In a translucent twilight zone
I find myself all alone
In the mirror only my face
Loneliness I lovingly embrace!
Madly I listen to the silence
The only thing that makes sense
Thoughts uninhibited and random
Pour out, here they find freedom!
In the world outside what’s uncouth
Is unshackled here, like hidden truth
There’s no prose, it’s all wild verse
The mask is irrelevant, there’s no farce!
My unbridled self at the twilight zone
Loves to come out, bared and alone
Bored of the rules framed by the sane
It finds itself free from the ******* of pain!

Because I am not there
You trap the bird
And never set it free,
You think it smart
To tear the innocents apart,
You deem it cool
To see your power rule
In bringing down the harmless
You never see their face,
Love, pity, you could choose any
You preferred tyranny,
Armories of weapon you build
To make this world a battlefield

Because I am not there in your heart
You are dead from the start
Imprisoned in your ruthless kingdom
Ever denying the bird its freedom!

It took
One frown
To undo
All my sweet gestures!
In a moment off-guard
A slipped word
Undid
All my good deed!
It’s so hard
Though a lovebird
I can’t always find,
The right look
And the right word
To sit firmly in your mind!

From the moment you’re born
You get a lollipop
You **** on
Till it *****!
For sometime you lick the stick
Before turning to Him,
the ultimate candy of sweetness!

I haven’t ever known you, truly -
I got you easy, without a price.
It’s like the closeness of the birds
To the silvery clouds,
The treetops’ brush with the sky,
Too known is your face.
How could I ever know you were priceless!

Because we do not say what we ought to say
It's slipping out of our hands, life is going astray
Afraid to speak our mind, the truth bitter and harsh
We have found peace that compromises with the curse.
Because we do not act the way we ought to act
We have got a peace that keeps devils intact
Afraid to raise our voice against the evil's might
We bargain for a peace that perpetuates our plight.
Because we do not dare the way we ought to dare
Light is snuffed out, we live in nightmare
Afraid to battle out the monsters that loom
We settle for a peace that leads us to doom.

The fingers close on the keyboard
With the urge to string alphabets
To vent the pouring from within
And to reach the final pleasure!
The sad macabre extensions of the hands
Stop in the silent gush of hollowness,
The tabs are not pressed,
No clicks rent the heart's void!
The emotions sinfully sick
Rebelliously withdraw,
The fingers reach out
For a vial of intoxication
To heal all wounds!
The fingers start tapping….

As I rest my eyes in their shade
I smell them
my fingers
and smell
objects I’ve touched
from hour one.
I try to smell through
the layers of odors
the faintest from morn’s playing
with her hair,
the less precious ones,
toothpaste, tea, newspaper
soap, keyboard,
the sandwich at lunch -
a cocktail of smell
I picked
as I live another day.

A matchstick can melt darkness
A breathe can break silence
Just a word can greatly impress
Saying nothing can make sense.
A tear can move a mountain
A touch can heal pain
A fleeting glimpse can for long remain
A little love can be a big gain.
A ray of light can show the way
A bubble can hold a rainbow
A whiff of fragrance can forever stay
A smile can make a face aglow.

No more songs of sorrow
Lamenting things gone past us
Live today and hope for morrow
Hold tight the moments joyous.
Maybe the morrow will not find us
Our footsteps will not ring on the grass
We have only today for a fresh start
To live anew and love with all heart.
No more songs of sorrow
It's time to break from the past
Even if there comes no morrow
Live moments that fly away fast.

Quietly you made, your way into my heart,
Without your knowing, without making a start
It was all my doing, only I knew
How to weave a dream that could never be true!
You never knew, my heart pumped quick
How could you, it was one way traffic
Without giving anything, you took it all
You couldn’t ever, it was my call!
I built the castle, it was on sand
I felt your warmth upon my hand
Only I could do it, you never knew
How to weave a dream that could never be true!

On the black canvas
Carve the thunders
Streaks of neon glow,
The drums the heaven beats
On their way to the earth
Rend the air apart,
The ground in ******* anticipation
Vibrates in a rediscovered titillation,
The soil waits holding its breath
In the last climactic lull
Before it’s released from the pain,
Unmindful, I open my umbrella
In the season’s first rain!

Ten kittens in my home now
Ten little brats
Their mothers never knew how
To catch the cupboard rats!
Their mothers never knew how
To go for hunt and prey
How the kittens would learn now
Anything other than play!
Their mothers never knew how
To pounce on a mouse
The poor kittens are all now
Just idling in my house!
Their mothers never knew how
To make their own food
Why still the kittens now
Making me feel so good?

