With a stroke of the brush,
A dab of paint,
A portrait, I drew.
Blew into it the breath of life,
Lo! There it stays my Masterpiece!

Lo!
A spectrum of colours
in the misty cerulean sky
God’s benevolent gift
graciously bestowed
after a light drizzle

A rainbow-
nature’s lovely poem
written on the widest canvas

An arch spanning
the Earth and the heavens

A painting
with colours overlapping

An art created
by the crystalline prisms

Life expands and pulsates
eyes are raised
to a vision grand
mind takes flight
to Heaven’s glory

a transient reminder
of the beauty promised for man
warm in glow,
radiant in splendour,
emanating light,
triggering joy,
staying amid drifting clouds,
waving at us in cheer

Oh eyes,
feast on this celestial sight
this scintillating spectral aura
and get drowned
in its magical spell!

Hey, why not ride upon the wind
to loot the *** of gold hidden at its tip!

Staying by the sea
under the canopy of the sky
amid rising and falling lilts
of euphonic melody
I partook
of a mass nuptial ceremony
when the waves garlanded
the regal rocks in coy mirth
with the closely strung
white blossoms of fluffy froth!

Against the hazy sky
Mountains, seen grotesque
Frightening monsters, poking out
Here, there and all around
In the glinting darkness
The ravine, like a mythical snake
Gapes its mouth
Mist hovers,
Spider webs hang
As dew spangled veils
The leaves are tears stained
By the Night’s frozen grief

In stealthy steps,
With the jingle of anklets,
The wind comes to shake off the drops
And down they drip one by one
As the grass below shiver
At the sudden shock.
The leaves, rid of the load, flutter-
Faint stir of life!

From a distant habitation
The rooster in sharp notes
Sounds the siren
The East bleeds
As shafts of gold cuts through her breast
Darkness recedes,
Birds begin to chirp.

Slowly,
Slowly, parting curtains
The day emerges
Like a lazy boy
Disinclined to be roused from sleep

as a soft breeze,
a hushed whisper,
a cool mist,
you came quietly
and slipped
into my thoughts

I skimmed through the sunlit
alley of a dream world
and whirled in an uneasy sensuality.

now
the embryo of love
in me
has matured into a full grown fetus
kicking at the crust of my womb
giving
the tremor
of a
forbidden
E
     C
S
      T
A
       S
Y

It was past midnight
The moon, a sphere of luminosity!
But she saw the frozen grimace of death
And the nocturnal bats in gyrating motion
Meteors of shame and repugnance
Flashed past her darkened sky,
Cockroaches scurried in her brain,
All the nerves taut and about to break
Her heart bleeding in silence
And her body burning, burning

Agony once subsided, surged back
Stronger than ever before

Unable to bear the burden anymore
Finding no water to wash away her guilt,
With no contrition enough to ease
The twinge of her conscience,

She drew out a piece of paper
From her locked up cupboard
That she would never open again

Hastily scribbled something

Without qualms
Without frills

Never waiting for another day
Of impotent remorse,
She set out to a destination unknown
Where Past, Present and Future
Merge and coalesce
Into
The muted whispers of stillness !

when feelings throttle
my heart
when memories **** past
like flash bulbs
I sit drowsy
in yawning dawns
trapping
all drunken thoughts
bustling
to be winged

then a poem is born

Given time, an ache
will go to snooze
But from time to time,
will wake, ready to sting
as
a wound that will cede
but later may bleed

as their eyes met,
sparks of love
emitted
emotions swelled,
passions surged

like a well
full to the brim
a tear drop
glistened
in her eyes

cutting across
the borders,
it slithered down
her creamy cheek

as

a freshly formed
globule of dew,
cracking
into zillion
rays of light,
creating
a zillion wavelets
of joy

suddenly,
she turned
into a forest aflame
he,
a river in spate!

I am a firefly
left out in the day
with no one to see
but how bright in the dark
when I am all luminosity

During day, mind is clogged
By a thousand thoughts
Some hide in ambush and strike.
Some in open contest

Some - a disorderly mass
A *** of marbles upturned
On attempting to sweep them together
They slip and slither
Running this way and that way

At night, after their vagrant wanderings
They come back to roost,
if not insomniac!

at the edge of the cliff,
she stood
determined…….
eyes limpid pools of sadness,
hair wind swept

flawed….?
damaged?

the swirling enormity below
inviting….!
nested in her own ignorance
never knowing there’s poison
in the sting of bees,
as dripping honey
in their combs.

consumed without flame
in the heat waves of life

an escape is ineluctable
perhaps more to cover a secret…!

