Her bloom would make you delirious
sniff long and you would soon go dizzy
in veins your blood would fast rush
if you ever go near the devil tree!

Go close and she holds you in her power
mesmerized you cannot from her flee
easily falling prey to her white flower
you succumb like a beggar on his knee!

If you ever walk the night of October
beware for she waits for her chance
to lure you with her insane wild odor
trap you in her intense fragrance!

On nights when the winds become thick
breaths pound heavy on your heart
know prowls the hunter lovesick
who without you wouldn’t depart!

The morning gives me a little width
I brush my teeth
Have tea with sugar
A breakfast meager
Pat my back and say
Hey, I’m ready for the day.
On way I am delayed
The birds want to be fed
The dog waits at the street
Expects from me a biscuit
The cats purr and follow
Forcing me to be slow.
I run and I hop
Till I reach the bus stop
I look at the sky and the light
The whole day they will be out of sight.

How many are there
That can quietly put up with death
Stoically going through the pain
A stubbornness to make death envious
Of life and the living!
How many are there
That can count up to end
Breathes where others see death
Holds on when there seems nothing to hold onto
As if to tell, ‘life is no pity, it’s dignity’!

Fed by a ceaseless downpour
The river was in eruptive spate
The dam they said can’t take anymore
It must be opened the lock gate.
Open the lock gate and save the dam
Before it crumbles by the mighty force
But what of them on the riverside *******
For them lies what recourse?
The dam can come down any moment
As the raging waters fast mount
What about the millions on it spent
The loss would be immense without count.
But then for saving it if the river is let free
The settlements on its sides would go
Unleashed waters would cause misery
Villages would be washed away with the flow.
What happens in the end you guessed it right
The lock gate was opened to save the dam
Surely more than the poor villagers’ plight
The dam had to be saved *******.

we're halved

when broken.

In the moon’s shadow
I dine with the devil
His eyes a burning glow
And mine dark evil.
Everything he can find
What goes on in my mind,
Shown, acted, faked,
The devil bares me naked.
He says ‘what good will come
Of the world’s all goodness
When I can make reign
The ugliness beneath all face’!
The devil knows the world is his
And he has me in his leash
While I speak and feign wise
I sin for the smallest compromise.
As the devil pours me wine
He taunts ‘it can’t be divine,
Your world, that I rule supreme,
And your God, a wishful dream!’
It gets darker as the moon sinks low
Winds rising from hell fiercely blow
Inebriated to its utmost measure
I’m ready to burn for a moment’s pleasure!

My clock never told the time
and looked silently glum

lost its ticking rhyme
with the pendulum
uprooted to be muted
hands dismantled
so you can guess
it made no progress
sitting pretty still
as I went about on my will
set my own pace
not bothering about the dial's arc
but scheduled my work
according to my when
till declared insane
and sent to asylum.

Since I've been sitting pretty glum
like the dead pendulum.

Go hold him** their voices sounded silent as in dream
I stood a dumb doll making no move to close in on him
he was there so near me only away an arm's length
but I held my ground frozen ****** of all my strength!

I watched him fall in slow motion transfixed in my place
a frantic appeal in his eyes a disaster looking at his face
if only I had taken one step restored him lost balance
how could I, I was not moving, stayed rooted there in trance!

Grab him they shouted but came their voices from far
a lullaby no wake up call traveling from distant most star
how could I move one step do something to keep him upright
by design I was the most helpless closest to disaster's site!

In that year long minute just one wish haunted my stupored mind
my ears would catch sounds of footsteps of the ones standing behind
someone would catch the falling man reach the site going ahead of me
there was no way would move my feet prevent happening of the calamity!

When she says I’m hanging up
Stop her before she hangs up
For her click of disconnect
Might never again get you
To hear what she couldn’t state
Create a disconnect
Between you and her
When you can only see from far
She’s drifting a deadwood
Receding to a distance
And your cries on this shore
Is merely mouthing a silence
Of a dumb heart within a locked door
That crafted its own fate!