Every moment I am born
From the warm womb
Of marvelous curiosity,
By endless regeneration
As distant from death
As this world is forever new!
With each breath
I am born unto new wonders,
To discover love, trust, friendship,
The eternal renewal,
The perpetual shifting from shore to shore,
Immortal even when this body is no more!

The blazing sun ***** dry all tenderness
The famished landscape bares its ugly face
When others in conventional comforts rest
Here love faces its hardest test.
Love in this barren land seems insignificant
A morsel matters more where food is scant
The moribund clouds dried up in the firmament
Love is redundant here and suffers banishment…

I turn away from this land
Little knowing love fails no test
It spares not even the aridest sand
When the baby digs into mother's breast!

Dear…..

When you wake up
I would be long gone
Far from you
You won't find me again.
Because where I go
You can't reach.
I make you free
To be you and be happy
To forget the past's pain
And build once again.
Think of me as a story
Bury me like a memory
Try to forget I was there
We spent some time together.
Remove whatever I leave behind
That may cause you to remind
Of the times we held hands and stood
We thought they would last for good.
My feet are heavy as I open the door
I feel tempted to reason once more
My heart wrenches my eyes blur
I've to go I've to be far…..

Yours never
…..

Between us a space
Between us a wall
It’s now swimming on the surface
It’s now getting no call.
Years have weathered our skin
Togetherness has taken its toll
Words have dried up within
Love has ended its role.
I resigned to this slumber deep
Pondered what’s gone amiss
Till this morn the cleft of your lip
Brushed on me a swift kiss!

I don’t wanna fight
I don’t wana race
Just want a little light
And in your heart a Nano space!
I don’t wanna grab
I don’t wanna pounce
Just wanna have you
Love me half ounce!

On the white screen dance the stringed dots
Mind spilled codes of hieroglyphic thoughts
Slowly they emerge handholding lines
Not always yielding intended designs.
Something was brewing inside the head
Coaxing to weave and take it ahead
The drunken horses so wildly gallop
There is no leash to make them stop.
Nerves are taut and they won't relax
Till all is vented they reach the ******
It was thus fated the moment it was sown
What's to be grown could never be known.
As the fever wanes arrives the new child
It may be adored or it may be defiled
The canvas is washed clean as in the rain
Something is brewing to be vented again.

In the shadow of shrubs on the marigold dew
You will not be there but I'll smell of you.
In the stilly evening on the moon kissed tree
I will think of you in melancholy.
When the day end shows the evening star
I'll look up and wonder how far you are.
As the sky paints the water with bluish hue
I'll know life won't be same without you.
On nights forlorn bereft you so grim
I'll pine to see you once in my dream.

On the rooftop
I meet my shadow
On the hyacinth pond!
He leads a carefree life,
Happy at just being
My shadow!
Like me too
He sips the moon
But pens no poem,
Swoons not
In the ethereal night,
Only drops dead
When the moonlights fade!
He has my life
Without my worries
With my passions
Without my strife!
He doesn’t yield
When I say
‘hey, shadow, get my face,
take my place’
he says ‘no,
I’m happy a shadow
on the hyacinth pond
reflected but not reflecting
on a moonlit night!

On and on and on
In a repeated motion
It goes on revolution
Seeks the ocean!
The ceiling is firmament
Glass is the wall
The trap is permanent
Its life is surely dull!
The box glows bright
It’s all synthetic light
The world in its sight
Has no day and night!
It hears the feeble sound
Of people moving around
Sees their awe-struck face
Envies their happiness!
It knows not the conundrum
Why is snatched its freedom
Yearns lifelong to be free
To go home to the sea!

Under a grey winter sky
I pause while passing by
Dryness bares its fangs
On a bare thread hangs
Leaves desperate to hang on
Down below the grounds beckon.
For a moment a little doubt
Would new leaves sprout?
From surround serene and calm
I hear the winds hum
No doubt the spring will come.

As you walk
The world passes by
Faces sound scent
Walking is always
Time well spent!
Winds embrace
They kiss on your face
Around you fleeting smile
You walk
Mile after mile!

