On a shore where the waves embrace the sand
Lies the hug land.
“No words, please, we only hug and kiss”
is all you will find,
speaking there is only with mind!
They were not late
To know words only complicate,
Make a mess
Of what the heart says.
Rotten clichéd stale
They more often fail
To make the desired sense,
More potent is silence.
Lover, sister, brother
Each hugs the other
In this faraway retreat,
They hug anyone they meet.

The humannequin
at the wedding hall gate
has his smiles hired
at an hourly rate!

dressed like a clown
he mustn't let down
a single guest
must smile all the while
so not one is spared his smile!

on the newly weds blessings shower
he counts the hour
how much he can make
enduring his jaws' ache
sell smiles to serve the need
of his home and the mouths to feed!

When hunger gnaws,
Exits poetry,
Moon becomes a mere prose.

the lone heron
splits the moon
in marsh light

a blurry swish
***** the fish
livens night

hushes ploops
the moon recoups
shimmers bright

refilled want
ends the hunt
catches flight

With change of season
He too changes for good reason
Time over but he still sees a chance
Young girls get his furtive glance.
To make up for what his hairs lack
They aren’t too many a few at the back
Those tufts he keeps in good black shine
His mind doesn’t recede with receding hairline.
What if his skin has shrunk a little bit
His eyes still roll they hanker to meet
Dark ocean eyes with a glowing skin
Rekindles his fire lying deep within.
He holds onto the spark of youthful craze
Doesn’t seek woman close to his age
It’s the lesser ones that get him on hook
Make him seek ways for a greener look.
His time is never over this pathetic old clown
His days may be up but he is not down
Still dreaming of a reinvented career
His mind goes hunting wild deer.

When not ruptures in ecstasy,
But defiled in demon’s fantasy!

I love the 'eyes' resting on my poems
But hate the too many ‘I’s
Making their loud presence in my write!

I hate their face though
They are now all over the place
As you find right here before your eyes
If the above six lines you read
Two ‘I’s already on this write feed!

Now a good man that I am...
But am I?

Had I been a good man
When the girl bled from her head
I would have seen her wounds stitched
And not think I had office to reach!

Had I possessed a kind heart
(my simplest measure for being a good man)
Seeing a child crying on his own
I would not have thought
The tears were his alone!

Had this body held a loving man
Not of ideas but of action
I would not have hidden behind the skewed logic

*So many stray lives on the street roam
What’s the use of caring for one
And giving it home!

I never wanted to be a poet
I dreamed to be a trail of starlight
looking at which
you would lose yourself
to spin yarns of fairy words.
I yearned to fall from the sky
as the dew
surrounded by the liquid darkness
that begets for you a new day.
I loved to be that southern breeze
that while kissing you
takes you to thoughts unheard of.
A patch of sun through your window,
Moonbeam on your eyelids
to find you in deep dream
and all such things…….

I didn’t deserve all these glories…
I became a poet!

Past day’s slog for the bread
From the sky above the deserted street
I beg a poem in my head.

A sparky thought from congealed weariness
Then rises from the pave
And in starlight as I follow its trace
A night warrior is reborn from day’s slave!

Its grace saves the mind chiseled arts
Rejuvenates the dreamer for another day
Forgotten is all the pain all that hurts
From breaking point life comes back to stay!

From the hungry eyes’ glow down below
From the heavens above me spread
From the unseen nocturnes of tomorrow
I beg a poem in my head.

whatever you write
i'll believe

i believe in your imagination.

I find the beggar’s face happier than me
At the street corner where I see him daily
In unkempt hair and stretched shriveled palm
He doesn’t look as ruffled or as me bereft calm!

He isn’t a bit perturbed none asks him his name
Not complains of clothes barely hiding his shame
Holds on to a lingering smile never leaving his face
Gathers besides the coins comes whatever happiness!

Scar him wrathful season’s sun storm and rain
Yearlong his beggar’s toil keeps him in the open
Yet never stalks his face the slightest trace of gloom
The dark shades of despair like on my face loom!

