--There was a fragrance in the air.
Always - when you were there.
Now I breathe  and seek  to find
A whiff recessed deep in my mind.

You're gone- the darkness spills
And shadows clamber over the sills
As I strain and strain your face to see
Amidst jumbled memories  left for me

I'm aging but still try to walk
Wobbly  feet and knees that knock
They no longer heed my will
Command me ‘sit’ and just be still

The  shadows say touching my cheek
You no longer see nor do you speak
They say that soon it will all be gone
The despair, lost hope, the daily dawn

My heart beats; its still quite strong
Awaiting the lilt of another song
That'll lighten the temper of my room
Rid of the shadows and the gloom

But sure it's told me, old man
The time's near; I'll do all I can
But it's  getting somewhat rough
Keeping you alive is getting tough

And then one night I hear a sound
That I sense  within me resound
A quiet sigh— then all is still
Life's gone; like a shadow on the sill.

A new morn and the sun's alight
Children play, charming and bright
They dance on a flat piece of ground
I lie inert with nary a sound

There's company here of others too
Who lived lives- like me and you
We often talk of days long gone
In comfort— ‘cause we're not alone

I keep asking myself-was it real
The Time that you and I were together

Or was it merely a quirky gambit of  Fate
Whose cup, tho' full, needed a drop.

Lord just take my memories away

They wont let me sleep – they ruin my day

Let me be blessed with a baby’s mind-

Gazing only ahead —with nothing behind

Sometime, with a thoughtless flick of the hand
You plant a seed in the soil--and it grows
Like the huge mango tree in my back yard.

Over decades it blooms, bears fruit,
And grows tall and sturdy
A resplendent umbrella

Beneath which to rest a tired soul
With a sigh of joy-and wonder
At the experience that permeates your being.

But the God's are envious that
A Creature fashioned by them
Can sigh in joy-More than once

A bolt of lightening incinerates
What you worshipped
And as you watch the scorched roots, burnt leaves and ashes
You find yourself wondering--

"was it  ever worth the value you placed
on the result of a thoughtless moment
-that fashioned times of intense beliefs
and emotions blessed by  nature

Yet left you alone with the carcass of your dreams

NOTHINGNESS

I look often at tomorrow
Sensing a deep darkness
In the heavens and below

I search through my past
For that one little light
Just a moments soft glow


To end this nothingness
I wish time would hurry
But it too moves slow

The wounds are still open
And the blood still pools
At my feet-Defiant and aglow

Soundless stirs the morn, in deep slumber fed
And nudges awake the frost that clothes the night
Anxious, the drowsy bird tests its wings
Lest the night's torpor's robbed it of flight.

The first radiant sunbeam launches the day
Proudly gloating, thrusts aside a stubborn star
The mellow chirping notes of the Morning song
Penetrate the consciousness-tinkling afar.

Dreams with clutching fingers strain to hold
Dissolving colours before the unseeing eye
Yet softly, like melting snows touched by Spring
Leave blurred images no reality can defy.

Curtains flutter, flustered ghosts flee the room
To distant lands, in exile for the day
There to sulk in gloom 'till twilight's kiss
Heralds the hour is come their games to play.

A touseled head lifts, a tentative hand emerges
Groping directionless rubs an eye in peeking wonder
An uncoordinated foot for a slipper searches
(Eggs and bacon wafting) –  
and Night's Kingdom's rent asunder.

Todays bleak, the morrows unknown
Increasingly I dwell  on the past alone
Memories now shape a comforting space
And give me strength each day to face