I hummed a song, uprooted my sting
I have given up anger from last evening
Only yesterday morning in hours of rush
I lost my temper and rebuked missus
She had lost my wallet, misplaced my suit
Cause of all my problems, all my troubles' root
My shaving kit was lost, important papers gone
Who could be responsible other than my son?
Everything was in disarray, chaotic and messy
Surely to fuel my anger, a grand conspiracy!
On my way to office, things were no good
The nudges and the pushes worsened my mood
I banged my head on the shutter, tripped on carpet
And just like any other day, I was once again late
The boss was bad, my colleagues a pack of fools
Nothing was in order, no regard for rules
The day staggered along, so longer it did seem
Till the evening softened it with cool luminous gleam
The south wind composed me, let me sink it in
Triggers are not outside, my anger swells within
With just a little try, a contemplating pause
I would know for my anger, I'm the lone cause
I must make amends, repair myself
Anger only harms, it never really helps
If I for once think it properly
I can see my tantrums can make others angry
But surely my missus and son have better sense
To put up with it and not be angry in defence!

They cheered it in to the inn
It didn’t understand it was dazed
For nine months it was unused to din
Their celebrations left it amazed.
It was afloat in the coziest darkness
Fed on the fluid of its host
The light now brought tears to its face
And they welcomed it with a toast.
Thoroughly washed the cute little swan
Couldn’t fathom the new begotten space
Yet it sought the warmth of just one
Looked from many for one face!
Its face made her forget the tearing pain
In making way for the blob of her blood
Gushed out from her a joyous fountain
She was carried away in a torrential flood.

Just now I got my pay
Just now I got my pay
But soon it’ll fly away
Money will not stay!
How nice it smells honey
Aroma of money
How crisp it kisses the hand
Cool currency!
But it won’t last a day honey
It won’t last a day
Soon’ll be gone the money
With me it won’t stay!
Got to hold it tight honey
Got to stop it part
Before I count all money
Before I can start!
It will soon melt honey
It’ll be soon spent
Now in my hand the money
Will go the next moment!
What shall I buy you honey
What to get for me
Soon’ll be gone the money
A while’s guarantee!

Salty sweat gets into them
My eyeballs cry
They aren’t enjoying this game
Howsoever they try.
It’s so mean
I mean the heat
Outside and within
It burns like ****.
The sky bears no blue
And it has no clue
When rain will come
The cloud-pressed balm
To turn this hell’s hearth
Once more a soothing earth!
With my thoughts a seething mess
My mind in clumsy distress
I’ve no way but to hold on
My breath in the boiling cauldron!

A dark cavern
Yawns wide
Cobwebbed
With corpses of storage
Of prehistoric age,
Went in long time
Put stay
Without again
Seeing light of day,
Untouched by squall
on the wall
In hibernation
An archive
Beyond retrieval,
A black square hole
Without a role
In my living room,
I’ll never take a ladder
to hold me aloft
and peep inside the loft
but let continue
its slumberous mystery
date prehistory

Living in the same stretch of forest
He was suffering from acute boredom
What came to his mind he knew best
The animal decided to leave his kingdom.
Perhaps he was tired of the same old story
And decided to explore new territory
Or ran partner-less and sought a new mate
So tried a new path thought it the best bet.
After walking for miles throughout the day
He found a tall fence obstructing his way
He halted on his track gave a growling sound
Looked for some opening some way around.
Before him lay temptingly sprawling greens
He thought he must go there by any means
Then like a flash an idea crossed his head
There was no looking back he must go ahead.
Going back some length he gave a mighty spring
Flew over the barricade like a bird on its wing
It was a miracle he could land on his feet
Stranger still the fact the animal made it.
It was dreamlike he felt supreme pleasure
Roared in joy at the newly found treasure
But soon he felt himself an intruding stranger
Others of his tribe considered him outsider.
They looked upon him in utter disdain
Here he was no king nor could he reign
After a month or so he yearned for his home
Longed for the land he could freely roam.
He thought only of taking a quick flight
Once more overcome the fence’s tall height
You know what one can do with freedom in sight
The tiger escaped the park leapt the 18 feet height!

He lives life in his whim
No light flashes on him
Unhassled and free
He in his own way is happy.
He doesn't mind his way
Doesn't worry what he's to say
His mind is aimless as is his thought
He's not troubled for what he is not.
It isn't that the sun doesn't please him
The moon doesn't bring him the dream
He drinks them without getting dizzy
They pour in smooth and easy.
Beyond avarice and greed
He walks life unnoticed
A familiar face you pass by
He is just an ordinary guy.

Life is living the sunset rays
Or remaining awake on a starless night
Dreaming of blue gold days
Keeping nightmares out of sight!
Nightmares, they keep coming back
To steal the stillness in your heart
That waits for the opaque to crack
For the spirit to rise and depart!
You start believing in them
In a world the dark dreams make
Slowly you love playing the game
Not knowing the real from the fake!
Blue gold day is now folklore
You live where nightmares reign
In your eyes the hot tears pour
It’s over you can’t live again!