The moment you fill his palm he bows in courtesy
Reciprocates with blesses for you and family
I have seen him sharing crumbs with the dog on street
Showing there’s a good heart a mind that is sweet!

I find the beggar’s face far happier than me
Admire him but more than that I do him envy
Don’t doubt it and I'm ready to lay a wager
I cannot be as happy as that street side beggar!

i cant name that pain
when i see a human foraging food
beneath a large hoarding of a restaurant

i cant express that feeling of helplessness
when i see a human feasting on leftovers
thrown by a mouth too full to gorge more

i cant put in words that paralytic numbness
when i see a human and an animal together
pouring on the roadside bin for something

i cant give all these pains a name

or tell you about them in a rhymed poem.

This thought has always haunted me.

People you meet once
and never again in your life.

You have a static picture in your mind
of their face
the small conversation
their little story they tell you
the place you met them
in a bus, a shop, on the road
interactions not long
but meaningfully small
yet leaving a memory in you.

I think of all those people
I stopped by to ask for time
seek direction of my destination
or asking where I might find
food or a resting place
in an unfamiliar area.

Once and just once you meet them.

On a summer trip, I was looking for icecream
in a strange place off the highway
walked ten minutes to find a shop
where for that brief encounter
the seller made me feel like
he had known me for long
shared the history of that area
the migration and culture of the residents
before helping me with the right icecream.

Sometimes I wonder
if they would have enriched my life
were they part of my association.

Not scholars, not rich, but simple men
who bring you down to earth
and carve a space in your mindscape.

Sadly you meet them once in your life.

I feel it's so designed.

I spread my wares and wait.
From morn till night
Longing that you would turn up
Love what I show and get it.
The shadows lengthen
The moon rises with the nightjar
The shadows close on me
I sulk in despair.
I am back with the first light
With renewed submission
Longing that you would turn up
Love what I show and get it.
The day spreads wings and departs
Fly away heart's dead embers
I embrace the loneliness.
Once again I cry in pain.

Thus I wait eons for you
That one day you would turn up
Love and get what I have to offer
Never knowing that you were there everyday
Holding me through the night
coming back with sunray!

she doesn’t know
what i’m on the other side
friend or foe!

i don’t know
the other side hides her
she doesn’t show!

consciously we don’t peep
it's how we keep
the mystery jealously!

The world I did roam
Sea bottom to mountaintop
But close to me near home
I didn't see on leaves the dewdrop!

Two words
‘I do’,
too small words
but hold the length of life
with her hands in mine
walk in rain sunshine
her heart in my care
she left in joyous trust
in all weather always there
on her side I remain must
have her forever in my sight
each passing day and night
love standing on two pillars true,
said years ago and still ‘I do’.

I do love Saturdays,
for crafting in mastery a Sunday
that's a master at breaking promises,

a S(hu)unday when she breaks her promises
I invariably break mine
and soon Sunday fades like a penciled line
leaving the Mon(strous)day to glare at you!

I do love Saturdays
with the prospect of a Sunday
with no prospect of ever keeping the commitments
and let the day speed by!

I do love Saturdays
the day I can freely lie
and realize why
I do need a Sunday!

I do love Saturdays
for we pair up well,

*commit all and fail!

On the river's this side
the boat waits for high tide.

*beckon me the far line trees
'neath looming clouds congealed mysteries
to sail yonder in long winds' way
where dipping sky touches bay!

But I don't have the wind's will
to cut the rope and sail upstream
having swallowed the bitter pill
of deep slumber in buried dream!

I don't need a drink.
I'm drunk with
Nature's light and sound
Drunk with the gift of
Each day of life
Drunk with the thought that
I'm here to stay
For another day!

You might as well say
if a mail could aver
you needn’t have come her way
you needn’t have come this far,
to knock on her door
dying to tell her
how much you adore
how without her
even the stars don’t blink
happiness goes afar
rose is no more pink
all beauties macabre,
if a text could ever do it
you needn’t have traveled far
to drown in her your heartbeat
and feel yourself richer.

