Voice feels spent this day
when death is a quarter away
and life has passed real quick
without a voice worth to speak!

Have I it properly harnessed
raised where most needed
or have it always compromise repressed
its urge for truth kept unheeded!

Did I war to blow it genuine
hushed it when demanded silence
or wore it with a fake coating
to buy peace with vain pretense!

Voice is ever enslaved to me
used as I chose to be
never able to utter its core
and life may only be a quarter more!

He vowed before the fire
To take lifelong care of her
Give her all happiness

Fire was the mute witness.

The vow was soon to break
He burnt her at the stake
And only the flames engulfing her

*were in tears!

Since killed them the Diclofenac
vultures never came back
riverside carcasses in the sun dry
with not one long wing to swoop from the sky.

But vultures around me still abound
preying on the living thriving all around.

Says the owner of the roadside eatery
For each day of work you’ll be paid fifty
But more could be your take home keep
If you serve them well earn their tips.

Your polite bow a courteous smile
Showing you care all the while
Helping them to feel quite at home
Could get your pocket extra income.

Treat them well if you treat them must
Wear a face that breeds their trust
Will do you good if you are sweet
Help them pick the best to eat.

Fifty rupees will be your day’s salary
But dimes in dozens would pour freely
When you don’t just serve them food and water
But present yourself as a caring waiter.

Waiting at road side
Waiting at bus stop
Waiting for bus ride
Waiting at coffee shop.
Waiting for one sight
Waiting in blazing sun
Waiting for what’s right
Waiting with hand-on-gun.
Waiting for brotherhood
Waiting for justice
Waiting for all that’s good
Waiting for pure bliss.
Waiting for one call
Waiting for heart throb
Waiting for cute doll
Waiting for good job.
Waiting for surprise
Waiting for high tide
Waiting for right price
Waiting for joy ride.
Waiting for gold dime
Waiting for one flick
Waiting for good time
Waiting for right click.
Waiting for good luck
Waiting for letter
Waiting for golden duck
Waiting for better.
Waiting to have it all
Waiting for opportunity
Waiting for final call
Waiting for almighty.

Our green budgerie
Feels not weary
Sitting on her legs

Inside her clay ***
With the only thought
Of warming her eggs!

Any curious peek
She meets with her beak
Leave her alone

Shows her face
A divine happiness
Strictly her own!

She’s in no mood
To forgo her brood
Not relaxing till hatch

Steeped in motherhood
Eats little food
Her patience has no match!

We cannot do much
Except only watch
So long she incubates

Till one fine morn
Cute chicks are born
She has her new playmates!

the beat cop stopped it on the street
you aren't supposed to walk the night

it's my only time it muttered under breath
I don't exist in the daylight.

a home I must find now and a fire
and someone to call my own
surely it isn't too much to aspire
when the chill is freezing my bone.

in its eyes only was the fire's glow
all doors were bolted dead tight
the shadow melting in night's flow
got no warmth from stars burning bright.

a home was made in its dream
a hearth to keep out the night
one heart showed up in starlight's gleam
one door not bolted dead tight.

the beat cop let the shadow pass by
for it must walk the end of night
to find a fire and someone its own
before dawns the earthly daylight.

World’s most attentive listeners they are
Never ever speak out only vacantly stare
What you confide in them they quietly accept
Hide in their chambers all your secrets.

When got none to listen your pains and anguishes
Your heart breaks in silence shatter into pieces
Tears of your woes fall like pearl drops unseen
They’re the ones that see but hold them all within.

Sometimes you leave on them streaming river’s stain
They bear it for some time till passes by the rain
Refrains of your soloist heart all your soliloquy
They hear but never divulge friends are they truly.

They are made only to listen never to speak out
Safely share with them your worries your doubts
Within them would ever be hidden all your mystery
Till their ruins are found as relics of history!

My shadow casts a shadow of war
So I can’t go so far as to say
It’s a warring world
For war from me I don’t debar!

I never pay heed
When breeds war my greed
But go on to feed
Competition, jealousy…

They too are wars indeed!

The warring world
Starts from me…
My war dance
Don’t give peace a chance.

My righteousness, reasons, religion
Stoke an all encompassing me
That leaves the world with no recourse…

*From me begets the war of course!

Best poems are lost in the warmth of blanket.

Lured away by sleep
they could be precious keep
if I could hold them through night.

Best poems surrender to warm bed’s comfort.

Lulled into stupor quietly abort
before I could take them on a sleepless ride,
they seek a dark corner find it and hide.

Best poems brew though in the stillness of night.

I cannot birth them show them daylight
but let them die in abject disgrace
on warm bed beneath blanket

sunk without a trace!

Smoke clogs my nose
The sky blazes red
My pen a wilted rose
No poetry in my head.

