Tuesday, August 11, 2020

whilst I ignore

And so it were,
Whilst I lay counting the grains in sand,
The surf kept passing me by.
It kept telling me stories,
But the sand was grainy,
The sand was coarse,
The sea was salty,
And my feet were sore.
The waves had a rhyme,
A song for my heart,
But I kept building castles 
Of sand and conches rare.
Were I to hear a conch speak,
The wild tales of the ocean deeps,
But of truth,none I knew,
For I passed my evening
Ignoring sounds of a heart rare.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Little kid, Little kid

Little kid little kid,
You bring me my smile.
I have been lost
And it's been a while,
But as the moon rises,
You bring me my smile.
Dark my days may have been,
And the sun's at a mile,
But as the flowers bloom,
You bring me my smile.

Little kid little kid,
Let me poke a nose,
And tweak the ears a bit,
Pull those cheeks out,
For when those are pinky,
You bring me my smile.

Little kid little kid,
Go out and play in the rain,
Sing me my song,
For its been a while.
For you bring me sunshine
You bring me my smile.

Little kid little kid,
Come dream with me a while
While the rain clouds go away,
You will always be my, smile.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

What can a rock but do

I have burnt a few bridges,
And lost a quarter of my song,
The beginnings I can still see,
But I can see not what went wrong.
I always had a song to sing,
Today I fumble a bit too much,
Though memories still haunt me,
I have lied a tad too much.
There be a strength in pain,
But to suffer is silence is my wont,
For what can a rock do, but stand,
And remember all the bridges burnt.
One of them was my ticket to heaven,
All I have left is but doors to devils hall.

The white elephant

My literal friend and me went to the zoo. I was excited to take him around as he was unfamiliar with wild animals. He had lived all his life in a concrete jungle.

Now my friend is a very intelligent person. He ideates and innovates. And most of what I have seen him convinces me that he is a genius. Walking along in the zoo, his insights on the animals were new to me. His approach was totally different to the hackneyed ways I looked at things. My familiarity had coloured my eyes. With his insights, I was enjoying the trip. While I was bored in my previous trips, this trip had me questioning of all that I was missing, looking at the familiar.

At the safari, looking at the elephant, my friend exclaims with joy, 'Elephants are white!'. I smile condescendingly. I tell him, 'That's an albino.'. But he wouldn't listen. For him elephants were white, for that was what he saw. I tried to explain but sometimes my friend gets lost in his own mind. We moved on to tales of how animal greetings tend to be more southern than us.

Fast forward to a few months. My genius friend used a white elephant as a logo for his new company. He tells me that the albino represents how in a sea of black elephants, his company is different. I am happy that this was just the logo.

What worries me the most is the difference with which animals greet each other. When did in the evolutionary biology did we move towards the north? Not that I am complaining.


Monday, May 8, 2017

Names

I could always forget the pain,
For then what would be my love be worth.
For though pain be not what I seek,
Where else would I learn to love?
Many be joys of life,
But when two hearts feel the same,
Like the rhythm of two hearts,
The song be different than the din.
Hearts though be cleaved by names,
And there be none to tell all,
But a name is not what it yearns,
Love grows fine in shadows.
That what is it's may not seem,
But in stolen dreams it lie,
Though it may never touch a kiss,
Silence some times is good enough.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Spark

I have a small spark within,
Let me burn out.
For it is in the flame to burn,
And in my heart to be consumed.

Go thither from me,
Lest I burn you too.
And my eternity with me,
My life mine to rue.

My paths are set in stone,
And quiet I will go,
I will leave no mark,
And nary a tune slow.

It is a slow march,
And little do I care,
For there is a madness to me,
This I will never share.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

कभी कभी

कभी कभी ये दिल हमसे पूछता है,
चल लेगा कितनी राह तू युहीं अकेले,
कभी डरता हूँ, कभी सहमता हूँ,
पर फिर चल लेता हूँ मैं युहीं अकेले।
कभी कभी ये दिल हमसे पूछता है,
अभी कितनी बची है पैमाने मैं,
जब तलक छलके नहीं मैखाने में,
युहीं दो घूँट पी लेता हूँ अकेले में।
कभी कभी ये दिल हमसे पूछता है,
कितनी तसल्ली है यूँ जीने में।
हमारे पास युहीं कुछ नग्मे हैं,
युहीं गुनगुना लेते हम अकेले में।
कभी कभी ये दिल हमसे पूछता है,
कितनी जान बाकी है इस अकेले मैं,
जान तो हमारी कहीं और बसी है,
युहीं याद कर लेते साँसों को,
हम अपने अकेलेपन में।

A flower

The beauty of a flower be not in a colour,
For colours do fade by the night.
Nor is beauty in the heady fragrance,
For by day it is despoiled.
The beauty of a flower not be in thorns,
For where hath beauty lain without poison.
Beauty changes not,
Though flower be in a wreath,
Or at the feet of gods.
A flower may mean a lot
To myriad people of myriad hues.
Where there is love,
There always is a memory,
Of the flower when it buds.
To a life in memoriam,
My flower is in my heart.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

The songless bard

This is a path you have walked upon,
I can follow your footprints,
Though I cannot see you afar,
I will follow you through the mist.
I hope not of meeting you,
But I know you are somewhere near,
For all that beggars may choose,
They may never choose their fear.

The wisps tell me of your passing,
They mock me, for I follow,
But another story, to me, is unknown.
I trace my steps to where you are gone.

