Kabhi mujh mein kabhi tum mein phudakti tum to rehti **...
Tumhein bandish mein kya gherun ke dariya si tum behti **...

[Sometimes in me sometimes in you, you keep twitching...
How can I put restrictions around you as you flow like a stream...]

Kabhi dekhun tumhein nazron ko bhar ke dil behel jaaye.....
Kabhi tum par nazar gir kar bhi nazrein bas taras jaaye.....

[Sometimes when I watch you my heart finds its contentment....
Sometimes even as I lay my eyes on you I am left with an unfulfilled yearning...]

Kabhi titli si tum guzro fiza mein rang ko phailaaye...
Kabhi khushboo si tum baslo har ek kone ko mehkaaye...

[Sometimes like a butterfly you flutter and spread colors in the air...
Sometimes like fragrance spread you stay in all corners...]

Kabhi dil ke kisi kone mein yaadon ki lo angdaayi....
Kabhi zehno vehem mein hi khayaalon ki shakal aayi...

[Sometimes in a corner of my heart you remain comfortably like a memory...
Sometimes in the mind you appear like a thought crossed...]

Kabhi main sochta *** tum haqeeqat mein ** bhi ya nahi....
Magar “Ain” e fikar se dekhun main tum hi *** main to nahi...

[Sometimes I wonder if you exist in reality...
But when I ponder over it I find that in me there’s just you I don’t even exist....]

Have you ever gone swimming
with sharks
boosted cars
played fast and loose with the women
or
drank poison and asked for a refill?

it only lasted forever until
forever came over the hill
and we found out
that we were over the hill
too.

If age is just a number
I am number fifteen
got my ticket at the pension office
and a
thirteen minute wait to be seen
by some youngster who doesn't know me
who will tell me what I'm due
and when I'm told I'll really feel old
but what else does a pensioner do?

No formula or numbers
  as Albert had deigned

The greatest of mysteries
  we share one domain

From outside he struggled
  to bend back the truth

From inside I journey
  its paradox loose

To him it was relative
  to me more sublime

That thing we both search for
—the essence of time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2018)