I wished I were a washerman
of the conscience.

Then I could wash out
jealousy hatred conflict
each first seed of sin
cleanse hearts
spread them in the sun
so once dried
there wouldn't be anymore tears
to dry
than those of joy!

I have ended up
quite close.

She calls me

*washerman's donkey!

Soap froth sprays in the air
Up down up down it goes
Rhythmic swings don’t care
If the detergent smells of rose!

She has to cleanse all dirt
Rub off the dourest stain
In it she puts her heart
Thereby forgets own pain!

Rises the lever up far
Swoops down fast with a thud
Rainbow bubbles scatter around her
She knew not when staled a rosebud!

In the tub water her ocean
She squeezes the wetness dry
She knows only this motion
Got no time to look at the sky!

Now in the sun she must spread
Fabric of brightness on sight
Her own life’s long lost thread
Is buried in the hush of night!

Does she remember the broken oaths
Her life never nurtured in sun
Worn out as all her washed clothes
Faded like all the years gone!

The wasp lands on my chest.

I know love comes not a whirlwind
but a quiet whir of the wasp's wings

not knocks the door but melts through it
pierce the skin and reach heartbeat.

I love love's noiseless waspy wing
sweet and bitter sting
its agonizing harvest.

I would never brush it in haste

when lands the wasp on my chest.

the heart feels a gypsy
the mind a vagabond
the eyes get misty
by the lilies in the pond

bloom the petals pinkish
smudged with streaks of white
swaying slow by wind's kiss
glory displayed bright

upon the slender neckline
crowns of innocent smiles
fill all dark with sunshine
wipe out weary miles

o traveler feel the invite
merrily pause to respond
be a while in sunlight
among the lilies of the pond

can sense her from a distance
when she moves towards me
till it reaches a crescendo
when she is closest as close could be!

but those times her I badly need
when she moves away
her sounds faint as she recedes
can't all the time with me stay!

how she gives my spirits a lift
her closeness makes my day
do feel pang when she shifts
when she has to go away!

the nearer she is she delights
she must be my perfect mate
I can feel it days and nights
what you call Doppler Effect!

Your paintbrush all powerful your canvas mighty
On your palette countless colors of endless variety
You make them whole or cut into slice
Add salt or sugar, sea or mountain spice
Can cook it delicious or brew darkly bitter pill
Make or break hearts at your sweet will
Can weave a journey spinning hidden tales
Reach dream’s oasis fly on wind’s sails
Go on turbulent ride or sing a lullaby
Show where it hurts find too a remedy
Can cause eyes to rain give flesh a goosebump
Part the lips wide or bring the throat a lump!

What do I make of my poetry?

quill the sorrows within

or

the joys around me!

It's heavenly
when YOU and I merge to be WE!

He drives with flair..
millionaire billionaire
and such people
on money's stack
all the time behind his back

he drives those racers and pursuers..

the chauffeur.

Wealth you don’t treasure
As you have the key
To the endless pleasure
Of waking up from your dreams
In the middle of night
And tiptoeing to where
The grass is getting its first dew
Preparing the dark liquid
To break into a grey dawn!

Wealth you don’t treasure
As you feel happy in a golden morn
Not knowing why
You get up to go and stand
Quietly beneath a tree
And let your senses brim
With all the sight and sound
Feel the leaves drop on your hair
In a silent symphony
Before they touch the ground!

Wealth you don’t treasure
As you have in good measure
Everything the wealth can’t buy
A priceless space all your own
For the most treasured dreams to be grown!

As long as
we hold freedom
captive in our mind.

My relation with her
inhabits a silent space,

you don't need to talk much
below the ocean's surface,

it's like a rest after your work is done
an earned breather after a long run.

Now it's holding hands and swimming together
having seen all the weather.

The little flower and her greed
She raises her head before the sun
Sun’s might she pays no heed!

The little flower and her greed
She stands up bold against the wind
From her home in the ****!

She has her home in the ****
But her color bright catches sight
Longing eyes she does feed!

She has her home in the ****
She sets minds in color afire
It’s her purpose it’s her need!

She does it for her need
Sending all her hearty greet
Never minding caste or creed!

She minds not caste or creed
Her glory is not demeaned
Though her birth is in the ****!

She is born a ****’s flower
Endless is her might
She holds sun in her power!

I visited her at the hospital ward
smiled my ladybird
baby delivered!

Her two ponytails in red ribbon
not a woman she was
but a girl overgrown!

In her arms lay a little fairy
wasn’t just a baby
but a piece of me!

Beamed its face looking at me
recognized joyously
here was daddy!

She, me, and our baby
we're stuck in that place
*ever happily!