SWISH….!!!

the water below parted noisily
sloshed up…
but the tug was fierce.

down,

down

she slid,

into the silver chambers
to be garlanded by mermaids!

Why the thought of an impending death
Stubbornly clings to me from time to time
As icicles hanging from the trees
Sending chills up through every neuron
I hear their empty rattle in my head
As rabid dogs barking at nothing
Though Shelley was full of praise
And hailed Death and Sleep as brothers
To me it is not so and will never be

Not that I am afraid to die
Nor my absence will shake the Earth out of its orbit
But it makes my thoughts break into fragments
And I find it hard to piece them together

Even if I die, my children will live as before
My husband might seek another partner
Or might pass to a new celibate state
They will never be benighted or tempest tossed
And eventually my memory shall fade
Fade away without a trace from all hearts

As I walk through the winding road
And the closer I come to the terminal
From where there is no more treading
And as time pulls the blind on my life
When the curtain falls finally and my play ends
I don’t want to leave this stage
Nor want to lose my hold
Of those hands I love and care
There are gifts still to be opened
And newer avenues to be explored

Oh, I am in love with this world
To be more true, with narcissistic ardor
I am in love with myself
I know how dangerous it is to be addicted to love

So Death, carry me in my sleep, if you must
Or sweep me away by an inundating tide
Unawares into the ocean of Eternity
Like a feather blown away by the winds!

I had fallen in love with her at first sight
a six year old with eyes
moist with dewy tears
she stood among the other whining kids,
picked up from the compost heaps of life
her slight brown hair was tied
at the back into a ponytail.

in her torn pink frock and delicate frame,
she looked a fading rose.
on her face was the pain of desertion
with no Dad or Mom to kiss away the tears
or hold her close to the heart

the building with its cracked walls
had an aura of ruin about it.
everything, so shabby and stinking
and it was there that I met her

but among the many, locked up like caged birds
why did I single her out?
may be her cute look and seraphic innocence
made her so special!
even after I had left that place,
my thoughts kept returning to her
and I decided on making her happy somehow

the second time I went there,
i carried some knick knacks
and some sweets for the children to munch
also a parcel colorfully wrapped and tied with a ribbon
when I called her aloof
and handed that small gift,
i watched the twinkle in her little eyes

as she opened it with fumbling hands
curiosity peeked on her face and eyes
finally, when I took out the glossy frilled frock
she squealed in delight and clapped her hands.
saw her face aglow with excitement and joy.

into her bleak world I let out a flash of delight!

In the hush of a fading twilight eve
Heard the passionate crooning of a dove
Under the eaves it sat close to her love
What delight, that sound instantly gave

Sudden was the change it could impart
Brought forth a spurt of spontaneous delight
Lifting away all my sadness and regret,
It fell like rain into my lovelorn heart.

The heavens soon turned azure blue
In joy, my heart began to leap
It generated in me emotions too deep
Before me all beauty came into view.

I saw pearls of bright sheen on trees,
Resting wobbly on the edge of leaves
Felt the scent of opening flowers,
Fanned in bouts of wind and breeze

Watched the evening covering in shrouds
And the day paving way to night
In darkness fireflies dancing in delight
And the moon riding in the palanquin of clouds

In the open I sat long like a sculptured figure
Breathing the scent of the perfumed air
Experiencing a new gaiety in profuse measure
My heart brimming with umpteen desire

does the dawn fall in love with
the receding night?
does the sun long to merge with
the silvery beams of the moon?
does the blue sky ever attempt to kiss
the earth in a tight embrace?
do the mountains strive to touch
the stars of the firmament?

is it not the red tint of the morn
that colours the cheeks of the dusk?
is it not the smile of the moon
that lessens the wrath of the sun?
is not the sky sharing the earth’s pain
as she sheds tear drops in sweltering heat?
aren’t the twinkling stars covering the darkness
lending a radiant sparkle to the black granite?

love turns the world around,
enriching the donor and the receiver
it gives more than the soul can aspire
it lights up more than darkness can hide
it fills the void, makes us whole
a light house to the sailors at sea
the greatest gift, a treasure of measureless worth

so love as never before, love till you die!

