Death, calamity, beauty or yields
Neither I own them nor I care for

I never gloat or I never lament
Never I reign and never I respond
To accord or rescind, never is my right
To bless or curse is beyond my might

Nothing exists that presses my buttons
As I hold no buttons of any kind
There’s no agenda I wish to pursue
‘Cause I have no wishes that I long for

Time or space I can never sense
And I’m of no order nor I’m random
I just happen as it may happen, or can happen
Still, at any time, for sure, I’m not chaotic

Yet, we share our misery of being true partners
Who cannot opt for a divorce of any sort
As we both are clueless and aimless
Two-blind -wanderers handcuffed

We all have,
All we have,
We all are:

Just memories.

A heavenly fragrance
Smelt while in a coma,

An exquisite place
Seen in a hallucination,

A profundity
Grasped in a cognitive void

Enchanting memories
Gained in an imaginary world:

You!

To keep the darkness out,
I must keep my eyes shut

To receive light,
I must leave my eyes opened.

From my shoes,
Nature:

Joy and anguish
Death and birth
Patterns and laws

From nature’s shoes:

A random flow
With no labels

What!

Dreaming to be really in my shoes,
Buried deeply inside your self-made shallow shoes
Raged with delirious brain fits
You stamp on me your favourite sole prints

If you must know, listen and forget not
I wear no shoes at all

In the temples we built in our parallel hearts
Furthest away in two inverse Universes
With zillions of blackholes and white-holes
With no wormholes or radiant light rays,

On the altars, reside our muted tenderness (2020)

Our gift
Our torments

Our fortune
Our predicament

Our joy
Our agony

Our Mind!

In the wilderness
Of mountains
I barked at Nature,

Why calamity
Not just beauty?

Nature
Barked back at me,
Why me?

Surely,
We are children
Of Mother Earth

Isn’t it her DNA
That spins us this much

Maybe not;

Mother has an axis of
Uniqueness

A flower’s
Petals

Our
Smiles

My
Sighs

Same
Fate! (2019)

The drop of perspiration,
On your crescent like forehead:
A tiny little pearl
Glistens on a comely little rose,

Whispered he, to his sweetheart
With affection full of desires


The drop of sweat,
On her withered face:
An emblem that stirs up
Disgust for life’s desires

The hermit thought to himself (1981)

My Holy Lord Jesus,
Why Calvary?

For gravity of our sins,
Even the Everest is shy

How can the pain you endured,
On the way to and on the Mountain,
Tame our hearts inflamed by weeds

How can the agony of nails
Bore into your veins and bones
Soften our souls soiled with slimes

This is no confession, but
To cherish your pain is
Our daily wine ‘n’ bread (2018)

The table is 3-D, and
So is the orange on it

The canvas is 2-D, but
The orange in it is 3-D

If not for mind’s multi-D syndromes
What sanity in this swirl of deliriums (2019)

A crow pecks on its reflection
Thinking that what it sees is a rival

A man smiles with the mirror
Thinking that what he sees is himself (2015)

Your laughs

Sing songs in my heart

Your sighs
Whirl storms in my heart

Your silence
Plays operas with my tears (1981)

Does the Earth know that it spins
If so, does it spin just to give us day and night

Does the sky know that there is no sky
If so, does sky mirage itself just to reassure
Stars will not fall on us

Does the rainbow know that it exists only in our retinas
If so, does it conjure itself just to cheer up and enchant us

Do I make myself delirious like this
Just to prove my existence to me (2019)

In my wall-painting
The water appears real
But I cannot wash
My hands in it

A mind-boggling illusion

On my TV screen
The water is moving
And Making sound

But I cannot bath in it

A superior illusion

Water in the nearby river,
I can drink and even bath in

The ultimate illusion?! (2019)

Just by drawing
A few pencil-lines
I can fool human eye
To see a water-drop,
The painter boasted

Just by mixing
A few vibrations
I can fool human ear
To hear a symphony
The musician gloated

Just by crafting
A few words together
I can fool human mind
To feel deep meanings,
The poet exclaimed

Plagiarisers of my pranks!
     Joined in, almighty God

Standing on a rock
I keep my eyes
Glued into the horizon
But there is no sight
Of the boat yet

Conveniently,
Mind evades the question:
How does it know
A boat is to arrive

Anywhere nearby
No waterway either

In a mind of focus
There is no room for
Trivial waterways

Besides my mind reckons that
Many boats can berth on the rock (2019)

In day and night, in heat and cold
During storms and during rainfalls
You get battered without any reprieve

Teach me, scarecrow, preach me,
How do you sustain your dutiful scary look
While keeping your soft interior intact? (2019)

Come to me and drape my waves,
Entices the lovely river
Motivating my feet into the river

Embrace me and wrap my arms,
Invites the cool breeze,
Cementing my feet to the ground

Softly, the trees whisper,
“The choice is really yours”

Calm eyes of a patient croc
Keep meditating in the river

On a blitzkrieg in air  
Is a swarm of wasps (2020)

Passing hard and soft exhausting terrains,
In my journey of searching for truth
I came to the base of the Mountain of Truth,
That has a plaque of gold:

“Looking for truth?
Then, climb up quick”

Though already
Mercilessly breathless,
Cheerfully, I obliged

On the top of the Mountain too
Staring at me is a plaque of gold

“Looking for truth?
Then, climb down, quick” (2020)

BOOKS

Author, pundit,
Why, burn this
Mountain of books?