You knew it
And so did I
Years would fleet
Our kisses would dry.
But we did what was best
So long the flesh was smooth
We rode the tempest
Drunk in our youth!
You knew it
And so did I
Our lips wouldn’t be wet
Our kisses would dry.
But we carried on with the dreams
So long the nights were young
Yielding to youthful whims
Getting lost all along!

Happens for the good.

With every loss
I turn a better man,

Seeing clearer
Learning
That wouldn’t have come in any other way

Then shedding as I move on

A piece of rotten me
Blinded by ego
Seeing what was not there
Hearing what was unsaid
Evaluating only by my yardstick
Stuck in the muck of my own making!

Whatever happens
Even when that makes heart bleed
Burn and break me

Make me

A better man.

shut out the world

to be shut in a screen!

Often I wonder when I closely look
See her eyes a little too small
How love grows in my heart’s nook
What is it makes me for her fall!

Her nose is too short broad and low
Her lips are pale and thin
She has a skin dull without glow
How my heart she continues to win!

She isn’t curvy lithe and tall
Nothing to write home of her face
She doesn’t possess what you may call
Hallmarks of great beauty’s grace!

She is no svelte of proportioned girth
Her frame can’t be model for an art
How still she seems most precious on earth
The one and the only for my heart!

I could be what I want to be.

I could be a mole
In a secret hole
Scared of light
Coming out at night!
Or in habit
As shy as rabbit
Sniffing in doubt
Seeking hideout!
Growing bigger
I could be a tiger
Burning bright
In glorious might!
Or more majestic
Towering over the weak
A graceful giant
I could be an elephant!

If it may please
I could be any of these.

But what I want to be
Is a sky hugging tree.

What makes it ?

brick concrete
paints tiles
happy faces
joyous smiles

sadness mirth
decor art
death and birth
broken heart

an off road nest
for flyer's rest
living hour
sweet and sour

a gifted cause
for lodging pause

what makes it ?**

a home ?

What not to want

ah, Rose, in deep breath
a thousand times
one secret door unlocked in my heart
a thousand times in deep breath
in each inhale heaven's aroma
you stoked my want of wants
the need of all my needs
to know **what not to want
four words and one line
to remind me what's not mine
mine never could be
learned after fake encounters
deep cuts and lasting scars
diminished for what's not mine
never could be
yet passed through fire
scathed burnt metamorphosed
till learned the truth
in just four words
one line
what not to want
that once known
a knowledge worthwhile
makes easier
the remaining miles.

What she whispers to the deity

in her daily evening prayer
from her lips' quiver
I try to hear

I try to understand
what she asks of her god
with folded hands

is it her own welfare she prays
begs from the deity
well being of her family
wealth and safety

or her prayer is not that small
she asks god for the good of all

I am not sure
but deep within feel
her prayer is pure

through years of asking
but never receiving
she has quit
praying for any specific thing

she prays as a need
as an inseparable thought
whether god heeds her
or not.

Some a flowing field of corn
some a barren plate
they die if they are ever born
falls quietly to their fate!

There's little in your hand to choose
not much that you can do
surely isn't a fun to lose
knowing so fast they grew!

What was once the face's grace
boastful glory of crown
vanish without leaving a trace
black or white or brown!

Know the truth bare and harsh
whatever color we dye
from sapling to the tallest grass
is destined to wane and die!

We have done enough

to be devils to our children!

when does the sun seem too far
when a few steps and you could be there
yet you see it from the shadow of nightmare.

a few steps and you could be there,
but the sun is moving west
on you the shadows rest
gone is the hand of love and tender care.

your eyes why they gather dewy mist
you were left to be sunned in the east
but when shadows closed in, wind brought a chill,
couldn't shift you to west all your will.

you are stilled now in the sun's shadow zone
a burden to the ones you thought your own
moving at their will, living on alms of care
watching the sun's motion from wheelchair.

It’s man and man all the way
Cut down jungles
To make a rail way!

Why in protest cry
When the wheels crush
A few elephant would die!

Men would then embark
On their old game
Railway or forest
Which department to blame!

When comes the night
Man’s greed would speed
Elephants aren’t on sight!

The drivers would not see
There was no forewarn
Death would come easy
No hearts shattering mourn!

Railway would remain dour
There isn’t enough watch towers
Forest dept. would blame the wheels
The pilot didn’t whistle!

Men would again go back
Cut through the forest
Not leaving elephants’ track!

Evolved men heart of steel
Without a remorse a feel
Laying rail is big deal
Must move our progress’s wheel!

a friend of my friend said
the ******* the second floor flat
two blocks from your house
is in love with you.

is it the girl i ask
that spreads smiles on my way
everyday

or the one
throwing admiring glance
whenever i happen to pass

or the bubbly pretty who gazes
so long the road
shows me to her

nay you fail
says my friend's friend

she prefers to be shyly far
from her lover

I come out no stronger
when a poem is all over.

come down to earth on broken wing
words gone dry heart bleeding
with me not even making a beginning!

