my heart started to bleed, I was confused.

Not the face I saw, the world hides many things,
from me, I've been lovefooled again and again,
I thought her  words  were worth gold, a **** silly fool
She has been  slowly eating my soul, this fits me well!

Sometimes it's a cactus,  not a rose
that pinches the heart of a lover
though, she doesn't smell musk
or her eyes aren't lined with kohl,
he was weary and looking for an elusive spirit
which even he wasn't clear what, but found in her.

Breaking away from the caravan
hurtling down the dusty road
to an unknown town in that arid desert
he spoke to the cactus, whose eyes met his
when a shiver passed through the psyche of both.

Cactus, stood looking at him, her sad smile hinted
to the heartbreaking news they have to face,
cactus, broke her silence, said she was happy
on being looked after by the hollering sun,
howling desert wind and sand storm cover her
with utmost affection,"They are my cousins,
they know me well all these years,
I let them decide for me what I need..."
they stood looking at each other, for a minute,
nothing more was to be told

"Have no misgivings, stranger, though my lover you are,
we live or die here together, but your destination is far
you are a rare one, readily gave your heart
to a mere desert cactus, that rarely flowers,
your perception, is the creation of your vibrant mind
I respect your passion and spirit of adventure,
we live the way we are made to live, why bear the pain of change,
I hope you know what I mean,
we live the way the most fitting for us, love is sacrifice too,
we both have hearts that beat together, I am blessed
but now, we have different choices, who can say who is right
the logic we espouse are different, though our hearts crave to be together*"

Every somnambulist must find alone, a thorny path-
through, encircling hedges of dark night and gloom;
between dreams and reality's abyss, mine has a beacon,
*with my eyes wide shut, I walk toYou, my only flame!

Lean on my chest, gentle one, let's sit holding hands,
mountain breeze whispers Shanti mantras, let's repeat it,
may tranquil be our souls, we aren't weary yet, but the ardor
of the climb ends here; from this vintage point we are,
distant heaven and beloved earth, look deceptively equidistant,
rest your eyes on mine, let me see eternity flashing it's light.

Don't even say a word, what your heart beat says is to my heart,
the view from this peak is what we dreamt always,remember?
an incredible leap of the souls, now we feel, is the reward of  the trek
we are equanimous, yet the  tears in your doe eyes, I can't bear,
we are mortals, pain is a mongrel, our faithful companion to the end.

Let's sit here, till the gold dust, the passing sun extravagantly sprinkles,
that tells stories of galaxies dying down and new ones taking birth-
finally settles, and the anesthetic of darkness gently descends.

Look! the hidden envious eyes of the night, from afar peep at us,
on the journey back, we'll fly beyond limits and vanquish the big dark.

Aren't you a flicker of light
I love to imagine, as real?
Yet another dream
in a midsummer night
not easy to distinguish,
for my mind that
refuses to accept any limit.

demure bride
was perplexed
"Kiss?
isn't mouth
for good purposes?"

a distraught sparrow,
tries to dodge the arrows of heat,
mother nature's ire!

An oracle possessed by a spirit disquieted,
                                   he contains a world unknown even to himself,
a poem gets written by itself, within himself,
                                     organizing material eclectically on its own
from roots to crust, essence of experiences,
                                    mingle with hopes, fears and yearnings,
creating alloys of emotions, welding words to mean different,
                                     fixing formations and evocative images,
when he stops contended, unfinished yet, many parts in dark still,
                               then the readers get themselves invited in to the thickets,
disentangle the vines, make way through the foliage thick,
                 hanging  branches and twigs,  light falls in the darkened corners,
the poet and creator, the oracle himself, sits looking at the flowers and fruits
                                 bathed in a new light, on what the subconscious spoke,
when he listens,  the singing of the birds acquires new meaning,
                                  sound of the running brook has a rhythm not familiar,
that take him to the sea, where all end in a swim, like in a dream

Speak to me in wordless silence,
though we are so far apart,
swift winds will bring the woeful sighs,
your heart, sends out for me to hear,
send your heart beats, soft and warm
through the wings, the winks of a  lonely star,
i would hear in my doleful moments
those  poems of your brooding heart.
every beat of my heart will seek you,
" the  scent of wild flowers!" you 'd think,
*Speak to my heart every moment,
though we may not come together again

Her spider eyelashes intensely exude,
an irresistible charm though sinister-
when they flutter, desire in waves spread,
it's gleam, he the hypnotised moth seeks,
dashing straight in to her invisible web of deceit,
seeking an instant nirvana, only to dissolve  in darkness.

Spider weaves a net,
Bumblebee waits till finished;
Karma’s thread decides!