When she says I’m hanging up
Stop her to save a killing
*Disconnect!

He went from one room to the other

Unable to go any farther

He came out to unburden
At his open garden

There too stopped him
The inverted bowl of blue

That like the ground’s glue
Entrap in dream!

He knew there’s no escape at free will

from this freaky deal!

Wished he had the guts to hold a gun

*And bleed himself under the sun!

Time draws close for dispersal.

Coming summer there'll be no traces
of the faces beaming at the gate.

Eyes sparkling lips apart
breaking into one more dance
to be in the sunlight under sky.

Hugs and kisses fly in the wind
maybe one last embrace
for all time to come.

They'll see the world differently
and their paths will never meet,
most likely.

The most intimate will become strangers
before once more
they disperse at the gate.

I turn back with the weight of this memory.

She shivers as he puts his hand on her forehead.

Ma, you have a fever, he says
and pulls up her blanket.

She closes her eyes to hold back tears.

it's your touch, son, her lips hardly move,
like rain on my arid heart, long awaited,

streams of films roll in her head,
the baby, skin of her skin, blood of her blood,
the umbilical cord never separated,
severed as the baby grew up,
a man of another woman,
the expanding distance
huddling all those cuddles into memories.

It's your touch, my son, it heals.

The son rises to call a doctor.

She knows she has no fever,
only pains of sweet memories.

Race
Prevents erase
A divide
Too wide!
Sad
Humans
Can’t stop
Being mean
With its own kin!

for one step forward
reach one grief
say one kind word
for a moment’s relief

hold one hand
walk up a bit
help the blind man
cross over the street

achieve a feat
a little try would do
offer old one a seat
reap a thank you

not look away
pat it on the back
the dog on the way
needs love that it lacks*

Do them we can
in this small lifespan
and they don’t demand one
to be a very good man!

ensconced within the window
induced by night’s flow
and a roof of lipful smile

a dream is buzzing
its contours luring

don’t **** it
don’t ****
forget the fright
the winter’s chill

there’s a crying
one more dying
in the squall
beyond my wall
in this dog December night

come my dreams in full streams
without a grudge
without a budge
erase from my head

there’s a dying out there
without a shade
neath the sky
in the coolest place to die

though my dreams are still bright
still young is the night
beyond my sight
happens the mayhem
witness starlight
in this dog December night

and I just aspire
a night of sleep
beside a fire.

We turn blind in faith
war for religion

stick stiff
to own belief

give gods name
invoke them

and our dogma goes so far
as to turn us

executioner.

I watch close
The face of a sleeping dog,
Its eyes crescent moons
In those times blissful
When sleep runs it down
In respiteful shelter
From fleas
Hot concrete
And from men!

I wonder
What comes in its dreams,
A rusted bone
Loving eyes
Caressing hands
Or the pain
Suffered in the hands of men!

over the taps of fingers' dance
she says dinner is ready
giving me the appetizing chance
insanity's remedy!

it's her way to break my spell
of words welled up in stack
this medicine she applies well
poems don't fill the stomach!

till that time all she said
were just bla bla bla
till on the table dinner is laid
wafts the food's aroma!

it finds its target the poet's nostril
shears the strings of thought
a stir in the bowel kills the will
drives me to get the dinner hot!

fingers soon dance on the dinner plough
feed my taste bud with sweet treat
she knows it well don't ask me how
to give me from poetry retreat!

Whole day their wings ache for the sky
Their eyes thirst the moribund blue
But here they are and will be till they die
Without ever knowing why.
The black striped beauty in velvet brown
Paces restless in utter distress
A majestic beast robbed of its crown
Wallows in its caged recess.
So I say friend if you need sunshine for your gloom
For your sore eyes an open blue
Imagine them all from the confine of your room
But don’t ever go to the zoo.