If I die just this moment
Mount me not on your wall
Remember the time together spent
Hide me in your heart as a pearl!
If I die just this moment
Don't mourn or shed a tear
Feel how much I meant
To you in the years together!
If I die just this moment
Hold me tight in your mind
Think as if I'm present
Always there for you to find!

As it sank in the daughter,
She dug up a thing from deep inside.
“if I may ask you dear mother,
something you’ve always tried to hide.
why father moved away from you
why couldn’t you two together stay
did he make it too difficult for you
or was it just the other way?”
she wetted her throat once more
wryly looked her daughter in the eye
“would you please fill another pour,
to make sure I don’t lie?
I thought I loved him, my summer’s first rain,
My burning heart’s balm, among all other men
Madly I went for him, good at love that he was,
You can call it infatuation, a woman’s first crush,
As long as the storm raged, the fire had me ablaze,
I rode like a horseman in that blinding rain’s daze,
But once it passed and I woke up to real life
We were no more lovers but just husband and wife.
You would know it daughter, it’s only an instance
Before the passions dry up, evaporates the romance,
Under their layers I found him just another guy,
I couldn’t live for him nor for him could I die”.
The daughter fell silent not knowing what to say
She hasn’t seen her father who she dreams to this day
The mother poured herself another in the dimming light
The daughter saw herself receding into a darkly strange night.

I sat in the silence of the riverbank
Watching the river going to the sea
Riding on her waves
To her oceanic lover
Who must embrace her
And become one in union!
I imagined myself on the bride’s side
Sending her off
To her majestic groom!
The sun lit the river’s path,
Dressed her in orange-red
Before its own flame
Sank in her water!
As the last heron left the river
Carrying on her wings
The fading daylight,
It was my time to go home,
Sadly knowing though,
Tomorrow,
When the river would be on her way
To yield once more to her lover,
I would not be on her bank.

Life is so wonderful
Wonders never cease
Waking hours they rule
Sleeps the dreams tease.
Falling in love is a wonder
Breaking away is too
Finding a life partner
A relation deep and true.
Bonding for years together
Walking in sunshine and rain
Being one in all weather
Sharing joy and pain.
When it ends this journey
Leaving a void one is gone
The wondrous treasure of memory
Moves the other along.

Breaking the hush of the summer day
Chee-keeee trills the bird as it waits for prey
Catches one swallows skyward easy
Then for the next gets ready.
You love its intent solemn eyes
The brown neck and the blue shine
Its impassive posture that’s only a disguise
To pounce on the prey and merrily dine.
It perches on the lightest twig
A dreamer and a hunter in one rolled
Scanning the water for a large swig
Big enough for its beak to hold.
Sometimes the wait may be long
You imagine his eyes in sleep droop
Then in a flash proving you wrong
The blue streak would on the catch swoop.
Rain brings it an ecstatic thrill
It loves to be drenched in the showers
To reap the harvest of a daylong meal
Never tired of long hunting hours.
If it ever god forbid so happens
You don’t see anymore this creature
Know streams have dried up there’re no rains
And with them has vanished Kingfisher!

Banters here and there
Sweeping pollens off your hair
By now you must know dear
All those pretexts to draw you near!
Long years together couldn’t wipe out
My happiness at just hanging around you
There never was a shade of doubt
The older you got you got to be more new!
Playing clowns and childish pranks
Hiding away your much loved piggy banks
Deliberate acts to bring a blush on your face
You must know dear constitutes my happiness!

The wind hissed in a queer pitch,
Waves broke with a thunderous roar,
The rapturously melancholic strains
Howled the entire length of land.
You might think I was on seashore
Caught in the swirl of saline winds.
Nay I was dreaming of the sea,
Pausing beneath a sky-etched casuarina!

On a mid summer’s day if the north wind blows
The sun goes hiding rain nests on eyebrows
You are madly joyous at this topsy-turvy
Your mind goes cartwheeling you feel carefree!
The weather turns cool blessed by the rain
Freeing your limbs from the summer's pain
The sky loses fierceness wearing the cloud’s tone
You are tempted to run wild in gay abandon!
By some mystic touch the day turns angel
Don’t touch it too hard don’t remove her veil
Drink the day softly go and have your fill
A god-gifted summer’s day with unexpected chill!

