1

' I am deadly serious!' you said
My reply: ' Sue me then--when you are dead!'

2  
   Charlie, what should we do with Charlie Sheen?
   He would never come clean
   He takes delight in creating any public scene
   And often he's quite obscene!

3
    Two men argued in the tram vehemently
    Over the definitions of  'monkey' and 'chimpanzee'
    They went into a rage--came to blows--nearly
    A third man came along and said: 'Please respect our ancestry'  

4

     World population to grow to 9.7 billion
      By 2050 from the present level of 7.3
      The downside is food scarcity
      The upside is --fewer of us would suffer from obesity!

5
         I don't care much about money
         (But truthfully I do have have plenty)
         Only when I reach 123
          Would  I give away my money to charity

The same bird sings in my garden
   as the morning sun its splendour spreads
   some flowers are in unabashed blossom
   the old lemon-tree some yellow leaves sheds

  a butterfly from nowhere
  settles on a rose motionless and serene
  I am writing this poem looking from my room
  the day's beauty has unfolded with such an unforgettable scene

My pen will not rest
and I must write
my imagination drives me
words begin to see the light

My heart speaks to me:
avoid the wrong, do the right
through my writing I delve into myself--
setting aside all that's blight.

Night digs deep
into your sub-conscious
which was asleep
in the day
it's an intruder
which has singled
you out for reasons
you can't  understand
it wants to know
your hidden secrets
and would not let you rest
until its mission is fulfilled

perhaps stripped
of your false exterior
and as the dust of the day
has fallen on your weary eyes
and you have drunk too much
(in these dark, sombre and lonely moments)
to soothe your pain
your defence mechanism
has broken down
(what's the harm now
of baring your heart
to an outsider?
you no longer
belong to yourself
and are opening up
as though seeking ablution)  

so you have no fear
in inviting the night
to take a journey
through your buried past
with its frightful shadows
and bleeding wounds
( the truth is
you need someone to share your thoughts)

now you are addressing the night
which is all ears and a sympathetic listener
even close to being a friend:

what had I done?
failed to do?
why my wayward ways?
why my follies and unkindness?
why did I hurt
and why they hurt me?

I have a thousand 'ifs'
and ten thousand 'buts'
as I walk back
to the confusing and muddled corridors of the past
do you hear me?
do you sense my despair and anger?
do you feel my hate raising its ominous head?
( by now, you are thinking I am a monster
and you are not wrong)

    You asked me
'Are you seeking redemption?
or is it too late now?'

   ( another glass of whisky down my throat)

I am drunk, dead drunk
I can't think
and why am I treating you
like a guest?

leave me alone

the moon seems to darken
and the stars are pointing
their sharp fingers at me

is all this but
a bad dream?

TO BE YOUNG

    To be young
    is never to think
    of old age and decay
    no such thing
    it's too far away
    (not worth thinking about)
    
     the eyes are eagle-sharp
     the senses keen
     the heart is passion-loaded
     yearnings soar to sublimest heights
     the blood rushes through every vein
     all that is
     is  quest for moments
    to outshine time
     love is proximity
    never too far
    
      the beauty of the world
     is too alluring
     love must be sought
     held and embraced
     the world is made for youth
     and youth alone
     it shines in matchless splendour
     so dazzling that it would burst into the open sky
    
     whoever hesitates
     has missed out the wine
     that flows from the fountain of life
    
     only regret to later inherit

     immortal are the songs
     of young hearts that vow
     never to relinquish love
     but to dwell in the luscious fields
     of Arcadia and to look back never

     what could match
    the first tender kiss
    under the moonlight
    beneath the willow-tree
    as two hearts embrace?

    because there is love
   there is beauty
   and beauty does not perish

   to be young
   is to believe
   that pain and suffering
   do not exist

   and to sing
   love is larger than life
   and  stronger
   than death itself

Marriage is fine
for some
but I had no education nor money
and far from being handsome

Fools  make small and innocent mistakes
all the while
but the follies of the wise
stretch mile after mile