the clouds bloom
like mysterious flowers
seeming  to survive by soaking up
the tears of the waiting multitude.
they churn the wind
causing it to blow through
my every cell
filtering through my every pore
as i abandon any hope
of maintaining some adult-like dignity
the puddles call
the rain falls
and i let myself go

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   10.07.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

death is laced with colours no eye can see
i saw it yesterday
resting on a twig
on a cold manhole cover
against which it looked so alive
-- it seemed to be comforted
brown wings pulled close, tips almost touching,
against the tiny white shell of its chest,
speckled with black
a tiny beak welcoming the chance to grab
at an interminable silence
--neither ugly nor morbid
but gently pretty,
the presence of death
affirming life.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   06.07.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the stranger led me to the edge of the cliff.
he pushed me.
i flew.
i wonder how he knew
i would.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   03.07.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

today is one of those days
when i
come unstuck
at the seams of
where i am joined to myself
they split open with a

*pop

pop

pop*

and so there is
a hole nobody knows about
--not one that hurts
but one that is sure to sear
my dreams tonight

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   26.06.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the light streaks
on my window
bamboo leaves brush
like manicured fingers
across its glass face
i feel so still
even in the midst of the
morning rush
that my senses pick up
but do not assimilate
simply looking at each new sensation
with some careless curiosity
then putting it away
as nothing

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   21.06.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

my dreams are
the texture of the earth
softened by the monsoon
a clairvoyant fragrance rises
from the green sprouts
pushing their way through-out
and through-in
my rain-coloured mental canvas
a cool drop snakes down
my ready spine
i’m dissolved
in the frissons that ensue
even as your warmth
embraces me
every numbing night
the winds detach the flowers
from every mourning tree
and i give you myself
as you rain on me
incessantly

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   13.06.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

you wrote me
within the lines on your palm
like a fragrance
held back too long
i hold this space
finding no cause for fear
in this unspoken emotion
that hangs between us
like a cozy muteness
our eyes
are two cliffs
pulled apart,
our stolen glances
daring to vault across
burn into my consciousness
the visions that you see
make me unburdened
of this cold i feel
and let me
join your flight
over the stars
or
repose with you
on the soft grass
read to me
and let me
sing you a lullaby

this is what life
should be all about.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  04.06.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

i do not wish that
no silence lies between us;
there must be those silences
interlaced with our deep breaths
as we meet.
but when our silences
cease to speak
when they have
told us all they can
--in the space of a heartbeat
or the entire span of creation
when they have exhausted themselves
then,
i shall want words
i would have them fall
not gently or slowly
but in great energetic torrents
electrified with our passions
for the words that pass
between us
are not the usual cacophony;
they are music
when words
yours and mine
crisscross.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  29.05.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

love came in many disguises
sometimes a name, sometimes a grace,
taking the mute pages out on a walk
absorbing the sun's rays
in a hope that some golden drop
may filter into my poetry.
but the words only vibrate
when you're near to feel their dance
--they care not for any other applause.
they seek only to reflect this phase
of our meetings silently held
under the mango tree.
of my hand attempting to leave
its mark upon your palm
its gentle heat melting
my core and yours
creating some new alloy.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  25.05.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

disenchanted with a day
overfed with sweetness.
the hoax of the flesh
the illusion of the intellect
punish .
even my own face in the mirror
appears as that of a stranger
my own thoughts
seem borrowed from
some memory of what this day
should feel like.
walking through photographs,
everything too pungent to the eye,
all i crave
is to be me again.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  24.05.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

for months on end
silence bridged us
even though I missed you then
it was never like this.
yesterday we spoke
and it was like the first
rain of the monsoon.
i never realized how much the
dust of days masked
how much I missed you.
a chain has snapped inside me
and now the link refuses to be fixed.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  28.03.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

his verses were spun sugar
i was stuck on them
as he poured them by the vatfuls
upon my eager eye
for him i displayed my heart
unabashed and openly
he wrote upon its beatings
his stories and his poetry
till all my heart could speak one day
were tales of him and his.
his words were big words
spun with the fabric of  my dreams
and when those dreams were rent and torn
upon my sighs his promise was borne
as if it never were before.
a new vow now was set in stone
--never would I love a poet
again.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  25.03.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the morning mist in my eyes
translates onto paper
rainbows born of my tears.
ink turns to fluid gold
and dances across the pages,
every verse earns its space.
Oh! Seller of Colours!
You've painted my day!