Some days blend well
with smiles and songs
and the passion of love
leaving swishing whirlpools inside

Some days settle down
as dregs in a teacup
the bitter dross
sticking to the froth around the edge
and the residue coming to the surface
as if constantly stirred

Some days, the mind’s slits open
and fancies sluice down
like a dam with shutters removed
or like birds fleeing away from a cage

then hands quiver and ink spills

Some days, I feel so alone
stretching me on the rack of pain
then I shut myself from the outside world
like a periwinkle withdrawn to its shell
hoping nothing,
sinking under dead weight
unable to feel if dead or alive!

I wish I were transported to a world of pure fantasy
Where life is far removed from all harsh reality
Where one can roam like a bodiless spirit, weightless
Like a floating, drifting feather to escape all banality

Become an entity like an alien from another planet
Reside in an ethereal realm where no physicality exists,
A fairy land where the sun never rises nor sets
A world where beauty surrounds and all wonder persists

Reality is a tether where one is perennially tied
I pray..carry me to the world of fantasy on wings of poesy
Where I can indulge in pleasant reveries all through
A realm, a prosaic man might call one of idiocy

There let poesy come to me in rainbow hues
My verse creating in me and others waves of delight
Levitate me to a plane higher above the mundane
And curl me in the folds of a dream like an invisible spirit

Confined within rusty iron bars
Grounded eternally to hop and trip
Wishing to fly into Heaven’s starry bower
A bird beats her wings in vain
Voicing her anguish in tremulous trills

There is hunger at every tip of her feather
To fly and flutter through the pathless air,
Piping melodious tunes to drown the earth,
Seeing lands never eyed by anyone before

Nursing her dreams, she beats her wings again
To reach a place where the soul sings
Alas! The clamor of her beating resounds
And she falls asleep exhausted!

In her sleep, her desires limp back
She dreams of shooting into higher altitudes
Becoming a speck among fleecy clouds

As these scenes crowd her vision,
Sculpting sweet images,
She beats her wings again
To feel tired and feeling tired to fall asleep
And in sleep to dream again.....!

Winter draws closer day by day,
Autumn leaves are around my feet
From far, is heard
The screeching of a lone bird,
Voicing its dismay aloud
Over the advancing fall

Here the moss scrawls
Ugly pictures on the bark of trees
Where black spiders weave their gossamer
Moving, sig sag across the trees’ leprous trunks
I see the yellowing leaves
Torn down from their sturdy limbs
Sliding down noiselessly one by one
And landing on the ground
With a mournful sound

Acorns from the pine trees drop
And swell the ground and fall to sleep

Life too takes a downward spiral
I feel the autumn seeping into me
And my heart feels a languid grief
The days of my youth
Seem to fly away in a flurry
Like autumn leaves whirling in the gale
Reminding us, that we are not here to stay

The withered leaves
Which shriek and screech under my feet
Recall to me the cry of martyred youth
And all tenacity overthrown
Like them, we too will fall and be dead to the world
Wrapped in frozen silence, forgotten by all
And ****** back into primal void!

Applied rouge on the cheeks
Tied a glittering necklace round the neck
Putting heavy makeup,
Over the stubble on her shaven chin,
She looked into the mirror
Through its cracks, saw a million bits of her/him
Those images sneering at each other
She felt trapped in a wrong body,
With its contours n’ longings mismatched

“Where do I belong”?
“Where do I fit”?

These questions plague her incessant
A rough stone with sharp edges
Too hard to be chipped down
Cast aside by the mason
That can never go into the making of a Cathedral

She walks around in haze
Life seems a twisted maze
Each time she tries to claw her way
She sees only walls that hems her in
Before her lingers the stygian mist
Phantoms of darkness surround her

The winds of change swiftly blow
Seasons come and go

But she is tied down in her chains
An anomaly of creation
A curse and a taboo
Swallowing stigma and abuse
Each day waking up with a start
Knowing that she is neither a woman nor a man
But a non binary... an accursed TRANSGENDER
Inviting snide looks
And sniggers from onlookers

People call her a ******
One divided between the selves
A hapless denizen of an inhospitable world
Disowned even by parents

Though flawed and far from perfect
She is human, one of a kind
And needs to be seen through the eyes of God!