Don't I miss you?
On my way home
On a dimly lit evening
Or an empty afternoon
Without you coming up to me
Rubbing and licking my hands
Your eyes overflowing with love!
Don't I miss you?
When the rain lashes
And you don't come up to me
Seeking a little warmth
With your bones chilled to the marrow
And I take you in under the shade
When your eyes are filled up with love
And mine with unexplained tears!
Don't I miss you?
In my moments of extreme happiness
When you no more jump up to me
To give me a long and joyous hug
Your eyes filled with unspoken love
And I know without your ever telling me
The agony of living without your love!

Don’t lose your smiles
Know you’re walking smooth miles.
You are in peace
There is darker abyss.
Where every moment is a hell,
Where your misery would pale.
You are better off than what’s around
You are on solid ground.
For many there’s only never ending night
Be thankful for having a speck of light.

They ravaged her body, her spirit never healed
The day she was abused was the day she was killed.
They probed the incident; it was just another case,
It really mattered little, the shame on her face.
Tongues kept rolling, gossips with spice,
She invited it; she was a woman with vice.
Her looks lured them, the way she dressed,
She was also flirty, reasons to be disgraced.
Her pity was a story, her agony in courtroom
Scattered lay her life, in the darkness of doom.

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!

On the keys as my fingers tap
I hear within a rap

*if you've something to say
better do it than say
be a worthier sample of human race
give a cared look on the dog's face
to your door he has strayed
stayed
made
you a kinder man
better if you can
spend some time with him
abandoning your absurd dream.

Do they come when you are too pressed
losing on all sides utterly distressed
you are upset everything is going wrong
do they still touch you in mind comes along?

Do they keep coming hold you in their power
when is closing all doors reigning darkest hour
you are down in the gutter battered in lost war
do they still keep birthing give your soul a stir?

Do they never leave you so you can carry on
your beacon in the dark the only companion
joining your broken bones mending your heart
goading you to get up make once more a start?

Among strangers faces unknown
Tears rolling on your cheeks
You cried “mom, mom”
And my heart bled!
I kissed and cuddled you
“Don’t cry little baby”
I played your mom
I played your dad
Like you I became a child!
As you grew up
Often I scolded you
But believe me
It was not real
I wanted to make a man out of you!
Did you respect me, love me
Or hate me?
I have no answer.
I am now blind with age
But can see you my child
I can’t hear anymore
But still listen to your voice
I don’t know where you are
But feel you in my heart!
Do you remember?
I am your teacher!

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.

Heed your need

curbing where it turns to greed.

I saw dread loom
When the kid yawned
In classroom!

one day i'll wed you
said the child to the girl much older than him.

echoes of her laughter rippled the winds
planting a rose on the child's cheek.

the child said knowing nothing about wedding
and nearly nothing about her
except

she filled him with a vague feeling
that made him wait to see her
when she was not around.

she was lost many decades ago
and the child moved far away
from that wedding vow.

the news came through the wind
she had died of cancer
somewhere far from homeland.

the child still dreams
her laughter rippling the winds
echoing by the lake

remembers his wedding vow
on that summer noon
still knowing nearly nothing about her.

With the evening
You softly land on my soul.
I don't see or hear you
But know for sure you're there.
In the silence of a day end
When the stars rise in the far universe
And to their nests the birds disperse
You come down to nest in my heart.
Just then from the ocean's bowels
A luminescence rises with a sweet haze
To paint afresh all hopes the day stole.
Softly lands dream of a new day in my soul!

He spends his work squabbling, haggling over a rupee
Foul mouths, abuses and all that drains his energy
You couldn’t tell if he is drunk just pretending to be sober
Battling through a rotten life, his ordeal never really over!
But when night comes and the half ball silver glows
Leaving behind the muck, he can stop being morose
He neither reflects on his misery nor feels the need to weep
On a six by six potholed floor, quickly he falls asleep!
Are you not curious to know if dreams visit him then?
With sweet angels with words of love or beautiful women
No curses no shouting men, only friends surrounding him
Hugging him, cheering him, he is a winner in his dream!
Or the same evils haunt him, the ones that storm his day
Mock him, spit on his face, kick him out of their way
He struggles to find his way out, shouting curses in his sleep
There’s no light or end of the tunnel, he doesn’t know to weep!