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   21.03.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

he trickled into my consciousness
like an unseasonal, stealthy raindrop
my mind still ripples
--the aftershock of his presence
testimonial to his absence

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   12.03.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

even the gulmohur looks confused
--"where is the sun?", it seems to ask
the dark rainclouds
as it sways distractedly
outside my window,
its orange flames
flickering rhythmically,
engaged in a waltz with
the falling rain.
the bamboo --wiser,
greener, stands unperturbed
barely reacting as the
water rolls off its leanness
nothing seems to surprise
its experienced being
- Vijayalakshmi Harish
        06.03.2013
       Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

here i await
the dawn’s first light
to shrug off the cool caress
of the moonbeams
silver tinged, fingernailish beauty
i am a lustrous
princess of the deep
yet i’m here
on this sandy beach
for you sunbeam
i’d gladly leave
my home, my hearth,
everything that speaks familiarity
to welcome your strangeness
soak myself in it, imbibe it,
as i have loved the brine
now i wish to fly with you
on your gold-tipped wings
redolent of your perfumed warmth

so then sunshine,
shall we elope?

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  25.02.2013.
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

don’t you know that it was you
who like the Pied Piper
drew me here to
this cross road where
my ideas collided with you
in a state of bewildered joy
pleasant surprise
in spite of some inherent shyness;
a tendency towards introversion
would not stop
this flow of words
even as the cloak of anonymity
fell apart
like a bee finds the nectar that it is due
Stranger, i found you.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
    12.02.2013
    Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

underneath this quite white sheet
a ghost
pretends to be
a person
with a heartbeat, a life breath
a claim at an elusive mortality
a spirit in denial of
its drained vitality
haunting unknowingly
striking fear
even as it tries to silence
the clanging chains of
its past
monsterized
it has no other identity

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  10.02.2013
Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the divergence of roads
is an illusion
a myth perpetuated
by those who fear solitude
but one who has walked the lonely path
enjoyed all its sights, sounds and sceneries
rested in the shade of its motherly oaks
knows that at last
everything converges
every road, every fellow traveller
every other choice
meets at one
single brilliant point

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   08.02.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish,

death's disarray
shows up as
the pages in my diary
a reminder of transitions
of moving on
of skins shed to morph
yesterday i died
today i was reborn
only to die yet again
the cycle goes on

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   08.02.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

this saline solution
that hides just behind the eyelids
=
an intravenous drip
when i’m off-colour

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   06.02.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

brittle waves crash like
china plates
who do they argue with?
the moon, who is their father
the sea-their mother
their soulmate, an unseen river,
or me?
i am but an detached observer of this
play of passionate fervour

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  03.02.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

on evenings such as these
everything inside of me
finds a mirthful memory
to indulge in its revelry
on evenings such as these
my heart hitches a ride
with these soft winds
that barely make their presence felt,
and soars towards the last
swash of the orange sea
on the horizon

evenings such as these
are when
i wait
for you
to find
me

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   02.02.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

some people
are like dried red chillies -
dangerous looking.
when in hot oil
they jump, splutter,
threaten and make a lot of noise
but then
you realize
that their heat is impotent
as the seeds inside
are quite dead

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   30.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

what is this unholy distress
that even words
seem unable to soothe?
instead it inflames them;
poisons them -
turns my ideas into a malicious brood
that commands
every ounce of my attention today
i would
if i could
pluck out this bitter vine
that encircles me sinuously
growing within me
as if born from a mystery seed.
unhindered it occupies every crevice in my brain
finding its way
into every sense, every act
every thought.

but then I think
a complete life
cannot be all sweet.