When a poem is done
it tells me
you've not yet begun
not done your part
and still stuck at the start!

I come out no stronger
when a poem is over.

the mind for sometimes hover
falls down with broken wing
words gone dry heart bleeding
with me not even making a beginning!

When a poem is done
it tells me
I'm left undone
mere ink on paper without a soul,
when one more dream of mine you stole.

You search askance the face
Gaze my brows awhile
Think why isn't a trace
Where’s gone from lip my smile!

There are times galore
Can’t help the way you need
Can’t bring to you that more
The warmth of me you greed!

You seek my eyes’ that shine
The glint of love deemed true
Need read on face the line
The way you are used to!

Not always can show my face
The way I should to you
Not always can bring happiness
And trust built strong and true!

Don’t like when that happens
A stranger in me you find
Your eyes show signs of rains
Pains flood your breaking mind!

These are the times I hate.

When I remember
I need to tell her
Something very urgent
If not told this moment
Might never be said
But at that hour
I’m at the shower
And my holler can’t breach
To be in her ear’s reach!

It’s still less fun
When they come
Not just one
But three four five
Ready to be told ripe
But in that ******* hour
I’m right at the shower
Needing immediately to tell her
What I might not again remember!

Not one from the to be said I can save
See them washed out to watery grave
No mind hammering could ever retrieve
Their loss that I'm left to bereave!

There’s no second chance for all of them
Terribly important but dying unnamed
With the toweled wetness they too evaporate
My thoughts at the shower at that hour I hate!

When awake
Without break
Thoughts pour,
Each hammer
Each clamor
Open door.
Hue and shade
Play in head
Craft design,
Words galore
More and more
Grow the line.
Sigh cheers
Joy tears
All the kind,
Sweet sour
Sun shower
Way they find.
Hands ache
Force a break
Eyes tire,
Seek rest
In sleep’s nest
In dream’s attire.
There too come
In ears strum
Strange refrain,
Without recess
The thoughts chase
Joy and pain.

Faster smoother communication
Texts flying freely in the air
But somewhere eerily dying the relation
Bred when you could just silently stare!
Gone are the years of shy look and snail mail
A distance of time-space that fanned it intense
The words though now are buzzing like gale
With the wind comes not the romance’s incense!
Flew away the time them now would never know
Of waiting in hushed noon for the mailman’s bell
Running the fingers in the warmth of a blue glow
With the lovelorn heart in pursuit of a fairytale!

Faster smoother communication
Texts flying freely in the air
But somewhere eerily dying the relation
Bred when you could just silently stare!
Gone are the years of shy look and snail mail
A distance of time-space that fanned it intense
The words though now are buzzing like gale
With the wind comes not the romance’s incense!
Flew away the time them now would never know
Of waiting in hushed noon for the mailman’s bell
Running the fingers in the warmth of a blue glow
With the lovelorn heart in pursuit of a fairytale!

When can we joke about our anger
And together lovingly remember
The time you left home in a huff
And were forced to return home with a laugh
Limping and with a long walk’s sore leg too
Because in anger you wore my oversized shoe!
When can we joke about our bitterness
And together lovingly remember
The day I told you on your face
And you left midway in your dinner
Saying on the street you would rather roam
Than ever having a meal at home!
When can we joke about our past tiffs
And together lovingly remember
The times our anger scaled the cliffs
And on our home hang a heavy weather
Where you and I drifted apart like islands
With tear laden hearts and desolate hands!

when did i last spend a good time?

a second, a minute, an hour, a day
one undiluted, unmixed, pure, and raw,

a good time, truly good, without a flaw.

was it those moments of ******* height
when sans one sense, all else was dark night

or the time spent brief in her warm embrace
seeking her moons reading map on her face

it could be the while when a gust of joy
made this heart shine like a boy

a flashing streak of event that lit up the soul
from pieces of fragments revealed the whole

getting from a girl her kiss of innocence
drench with her in first summer rains

reaching a heaven from far firmament
by a smile from the boy a dime i lent

turning that page of a now lost time
when this mind first chanced upon a rhyme

they rush like tide set me to brood
from the budding child to the aging manhood
where in the memory now thick with grime
lies hidden the passing of the last good time!

Form, style, structure are all in vain
If you when read a poem
Don’t see there a bit of your pain
In the lines a speck of redress
Return on read a grain of happiness
A part of you speaking in that poem
A recognized tale your traveled realm
Where your mind roams with your eyes
Dark labyrinths valleys of sunrise
And at end of ride through trough and crest
Moments invested leave you no regret.