I am not a poet or a bard,
I may only be a mirror shard,
For when, which looks unto me is gone,
What am I but a songless bard.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Where was i

Where was I,
When life took another turn,
Looking far into the road,
Or just to the few steps behind.
Where was I,
When life was calling out,
Staccato lies and tantrums,
Anger, blame and doldrums.
Where was I,
When life took all away,
Not fighting till the end was near,
Of the pain too hard to bear,
Where was I,
When my love was taken,
Not by my steps, nor by my hands,
Nor on my waters, nor on my sands.

Wish

Wish I were a snowflake,
To melt slow at your feet.
To be water with you,
And flow quietly into the street.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Together

Little magic in me,
All of it off you.
Not as if we are different,
Just a matter of who's with you.
In waking, different to be,
In dreams together.
Magic is not off one,
But love is in dreaming together.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

The stolen poem

A poet may live through,
That his words are only heard,
In the confines of his own.
Little can he gain in words,
For the words are his heart,
And her it was spoken to
Never struck a chord.

And then, another comes along,
To steal those words of old,
A little stop here, a word there,
In the theatre of life,
The game always is for the showman.

Little words are twisted,
The feelings laid bare,
For that, which was a beauty,
Is now crass enough to share.
Them that never got the words,
Now can smile,
For the song is now gaudy enough,
To engage the mortal soul awhile.
The colors are washed out,
The smell serene nomore,
The words taste insipid,
The beauty worn out.

For the mortal, beauty is not
The pain in the heart,
But for words that spell their name.
For the poet, beauty is not
The understanding of all,
But for the heart and nary a game.

But the poet turns,
Without a smile or tear,
His story is stolen,
As was his heart.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Slow does doubt devour

Ever it starts,
With a sliver in the mouth.
Oft repeated it grows,
The shape of thought,
Though a wisp it may be.
Shadows do slowly grow,
And doubts they become,
Death of hope slow.
Ever a doubt has come,
And turned not to blame,
That the father of anguish,
The precursor of pain.
Little things in little shadows grow,
Little things do devour slow.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

On a night and more

Oh so glorious it would be to be free!
Living to a hearts content,
Be by the beach,
Shouting the head off,
With a smile turn back,
And see her hair fall on your face.
So beautiful it would be to be free,
To go have a fight,
For you knew, the kiss would be perfect,
And perfection should be savored.
You know the freedom
When she sings ,
And the quiet heart smiles,
For the song is in you and within.
So free to wake the mornings,
And see her beside,
Oh yes, the fight last night,
Is another of them that you forget.
For your heart is warm,
For she is there
And when the sun sets,
You can kiss her again.

Friday, August 5, 2016

ख़ामोशी के रहगुजर

हर लम्हा खामोश सा,
कुछ कहने की कोशिश करता है।
बेबाक दिल की गुजारिश,
पढ़ने की फिराक में रहता है।
हर लम्हा अतीत का,
आज की रंजिश करता है,
क्यों बढूं तेरे बिन आगे,
यूँ ही दिल में उफान आता है।
युहीं चल नहीं सकता बिन तेरे,
पर युहीं तो चलना पड़ता है।
गुज़ारिशों की साजिशों से,
तेरा खुदा भी तो किनारा करता है।
थोड़ा चल लूँ, या गिर जाऊं,
कफ़न तक तो चलके जाना है,
ख़ामोशी की ये रहगुजर,
परछाई ही बन चलना है।
बस युहीं चलदे तू,
मुझे अपनी राह चलना है,
दो कदम पीछे ही सही,
मुझे मेरे खुदाई में ढलना है।

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Storms

Little do voids matter,
For what was in us is given.
Of the men we were,
Not even pebbles remain.
Dreams of boys are done,
Open eyes scare now,
For those stares are glass,
Meaningless somehow.
A terrible storm is moving in,
Hell what do I care
I will be dead by then.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Tales unsold

Some stories should never be told.,
For in their telling passes life.
In the telling all lies,
For none can be live after.
The end of all stories be the same,
Small joys along the way,
But so do some stand behind,
There is always a shadow grey.
Bury deep, deep within,
Within closed walls and sleep,
In unseen dreams and eyes sore,
In staccato words and a quiet deep.
Some stories will lay untold,
For never did they unfold,
Of what would have been,
Can never be a story sold.
And so will they lie,
For ages forgotten in dust,
On a blank paper in bold,
Some stories should never be told.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

कहीं कुछ और

हम तो युहीं सोच चले थे!
वो जो कल का टूटा था
कब वो बिखरे को जोड़ पाया है,
कुछ पहेलियाँ तो बुझाने वाला
भी ना सुलझा पाया है.

हम तो युहीं चादर में समेटने निकले,
रद्दी की चादर कब क्या बटोर लाया है.
क्यों सोच लेता है यूँ ये दिल ;
की ख़ुशी के दो पल मूँद ले किसी और के लिए,
जो अपने लिए ना ढूंढ पाया,
वो किसी और का संवारने चला है!

एहसास

काश  आज साये को बोल देता
तू अक्स बन पीछा न कर
अन्जाने तो युहीं  में ,
तू भी अन्जान बन, अक्स न बन.
समझ मैं बहुत आता है ,
जो परे है उससे , तू वो वास्ता न बन,
छोड़ चार दिवारी , मस्त मौला बन.
ना बन पाये तू साकी, ना सही,
हर झूट का एहसास तो मत बन!

whilst I ignore

And so it were, Whilst I lay counting the grains in sand, The surf kept passing me by. It kept telling me stories, But the sand was grainy, ...