Today I was depressive, was really in bad mood
Downcast and demeaned, I was feeling no good
Darkness surrounded me, I hadn’t a place to hide
Just then something happened, and made me laugh so wide.

Here was one disheveled man sitting on the sidewalk
His palm was stretched barren, to show he was out of luck
As I dropped a generous coin, in doing so paused a while
I saw the guy’s twinkling eyes, his face beaming with smile.

He keeps his face always that way, a smile chiseled on it
Never minds the bad weather, sitting in the rain and heat
His smile worn broad on the face, he does it with wondrous ease
A man with a home and a decent life, why can’t I do it please!

If I could be invisible
So when I ruffled your hair
And they fell on your eyes
You would know it’s the blowing wind.
If I could be invisible
So when I strobed in the dark
And it showed you the way
You would know it’s the firefly.
If I could be invisible
So when I planted a feathery kiss
And you felt the moistness
You would know it’s the morn dew.
If I could be invisible
So when I sat on your heart
And it felt heavy
You would know it is love.

A bird has no reason to pray
It flies and sings all day
It doesn't need to brood
Just life and a little food!
I think its times are all fun
Rising and setting with the sun
Leisurely floating in the air
Building a nest for a warm pair!
Is it really absurd?
If I may live like a bird
With no jealousy, no hatred
Just love and a piece of bread!

You give me your all
Make me look into your mind
Bountifully you bare yourself
Want the real you I find.

You lay it open before me
There’s nothing you conceal
On white paper you write
Read me, feel me, if you will.

It’s plain as birds your heart
Love’s river flows there clean
No jargon, no designs covert
Words carry the thoughts they mean.

Your eyes are clear streams
On their ripples sparkles sunshine
Reveal they all your dreams
If I share them will be mine.

The poet lies peaceful in death
Tranquil like a river sublime
This frame in rhyme he cannot etch
It arrived as fate of lifetime.

Oblivious of eyes that weep
He looks peaceful in sleep
Not a twitch from the finally locked eyes
To break open from serenity and rise!

He lies in bliss on flower bed
Soaked in the silence in his head
Of thin hair on skin no more warm
In emptied brain at end of term.

He till last (w)rite couldn’t tell
If his heart and head did coincide
The source of the ever ringing bell
Came from which mysterious side!

One more thing haunted his mind
Tormented till his delirious end
No answer to the dilemma he did find
Nothing for his soul to defend!

His creations did they hurt more than they healed
How many faces he lit up with a line
His verses flowing free willed
Did they bring clouds than sunshine?

if just for once a smile i bring you
if just for once a little fun
bring you just once joy's faintest hue
would deem it as one work well done.

if just for once from me one line
if just for once one word
bring you just once a moment's sunshine
would give me all labor's reward.

if just for once lights up your face
pass just for once a flickered gleam
bring you just once a little happiness
would feel it like one fulfilled dream.

if just for once past dark of night
take you along a joyous ride
bring you just once a peephole of light
would know all my try is justified.

Shreds us the life
With bruises and cuts
Our days run rife
In the ifs and buts!

If the day was bright
If hadn’t fallen rain
If quickly passed the night
If living was no pain!

But the day was a mess
But the winds blew harsh
But time was hard pressed
But cloud hid the stars!

If happened how we need
If they all smoothly clicked
If luck came with speed
If clock slowly ticked!

But things ran amok
But nothing went right
But faced a roadblock
But fortune took flight!

Tear us apart the ifs and buts
Do steal away all happiness
Wound our life with bruises and cuts
Alas for them we have no redress!

What’s shining can come to rust
Love is fragile and so is trust
Joy’s bubbles can quickly burst
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.
The dearest pal can turn enemy
The inconspicuous can turn deadly
From dead wood can new flame burst
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.
What seems close may not be near
It may not mean what you seem to hear
They all ain’t good for which you lust
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.
Words may sound sweet and sugary
It can sting the little honey bee
Money is slowest when you need it fast
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.
Happiness is elusive and so is peace
Won’t ever come the chances you miss
In the no air zone the wind can gust
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.
The sharpest arms may turn out blunt
It’s not always the way you want
The biggest empire may turn to dust
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.
Often so fallible what looks the best
Crumbles like ruins in life’s acid test
But you shouldn’t despair, hope you must,
Be ready if the worst comes to the worst.