On a walk companioned by my Muse along the sylvan meadows
We wandered away to delightful realms in unclouded ambience
Don’t know how long I rambled warming my fancies in sunset fires
Must be for long, all lights were out, the quiet hamlet lay bathed in sleep

Above  me, stood the starry firmament and the half hidden moon
Could see the vast plains stretching before me in moonlight, bare
My heart was flooded with joy, my fancies took to wings
Got drowned in Nature’s serene calm, my spirit lost in drunken ecstasy

In the gentle blowing breeze, the leaves twittered and murmured
All else was quiet and nothing disturbed the serenity of the night
But soon I knew the East wind strengthening around into a gale
And across the moon I could see stragglers of clouds moving past

I sat on a rock, lost, so lost staring into the clear night sky
Wondering how the celestial joy, made manifest by the twinkling stars
My thoughts began floating like a ship over the briny waters
And my temporal settings faded away like a cloud in the horizon

From the nearby woods, I heard the song of a lone night bird
In rising cadence, alone and aloud it fell on my rapturous ears
Was it a nightingale that poured forth that dewy delight?
Was it the same song, Keats heard long ago cascading from the woods?

      With my Muse in this unearthly hour let me sit awhile in this solitary bower
To my paper, let my fancies in unbroken crystal streams flow
Wonder if I can rightly recreate the image that my thoughts enfold
How I wish, I could like Coleridge, build a pleasure dome in mid air!

on a sea strand,
have you watched empty shells
mercilessly tossed from sea to shore
and from shore to sea?
      
often I shrink and reduce to such a shell,
with jagged and broken edges
colorless and empty

among many a debris cast on the shore,
i lie half buried under the sand
waiting for some mighty wave
to wash me away
all the way to the sea

how tedious is my voyage
shuttling from him to her
and from her to him
unable to openly confess
who weighs more
on the balance of preference

through how many alleys and by ways
I have wandered, questioning my identity!
am I a puffer fish, being toxic
the fisher men have discarded?
a jarring note in a discordant symphony?
I wonder....! I often ask myself!

destined to grow
in mercurial climes,
planted in arid shallow soil
with the tap root trimmed,
branches pruned,
growth denied,
I, a stunted bonsai!

still I dream to be a towering tree,
that in profusion gives fruits and shade!
a ****** aspiring to be a Goliath
a hollow reed,
longing at once to be the singer and the song!

a storm rages outside
sky, overcast with clouds
fearful sounds echo through
the mountain crannies
like that of shrieking bats in flight
trees shiver under wind’s might

everything around
presages an impending doom
the least pressure would suffice
to let all the hellfire loose

sitting in my dim lit room
with all the windows shut
unable to drown the emptiness
afloat in irrepressible buoyancy
I glance over the balance sheet
of my life

all sweet memories gone
shaking their mane
like horses galloping away

bitter memories
only bitter memories remain!

In my garden
A climber grows
From the trellised platform
It strays its way
Trespassing into others territory
Annoying the plants
Growing close

Its emerald leaves
Of bright glossy sheen
With serrated edge
And prominent veins
Trembling and timorous
When whipped by the wind
Is a real delight to view!

Close to monsoon
It is in flower
The heavy clusters
Droop down in weight
A medley of white, pink and red
Languidly swaying in the breeze
Giving off a faint aroma

Early morning I see them
Tear stained
I wonder what makes them cry
Do they lament their transient fate?
Or are they sad,
Molested by amorous bees?

Far away in ancient Jerusalem
Stood a garden, long, long ago
Home to giant oaks and figs
And plants and shrubs of every kind.

On every season, from time to time
Merrily they would burst into bloom
Filling the air with fragrance sweet
And fuelling the hearts with joy and cheer.

Amid the riot of flashing shades
Where Poppies and Pansies held their heads
In a corner, there a Lily stood,
Sans scent and sans grandeur.

