1

Soon it'll be Christmas
carols and lights in the town
buskers play louder

2   Think of Santa Claus
in his red suit and white beard
    he hates the whole thing  


3   Christmas without snow
     it's summer in Down Under
     welcome, warm Christmas

4

Over-indulgence
same story every Christmas
complaints thereafter

5  

  Christmas is for kids
  parents say they spend too much
  the kids call the shots

THROUGH MY EYES:        
BRAHMS’ S UNTITLED POEM  (1857) *
        
Women I love with my heart and soul
But I am not made for matrimony
A domestic life  and its trappings
Would destroy my creativity.    

Clara I would protect and worship
With my life—she is perfection-
Love I would blemish and defile
If I were to mention—‘Give me your affection’.

Ah, my beloved Robert is gone
In his tomb my heart is interned
My mentor, my friend, my inspiration  
Alas, how little I gave my master in return.

My music is Robert and Clara
Our souls are by destiny wrought
History shall remember
But would understand us not.



         * Robert Schumann (1810—1856)

        * Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

        * Clara Schumann    (1819—1896)

Don't sing me another love-song
I've heard too many
all I need to know
is whether you truly love me

Don't sing me another love-song
it will be my turn to sing some day--only
time would prove whether your love is true-
then you'll find that I  sing even more beautifully

I walked back to the past
and it stared at me
who are you? why did you visit here?
are you invited?--speak honestly

Don't you remember me?
I was the mischievous lad
who used to play tricks on you
at your compound?--you called me 'notoriously bad'

How presumptuous you are
billions of kids had been here before
there was nothing special about you
don't you knock on my door any more

It would do you mighty good
if you don't return again--persona non grata-
you are no longer the kid you were
and your company I desire not--stay away, stay away far!

The interplay
between self and others
the drama that never stops

what to do
and not to do
what is right and what is wrong?

giving or taking?
are acts sincere or faking?
are they joy-giving or sorrow-causing?

and when it's about loving
that's the hardest reckoning
is it about both or only self-gratifying?

how much self?
how much should one's extending
to others be? Most perplexing

but if love were true
self should be serving
the loved one--the act most ennobling

Love hates excuses
explanations it loathes to entertain
it stands resolute and hits back
'  Stop talking--not again!'

How love suffers
when vows are not kept
it knows the bitterest pain
and weeps-- alone and bereft

THE STORY OF A DOG

I am a Chihuahua
Not from Mexico but of Asian breed
I fawn upon my master every moment
I serve his every daily need.

He says,  ‘stay’ and I obey
‘Sit’  and I immediately sit
He wants me to sulk when business is bad
No problem for me—I can take all his ****.

He gives me the most delicious meat
On the finest bed I sleep
I walk proudly behind him
His company I faithfully keep.

But this does worry me-
What if I to fall from his favour?
Ah, such is the life of a Chihuahua-
Good things can never last forever!