Baby I’m cool enough in this world of chaos
Absorb all the fists and blows without being morose
Can hide baby the groan of loss the searing painful sigh
Can rise from a breaking fall and stand up with head high.

Baby I still love to believe life is a joyous ride
Where sorrow is inevitable like the coin’s other side
It’s worth trying building a castle even in desert sand
Adorn it with a moment’s dream touch of a loving hand.

Baby I still cry when pass through a darker shade
But know the light is steps away if I go ahead
There’s hope after despair a mend of broken heart
A beginning after every end chance for a new start.

Baby I’m still unscathed through badly scarring burns
Making my way in the face of storms road’s ugly turns
Can surmount my feet the hurdles run the course sprightly
If you baby just lend your heart in the travel stay by me.

what it takes
to be happy in love,

what's the key to a bond for long,

i still don't know
i'll never know

how it's held for years strong.

if you ask me
what it takes
for a lasting relation,

what's the key to take it along,

i still don't know
i'll never know

how to make love survive that long.

if you ask me
what it takes
for the love to survive,

what's the mystery for two hearts to gel,

i still don't know
i'll never know

how to make love long dwell.

if you ask me
what it takes
to win in love success,

what's the way to love that far,

i still don't know
i'll never know

how i got love-struck by her.

If you have to make your way
make your way.

the lesson learned one summer noon
on a deserted village road
will not be forgotten soon.

The tyres came to a screeching halt
were lying boulders of asphalt
blocking the way.

Long hours of drive still waiting
needed to do the only sensible thing

Accept the choice
lent by sanity's voice

THE SITUATION DEMANDS
MAKE BEST USE OF THOSE HANDS

When left the stumbling blocks behind

hands were aching wiser was mind.

If you have to go to the beach
Where the blue bends down to the sea
The eyes far the waves outreach
Salt sprays gurgle in glee,

Find the time to take a ride
Miles down the city’s edge
Over the greens of countryside
Past huts with thicket’s hedge!

When you pass the winding stream
See winds on the bloated sail
Hear boatman’s tune of forlorn dream
Catch a village belle with her pail,

Find the time to stop a while
Watch the sun shine her grace
Forget travails of the bumpy miles
Smell the dew on her labored face!

If the white clouds sail the sky
Bewitch you the rustic way
Break your path make a valiant try
Seize that moment of the passing day,

See in her eyes the river’s tale
In her hair the flower’s bloom
Feel in her breath love’s rapturous gale
Her desire’s rainbow plume!

Rue not the time lost on the way
For you paused for the boatman’s song
Viewed her frame molded in clay
As the river brought her along,

Regret not if you are late for the beach
Where the blue bends down to the sea
Think of the chance that brought to your reach
A glimpse of eternity!

Love if you know to endure pain
Love if you fall to rise again
Love if you don't mind the price
Love if you are ready for surprise.
Love if you know how to stick
Love if you believe in its magic
Love if you are ready for rough ride
Love if you can go against the tide.
Love if you wipe your tears dry
Love if you know to silently cry
Love if you know and you truly mean
In the end for sure love will win!

Don't be disheartened if you miss the bus
There'll be misses, life is not all plus
Let not your heart despair in one bad weather
Know for sure for each missed bus there'll be another.
Don't be crestfallen if one chance goes past you
There'll be lost chances but you will get your due
Let not your resolves die in one chance gone
Know for sure many more for you will come along.
Don't be heart broken if you fail once and again
Life is not all tenderness without the thorn's pain
Let not your determination evaporate and die
Know for sure beyond failure chance of success is high.
Don't be fed up with life even if your days are dark
There'll be darkness but through it you make your mark
Let not your soul be stopped from seeking out the light
Know for sure the sun is waiting beyond the dark night.