They filled my head
And blanked my mind;
Take them, if you so like.

What good is it in there for me
In this plenty of emptiness.

Enquirer, my dear young fellow,
Let emptiness fill your mind well
Then scribe your own tomes too
It’s only then you see in real trueness
The emptiness lies in all wisdoms (2020)

The honored author
Of some of these books!
Why the erudite Pundit,
Burn this huge mountain of books

I sopped up all these books;
So, they filled up my head
And voided my mind;
If you so like
All these books are yours.

If they emptied you, Sir,
What use they are to me then?

No, my dear young lad
Fill up your head with the books
And scribe your own books too
Only then you can really see
The emptiness of books

My mind sees God
Evolution, Big Bang
Mirages, and horizons

God, what is this?

Take my mind back
Give me sanity.

The canoe is
Emerging from
The horizon

My dreams,
Are too heavy
For the canoe, and

Should be junked
Into the river,
Before I get in

Soon, I will cross the river
But isn’t it a dream too?

How equal?

In the other side
Of the rope;
Only me.

In this side also;
Only me.

The canoe
Emerges through
The horizon

Dreams, too heavy
For the Canoe,
Belong to the river

Soon, I will cross the river, but
Is it a dream too?

Don’t erase the picture
You may feel like drawing it
Again, and again

Don’t draw the picture
You may feel like erasing it
Again, and again

Just keep watching,
Then you will see that
There was never a picture.

A mirror comes forward
When a camera longs for a
Selfie

Who can help mind?

Mirror is the mind itself
Camera And selfie
Are also the mind

How did the same
Golden thread that
Interweaved our hands
Start to cut through the
Diamonds in our rings

To an onlooker
Of the horizon,
How close,
The sky and Earth

About us too
People may feel
The same way

The beehive of
Stings and honey,
In my heart:

You!

I am a Paddler
Who has no
Canoe, or oar,
Or even a
River to cross.

Whatever happens
God is happy
That’s why many things happen
In the same instant

Well, I am no God, but
Whatever happens
I am happy too
That is why I survive

Whatever happens
God is calm
That is why everything
Comes to stability so quick

Whatever happens
I am calm too
That is how I keep
My sanity, but
I am no God

Whatever happens
God is shrewd
That is why
The Universe
Keeps running

Well, I am no God, but
Whatever happens
I too find a way forward
That is why I still
Keep marching

I know that I think
Therefore, I believe I exist
But, I cannot say whether God does

I respect all other religions
It is my religion’s directive

Then my God whispered
That’s not respect for other religions
It’s just another way of justifying superiority

Then my conscience convinced me
To respect other religions
As each religion is good for
Its faithfuls

Flat Earthers -  Round Earthers
Vegans-Non vegans
Evolutionists - Creationists
Scientists of mainstream - Scientists of dissent
Whoever for - Whoever for another alternative

When demonised
By inferiority
To feel superior
Be a martyr

Even though
The bent is U shape,
The journey is
Just forward

For the kitten
It’s play

But, to the
Thread ball?

My dear lord,
Since everyone
Solemnly professes
Their complete innocence
There is absolutely no way
That I cannot be guilty

To dream is
A holy right

Even holier is
Dreams’ right
To die

Even more holier is
To find newer dreams

No handcuffs
No sentry to watch
Still no freedom

Thus, for freedom,
Essentials must be
Handcuffs and a sentry

Pray for an unjust world,
Since some preach
A suicide bomber is a
Fighter for justice

The word ‘lie’
To be erased
From dictionary
Since all of us
Vow solemnly
And tell only
Truth

Blue
Purple
Red
?
Different, different
Soap bubbles
Looking like
Angels’ homes
Descended
From heaven

Popped one
At the ceiling

Blue
Purple
Red
?
Another one
One by one
Each one

I kept avoiding faithfully
Any route you might take

Why then
My heart got gloomy
When I heard that
You had left the town

The suicide bomber, seeing a little girl
Who was leaving the ill-fated church,
Patted her head with compassion

Then he placed himself
Among the Easter prayers
And pressed the button

Even though
You aren’t chasing me

By any means,

Why am I trying to
Flee from you,

By all means

Being in close embrace
With unspoken affection
Our snow coats
Keep an eye on us
Giving a stern look

No hand-cuffs
No guard around
But, it ain’t got
Any freedom either