A few dried leaves
He makes a fire.

The fire in him
All his dreams
Cinders now!

Twigs of wood
A small spark
Is all he need.

For breathes the belly
He must feed!

The past is dim
Nay the past is blank
All left is now.

When the fire burns out
Ashes will fly!

He makes daily
A meal measly
With deadwood.

When is next
He doesn’t brood!

A roadside meek
Lives on pick
Yet don’t die.

When the fire burns out
Ashes will fly!

None bothers his fate
High up they wait
For him to die.

*When his fire burns out
Vultures will fly!

A cashew-nut
she pressed between my lips

slumberous awestruck
I chewed it

groping for her hands in the dark
if she really was there
or I was dream living

why should a woman
in the middle of night
press a cashew-nut
moist and warm
between my lips

was she hungry herself
hypoglycemic
picking them in despair
popping one betwixt my lips

or is it the one
I popped through hers
last evening
misdirected
without my knowing it
found the vertical lip
betwixt her swells
till she felt the *****
when loosened her robes
and it stirred in her
a long forgotten spark
so she came back
in the middle of night
for me to chew
the re-popped cashew-nut

slumberous awestruck!

Its melody piercing the fluid dawn
when the drongo breaks the dark spell
from night's ***** a day spawns
that the sun nurtures into a fairytale!

Till late evening the bird sings
preys on life burning in halogen
from catching the first light on its wings
stays back till starry shadows lengthen!

God has taught it to defy weariness
made it the usherer of day and night
hold in its fish tail a dancer's cute grace
in dark feathers the gladiator's might!

When all else at dayend anchor in nest
fathom counts of losses and gains
broken dreams well up in the drongo's breast
rend the night in melancholy's strain!

Drongos are not as brittle ***** as me
Though my nightly poems have ceased to be
They’re still up in wings’ ceaseless flight
Feeding on insects buzzing in moonlight!

I love to call these birds night’s lone flame
Poems after poems love to write on them
A diurnal bird with nocturnal spree
Mocks my cessation of nightly poetry!

Drongos the revelers of nightly carnival
I hold them in envy think them rival
Never miss a moon these foragers of night
Their tireless wings hold the might of a knight!

I often wonder if they ever build a nest
Ever feel the urge for a soft cushioned rest
For I hear them sing in the most wee hours
When the dawn still bathes in dewy showers!

I wish my mind had the Drongo’s might
My poems flew like their wings featherlight
Poured out my words like the bird’s song
Overcoming sleep poems flowed nightlong!

Rich wine served with good food
Set me just in the right mood
For a sojourn on the silvery lands
Where the pearly waves hug the sands!
I knew not where the path led me to
A moonstruck man could little do
Except knowing that he had to go
For an aimless walk with his own shadow!
I floated away in the phantom light
Holding in my eyes the fairy night
Above the sea to where the stars gleam
To a heavenly space in drunken dream!

Some nights I forget my way to the home
home? where is that? which side of the road?
I keep straying away empty streets I roam!

Where is the ****** moon? I shout
the moon is gone but the stars are out
stars, please, handhold me and guide
tell me my home is on which side!

Am I awake or a pawn in a game?
why every house looks the same?
my steps fall on some window light patch
I must go back must start from scratch!

window? ah, is there one with a face?
so I can say it's my address
hey stars, be this seeker's guide
lead me to my home, take me to her side!

may be a door for me kept ajar
two eyes are staring one guiding star
one heart that knows the night is not out
two ears keenly waiting for a shout

catch me from falling put me on bed
despair seizing yet hands on my head

*moon is ****** stars gone to fetch morn
I don't see her tears her nights forlorn!

One mile down the drunken river
I lost my mind in her midday yellow haze.
Residues of the river-wind-kiss lingered saline on my face,
Wild sun on the wild river scathed my skin copper,
And I glided upstream in blurred eye sweat
Losing and finding the river’s mangrove shore.
My mind in delirious mess wondered
What it was that wined the river, made her a swirling detachment,
Bearing all with the endurance of a drunkard
But embracing nothing like an all foregoing monk.