I came to camp here
On the riverside
Overlooking the mountain
Where I would say **
And it would reverberate.
I had no companion
Till every morning
The birds woke me up
And made friends,
I had no lover
Till the moon's silver
Crowned the ripples
And made love.
I never knew
When quietly they came
And dug into me!
Now I don't want to
Leave the camp,
My dreams don't spin
Tales of other world anymore!
But I came to camp here,
Have to wind up and leave.

some poems i wish i had never written
some i treasure in my vault
with some like narcissus i'm love smitten
without a speck of fault!

some poems of mine are too badly done
some seem to me flawless
some too dark for the clouds hid the sun
bereft of sunshine's grace!

some poems i wish i could write again
a few that are dear to my mind
some are thorny bleed me in pain
leave a trail of sadness behind!

whatever they are the poems are mine
and once fired from the gun
i have to own each word each line
once shot cannot be undone!

I know* she says what you aspire,
if I go earlier
not long will you wait
To find a new mate.

Surely not dear I reply
I too will die
and if not,
in that unbearable pain
will go insane.

I know better.

This morn only
saw my male budgie
cosying easily
to his new companion.

Can’t bear to be long

Forlorn!

She gives it in my dream
pours it on my night
with the day's first gleam
sprinkles in sunlight!

She brews it in the morn
puts it in my tea
her day's smiles adorn
the path I walk daily!

She mixes it in my drink
with it makes my meal
flows it in my ink
ensures it I feel!

She puts it in my case
blends it with my lunch
ties me with its grace
so I never suffer its crunch!

She rubs it on her talks
when rings me at office
it plentily unlocks
in the hours her I miss!

For her it's never more
her flight on its wings
with it she opens the door
cools my weary evenings!

When she lays the bed
she knows I crave for it
weaves in crimson shade
its fruit ripened sweet!

She speaks all hues of it
signs it in silence
sings in each heartbeat
its words in sun and rains!

Woman I live for thee
You ******* away completely.

Woman I live for thee
You complete me wholesomely.

Woman I live for thee
You complement me perfectly.

Woman I live for thee
You enslave me lovingly.

Woman I live for thee

I live for thee

with you in me.

There was a poem
awaiting me
from the morn

announced her name
showed faintly
shy to be born!

She walked all night
along my dreams
fell as dew

robbed daylight
its howling screams
she hardly grew!

She tore my sleep
her garbled rhymes
thumped heartbeat

I couldn’t keep
her broken lines
on crumpled sheet!

There was a poem
awaiting me
from the morn

her incoherence
made no sense
she was stillborn!

I lost my way
The day I was taught to grab and not share
I was filled with knowledge
That brought no wisdom
But only pride devoid humility
I was given a religion by birth
I had a God Almighty and was told
It was the only true God!
I lost my way
The day I was sent to an institution
To cram a structured knowledge
Endless information was heaped on me
To make me clever and ready for life
A knowledge that taught me to mind my worth
Only in terms of material success
Drove me in pursuit of an elusive happiness!
I lost my way
The day I learnt alphabets
And poured on volumes of books
That shaped a mind of rigid dogmas
But no tolerance for others' thoughts
I was given an education
That taught me to be patriotic
And wall the world with boundaries!

Boom boom boom
I’m in the firing range
But how I love this doom!
She’s saying I’m blind
I’m deaf and mute
Her tantrums I don’t mind
I know her heart is cute!
Her words I don’t take
Pretty sure on my part
Her anger is a fake
She loves me from her heart.
She curse me day and night
Says can’t stand my sight
But I can vouch it true
Without me she can’t do.
Whatever she says
She isn’t parting ways
I know it she can’t disguise
Love for me in her eyes.

The moon that night
adorned you in silvery gem.
I was awe-struck.
I milked the moon
to quench my thirst!

I buy her cheap
can't buy expensive.

It's a gift she says
to give my spirit a lift
you buy low
it gets high on my love

don't ever think
price has a place in happiness.

She wears the imitation
and the mirror explodes
into thousand stars
with the gift of joy
now not only hers
but inexplicably
spread all over me.

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!