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   30.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

yellow mini suns
bright lanterns on a dull day
nourishingly warm

-Vijayalakshmi Harish
  28.01.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the most difficult words to say
are those that lie in that unexplored space
between the said and the unsaid
that which was spoken was understood
furthermore you did divine much of that which wasn’t
but there are some salient sentiments
that begin somewhere in the depths of myself
traverse  the tricky path to my lips
and die there
incognito

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   27.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

held helplessly in the hyponotic gaze
of the full moon i sway
the sea is the charmer’s flute
i - the drunken snake
mesmerized by this magic

the cold shock of the nightly surf surges
from the tip of my toes to
the peak of my consciousness
i’m lost
and i find myself
all in the same moment

i rise with the swell of the tide
anticipating each breaker
with closed eyes
just feeling the sandy waters swirl
******* away at the ground beneath my feet
i’d gladly fall and be swept away
i’ve let go

i am at peace

there isn’t a better feeling
there isn’t a greater pleasure
there is no where i’d rather be tonight
except with you
on this beach

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   26.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

beautiful
beginnings
beget
buoyant
bubbles -
                           becoming
                           bold,
                          better
                          ­beliefs
bask
brightly
beneath
brilliant
brainstorms

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   25.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

in the ***** of the silver waves
grew a single water lily
speckless and spotless
the colour of pure milk
a private bud, it lay unopened
till the night it blossomed
complete, open, a whorl of whiteness!
exquisite in its secluded state
it pondered sadly on its fate
alone –
awash with an awful ache
it looked upwards towards the great black lake
so much similar to its own address
with just one exception that made the biggest difference
like a mirror leading on to a parallel universe
another swirl of bright white flowered
not alone but surrounded
by many young buds!
how wonderful thought the lily
how cheerful that bloom must be
to live thus accompanied by family
so pining it withered
feeling unloved, unwanted
never knowing that from above
the moon watched wailing
“how full of life was that lovely flower
alas! alas! how I loved her!
never could I have the courage to tell her
she - a brightness lit from within
and i a mere rock
with no light of my own”

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   25.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

Love
is the fount of abundance
of endless youth – which knows
only to give
but Lover, do you know
how to take?

to you she offers this-
the legacy of the Wait
employ it as you will –
as a bed of thorns or as a work of art
the choice is yours

when the current of time shall turn
your chance will come
to take from that fount all you want
but the journey is arduous
the climb-treacherous
many a pitfall may lie in your path
beware - stay steadfast!

pour all of yourself without hesitation
drop by drop into that sacrificial fire
as your ink depletes onto the pages
like Svaha meeting Agni
there will come to exist
the consummation of your innermost desires

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   23.01.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

i have it with me yet
that pink-white morning rose-
browned now but still fragrant
with memories of your gentleness
retaining even now
a trace of the care that i know
you must have lavished upon it
before you gave it to me
it lies flattened between the pages of
Little Women
i dare not move it from there
for fear that the petals will crumble
a sole physical reminder
of something shared
a comforter when i am
in a pensive mood
feeling like i’ve lost
that nothing is going my way
i look between the pages
to find a smile
and a tear
share equal space
on my nostalgic face

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
    22.01.2013
    Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

Stranger,
why do you choose
to stay wrapped in this mystery
when the sunshine beckons you
to leave behind the conch
that shelters you and listen
to a song other than that of the sea
step out of your (with)drawing room
be a guest for once
explore these gifts i bring you
choose which ones you’ll keep
discard the ones you don’t need
but do take a look at what is offered
hide not behind the curtains
forgo the fabricated veil
unwrap yourself hand and foot
rejoice in your own vulnerability
fall, get hurt, nurse your wounds
trust and be betrayed
in the end you’ll  only find
these trials have made you stronger
to find your very own Excalibur
take a risk
take a chance
let me in
for i do wonder
what it is like
to be in your head

but more than that
i ponder
what it is like
to be in your heart

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  21.01.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

our
myriad
loves -
                               very
                           uniquely
                            human
                         conundrums,
hardly
ever
humdrum
                         how
                         then
                          exists
                          boredom?