I dreamed adrift one more mile and then another
Till I was windswept and wined like the drunken river.

When the west moon tilts and goes on the wane
Becomes a dying streak on your windowpane
Your frenzied sleepless mind breaks in roaring lust
To hammer the unyielding night into powdery dust!

All else but you in slumber dwell
Your rebellious thoughts burn hunger’s fuel
To pry out from darkness fading treasures of night
Dig them intact and bring them to light!

You could buy peace and live within norms
Bathe in moon’s kiss stay away from storms
But a ****** madness in you wreaks havoc
You nurture it, allow it to run amok!

Past the ebullience of night your furies vaporize
Can’t hold back the transience, stay in poet’s disguise
The dawn would devour it for transform you it must
To conventional sanity from the garb of an iconoclast!

Have not seen them for quite a while
Breaking like a thousand springs
Its ripples spreading across a mile
Touching heavens on butterfly wings!

It’s infective in its length and span
Cackling joyous like a thousand duck
God would be charmed (not to speak of man)
Its spell makes every man awe struck!

It’s quite a while life is losing fun
With faces wearing botox on stressed lip
Not getting at least one when the day is done
To give this soul a stronger fillip!

I need your muscles playing around your eyes
Your cheeks raised high for me to see
Doing so would bring me double sunrise
And live each day ever more happily!

He holds the day like duck feather.

Good or bad weather
Silver dimes or rusted nails
Through them all he quietly sails.

On the way small flowers he plucks
In thrill’s quiver sings joyous cluck
When rough tides break him he reveals not crack
Doesn’t complain when the clouds are black.

If his wings feel weary he stops the swim
A shore he finds to rest in dream
For the duck feather each day is a gain
To swim in the pond, his piece of haven.

Ma has eloped with her lover
soon a wife Baba will get
I'm left only dumber
don't know what's in my fate!

My dummy rules the days
The real I hide deep
So many things it says
The dummy puts it to sleep.
The dummy is scared of me
For in fantasies I persist
It knows it can't afford to be
Like me an anarchist.
For food it must earn
It must do hard work
Life's skills it must learn
It must make its mark.
The real I if had its say
Would do none of these
He would shape his own day
Act as his wishes please.
Leisurely he would take his horse
To where the green touches the sky
Run at will and take a pause
Not allowing the dreams to die!

in the attic on my way to the roof
pick up the two newborn kittens

their frantic mews at this alien invasion
draw the mother who knows me well

in her owl eyes are written
though love smitten
don't cuddle them too much.

past them i move to the roof.

on the mango tree
the crow nest is empty.

was my bonding with the two chicks
for those weeks
a waste?

dusk falls with a sigh
heavy on my chest.

sun when slips down west
sky is pink-a-blush
day makes merry-home haste
dies in sullen hush

my eyes dreamily follow
not the meridian star
but in the dusky glow
the flock's flying far!

how they rush together
in twos of clinging pair
ahoy a home is there
waiting in all weather!

the ones roaming on south
run home way down north
leaving their hopes to sprout
on the sunrise coming forth!

the northerners fly to south
end of day's toiled roam
hoping surely no doubt
finding there a cozy home!

Tell me their chirping words
as they fly over head faraway
it's time to pick up the shards
piece them to build another day!

Rise the way you want to rise
keep not ambitions in disguise
go as far go as close
with your finger touch the tiger's nose.

Do it the way you want to do
be not scared of jeer and boo
walk the path bled in thorn
with your hand grab the bull's horn.

Act the way you deem it right
you have in you the needed might
fight the enemy in its own den
in your fists clench the lion's mane.

Speak the way says your heart
say it straight never skirt
tell it all even the bitter thing
with your finger catch the hornet's sting.

Live life the way you want it
once committed no retreat
brave hindrance of the darkest night
in your wings soar the eagle's height.