A poor loner never once noticed
Nor skilled to steal the show,
Those, brilliant in shade and shape
With contempt openly quipped

‘It’s such a shame
She grows among us
With such pallid shade
And nothing to rave’,

‘Lilies are such lazy lot
Giving only seasonal blooms’

Rang aloud their haughty comments
Rashly blurted out and blunt

The poor Lily wilted in shame
Wishing she had never been born.

Late that evening, through the garden
Into the newly dug up grave
A band of people came with lights
Bearing someone cut and scathed.
With blood oozing, drop by drop
From wounds, left by piercing nails

The body, carefully wrapped in linen
Was the body of Jesus - Son of God
The one who bore the sins of the world
And courted the most accursed of deaths.

The body embalmed was laid inside
And sealed with a giant block of stone
Soldiers posted to guard the tomb
And every vigil so prudently kept.

Early by dawn, three days hence
While it was still very dark
From inside the tomb had come
Rumbling sounds and a blinding light.

Flowers en masse blinked their eyes
Beheld a man, gently walking out
The wounds still fresh on his palm
And the linen that swaddled, lying behind.

As they watched this queer sight
In awful amazement, they did see
A host of Lilies, white as snow
Far more beautiful than any of them
Bowing their heads in reverential glee
And singing Hosanna to the Lord of Life.

All the flora in silent shock
Sighted from whence the Lilies came
They sprang unforeseen in those spots
Where drops of blood from his body fell

Then onwards, without fail
April sees the grandeur and grace,
Of snowy lilies - those delicate blooms
Sprouting suddenly from the crust of the Earth
Joggling their heads in whiffing breeze,
And giving delight to all who behold.

‘LOVE’ – What mystique power it wields
In what myriad guise it wraps!
At times a sweet ache so coy to reveal
Or a sudden urge, hard to unveil

Sometimes a deep sensation
A strong surge of emotion
Permeating every atom
Pervading from top to bottom

It heightens the pulse
And makes every nerve convulse
It has left kingdoms fall asunder
And many a mighty man - surrender

Often, like dew drops falling from above
Or the warbling notes flowing out from the grove
It leaves the heart go upbeat in prosody
Changing every sensation into rhapsody

As beams of silver cast by the moon
Or the cold touch of spray in the horrid heat of noon
It soothes, embalms and thrills the heart
Filling the void and leaving no dearth

Love sublime, sure like a candle lit
Consumes itself, and never dwindles a bit
It dispels the gloom and dissipates the fright
Invigorating the soul and healing every hurt

As brilliance to stars, fragrance to flowers
Music to flute or shade to bowers
Love is to Man, freeing him from all sores
Bestowing him the strength to meet all throes

Love can neither be beguiled nor disguised
Nor be stifled or be construed
Love puts all other things into place
And hems life with a lovely lace

Love is all we seek and too scarce to find
A magic thread by which hearts are bound
Hark! It is love that makes the world spin around
And cures all the ills that surround

Oh! Love thou virtues I will defend

Arise! Oh Heart, from the catacombs of the dead
Shake off the dust, for Life beckons you like a buddy
Peel off the weariness that wraps you like a shroud
And walk to the open to perceive the light.

Arise! Oh Heart, from the dungeons of gloom
The dawn is at your door step, waiting to break
Sing with the koel, merrily warbling in the woods
Dance with the billows, wildly prancing on the deep.

Arise! Oh Heart, from the ghettoes of *******
Break loose the ropes that moor you to the past
Dart through the panorama of the cerulean blue
And fly high into regions, uncharted and new.

Arise! Oh Heart, from the citadels of hate
Listen not to the shrieking and howling behind
Drink from the goblet of conciliating love
And rejoice at the birth of a dawn with promises galore!

Your innocent eyes lightly closed
Your tender limbs partly stilled
In swaddling linen’s comfort wrapped
You sleep within your mother’s girdling arms.

Away from all care you drowse
Away from the snares and sorrows of the world
With Heaven smiling from the heights
And swarm of angels keeping guard round

Fresh as the freshest vernal green
Lovely as the loveliest summer bloom
Soft as the softest silky fleece
You rest, a priceless gift wrapped in grace

Blissful is your sleep
Envious is your state
But weep not, when you wake
Bursting this cocoon to the chill and heat

For on your sides, colorful wings will sprout
With iridescent shades, curves and spots
To carry you over frost and snow
And to feast on the dew served in floral cups!