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   19.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

Some roads
are made to get lost in
this was one
it invited us
to wander blankly
without an agenda, without a destination
just following its undulating shady guidance
to nowhere in particular
to just walk on endlessly
sometimes noiselessly
sometimes talking nineteen to the dozen
but always moving
deeper and deeper
further along its contours

it haunts my dreams yet
it surfaces as a desire from the depths of my unconscious

this road,
and
that walk
when we got lost

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   18.01.2013
    Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

amidst the chaos
he gazes with stony eyes
stillness in movement

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   15.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

a temple tower proudly embossed over
the sun's last blush
stands a silent spectator
to the revelry

just like it stood welcoming
over kings
in
an
era
long
past

i stare into time
and time  stares back at me

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   15.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the sideways glance of an evening sun
streams through the curtains .
the crepuscular light  spreads
through my home.  
the gloaming announces -
the harshness of the noon is past.
soon Diana shall reign supreme
bringing with her the restlessness
that graces my dreams
every time awakening to the same
half-formed scream that barely
struggles out of my throat
choking joy on its way out.
once more the same dew will
glisten in my eyes
as the lullaby of relief
cantillates me to repose

tomorrow i resurrect

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   14.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

~~                                                                            it was
                                                                            Complacency
                                                                                   and never
                                                                                  Curiosity

                                                                                         that
                                                                                       killed
                                                                                        the cat

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   14.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

When I felt like nobody cared, YOU were there,
Soothing the wounds in my heart…

When I felt life was not worth it, YOU came around,
And proved the opposite…

When no one knew my worth, YOU showed me,
How much I meant to you…

When I had issues, YOU supported me,
Showing me how much I need you…

Now, when I look back, I have no regrets,
Because to know YOU is to know LOVE…

Harish Natarajan
12.01.2013
Copyright © Harish Natarajan

dark winds of self-doubt
blow furiously today
in their sway i flee
toward those same old roads
where i sure do suffer
self-inquisition

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   10.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish,

i’ve got to
              come
un                        stuck
from these words
lost i am -  vegetated
all patterns are identically embroidered
same sentiments in a static loop
the images all insipid
i’ve got to do
something drastic

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   10.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

aurorean
dreams
must
come
true
they
say
                  i
                 can
                 only
                 wish
for
a
realization
                  
- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   10.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

Its 11 pm
and you are still at work
i know there is nothing you can do about that
but there are things i wish you would do
like eat a snack in the evening
the fact that you haven’t eaten anything since lunch
worries me immensely
you tell me to have dinner and go to sleep
to not wait up for you
but in your absence food tastes like sawdust
the bed is a cold hard stone
in any case sleep refuses to comfort
my thoughts which throw up numerous questions –
are you hungry? would you have eaten? are you tired?
working late would be making you upset, are you okay?
and so on – i wish i could ignore them, not worry,
and say that you’re an adult and can take care of yourself
but i know from experience my love,
just how well you do not do that

so here i am waiting up for you
at 11 pm
hoping in futility that somehow
my worrying will help

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
  09.01.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the evening shadows of my psyche
stretch out  towards you
at the days end i await your arrival
when the world begins to stir
toward home or to the tavern
and the evening lamps sing
i seek you out
to walk alongside me
on my quiet path
with gulmohar carpets
and dusky branches
watching over us.
tarry awhile, walk slow
lest the moment flies by too fast
what else is there left to do
but share this nameless bond?

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   09.01.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish,

yesterday’s tormentor
is todays peace-keeper
strange are the ways of this world
stranger still are my own perceptions
now here, now there
they prance about

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   08.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

the silky silver song of time
slips away through my fingers
mirroring the stars above
my mind makes moth trails
in the wind – swaying
to the tune of love
you are the day and light
i, the darkness and the night
between us hangs our world
with wordy crayons we fill
the blank spaces
never bothering to stay within the lines
your eyes they bore within me
mining me for answers
but some questions are born
without a destiny to find
purposeless they loiter
and are laid to rest among the flowers
that bloom in our silences

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   08.01.2013
   Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

i looked for you in the forests
i searched for you in the sea

the sage then told me to look within
i did, and lo! i found You beside me!

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
    07.01.2013
    Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish

Even
my
pain
leaves
behind
a
reminder
of
you –
a
heart
shaped
burn
scar

- Vijayalakshmi Harish
   07.01.2013
  Copyright © Vijayalakshmi Harish