In the night’s shadow
As my frame seeks slumber
Burning eyes of wolves glow
Ready to shred me asunder!
Thoughts lying dormant in the day
Blow up dark and ugly
Inside they warm up hell-bent to slay
My diurnal angel of decency!
Evil visions of wanton desire they breed
Apparitions of depravity grimed and mean
Awakening in me the vermin of greed
Goading me to lust for the forbidden!
A good part of night I grapple with them
The enemies within me in disguise
Knowing in my heart if I lose this game
The demons would have a good feast at sunrise!

It’s a pity
Without a true leader’s quality
He has people in his praise sing
Without applying their mind,
For in the land of the blind,
The one-eyed man is the king!
Wherever he goes his men follow him
He’s a master in crafting them dream
Promises he can never fulfill, sheer lies
He thrives on the truth hope never dies
He weaves tales of change, a certain rise
Knowing among his folks only a few are wise
To see through his strategy of deceit
And he can flourish in power so sweet!
He establishes through his propaganda
A never-to-be utopia
Continuing as a conjurer of dream
For the people who in his glory sing
And meekly follow him
Without ever applying their mind,
As in the land of the blind
The one-eyed man is the king!

You quietly look down now,
Ashamed you were too careless
When you crossed the road,
Too keen to go the other side
When you had a weak sight
A falling vision
And an unfailing zeal
Never to look left and right!
You’re sorry it can’t be mended,
You were too careless
On that small stretch
That kept you off eternally,
Denying you the last few steps
To the other side of the road,
And you landed on the other side
Lamenting your prudence
Or the lack of it!

My lens intruded into their privacy
Two butterflies in mating symmetry
Lured, my camera froze the ecstasy.
I never knew when they parted spent
I only have the frame of that moment
And the guilty conscience of catching
Two enamored souls in the act of mating.
Are they still there the two butterflies?
Paired even now in heavenly guise
The tree where they mated is long gone
And the like of them I haven’t come along.

In the cloudy evenings with strong hints of rain
You heard them once and you heard them again
The air would rend with their cacophony
The torrents would send them in ecstatic glee.
Even a few years back you could find them around
The harbinger of monsoon with harsh croaking sound
On your yard and garden in quite large packs
Frolicking for insects, the great jumping Jacks.
They scoured the marshland in search for food
Calling in monotone and setting you to brood
With your mind gnawed by the incessant rains
That rattled your thoughts and the glass window panes.
But then lands were devoured by the human sharks
Soon disappeared open spaces and parks
Came up apartments and rows of house
Urban growth you accept without grouse.
Now in the lonely evenings with fair hints of rain
The rains will be back but you won’t hear them again
Their habitats are gone there aren’t left any bogs
And with these are gone your neighborhood frogs.

I float without a root
without home
without someone my own.
I love this nowhere-ness
and would rather be
a nowhere-man
drifting at his pace
without a pull
to be part of a tribe
and live a life
not his own.

Parting the smoked ness
Piercing the glass screen
Flying over the meadow
Skimming across the valley,
They reach the lake
That placidly holds
Reflections of the blue mountain!
So fast they reach
The alpine heights
And beyond…
My eyes roaming the desktop!

Do you still strain your ears?
To catch a bird singing in rain
Does your mind feel the cheers?
When you help someone in pain.
Do your eyes look in the eyes?
To read the mind deep and true
Do you still love the sunrise?
And your heart wants some good to do.
Do you even now feel like a child?
Babble and act the way you did
Do your legs ache to run wild?
You wish you could be a child indeed.
Do you still just hold her hand?
Without words and knowing she knows
Do your hands make hills on the sand?
And dream to bring her a sweet red rose.

I give myself a break
to slip into the lonely woods
to rest awhile on the green cape
drown in the seasons’ moods.
I seek a patch of soft grass
sheltered in the shade of a tree
smell from the air the wooded hush
and spend awhile carefree.
Just then my eyes come to rest
on the canopied acacia tree
where the birds dressed for spring fest
twitter in boundless glee.
I want this frame to freeze in my stare
sealed in my heart for good
I wouldn’t last but it would be there
my time in the beauteous woods.

The city at its busiest mode,
when the rush zoomed past him,
what was this man doing on the road,
was he lost in daydream?
He was looking up a tall tree
oblivious of the surrounding
pacing sideways agitatedly
he seemed to be searching something!
What was it he looked for amid the foliage,
a bird he had heard in the din,
that he must find out to add to his knowledge,
or was he just awed by the green?
I moved on as I had so little time
to stand and stop with him
taking with me a moment sublime
leaving him to merrily daydream!