The Witching Hour

Quietly falls the night somewhere
Somewhere a morning loses its way
As footsteps grow distant slowly
And shadows leave for corners moons away


The wishing well has regurgitated its pennies
The mirror stands tall with a gash
The wishing bone has remained unbroken
The clover grows four leaves no more


The hearth is cold with the fire gone
The creaking door, stilled with silence
While sand has lain with the footmarks
And on the clock its witching hour forevermore

Nevertheless

The morbid me
Reckless, hopeless
The hopeless me
Clueless, restless
The restless me
In duress, baseless
The baseless me
Affectless, faceless
The faceless me
Nevertheless, limitless


June 2011

Aankh Zaar Zaar

Dasht'e tanhai aur aye jaane jahan
Hangama aarai bhi aur mehfil'e khubaan
Khumaar beqaraar, hasti bekhudd
Madhosh dhadhkan, haal behaal besudh
Gham'e doraan yahan, gham'e jaanan
Yahan gham'e hasti, gham'e dahar yahan
Jaam pe jaam uthein phir bohot
Aankh zaar zaar lutay behadd


May 2011

My Love Letters

The wind whispers, it smiles
In your ears and exhales
Its caress, the gentleness
Washing down your back.
The rain moulds itself
To you. It sings, consoles.
As your pores sing back.
The snow, the snow clings.
It lingers, quietly waiting
For your footmarks to cleave onto.
And the moon brings the dark
To look at you as it waits to join you
On the cool side of your pillow.
My love letters, from the wind
And the rain, the snow and moon.
My play mates, my soul mates
My shadow and my light.




(Written in Ikkyu's company.......

Every day, priests minutely examine the Law
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by the wind
and rain, the snow and moon.)

So The Story Goes

There may be the sound of a thousand songs
Colours of infinite rainbows around
The comfort of a hundred eiderdowns
The luxury of endless lace gowns


But if love be gone from filled up spaces
If the caress is warm no more
The song is mute, the colour blind
The comforter cold, the lace dull


Hold not what rents on touch
Choke not what breathes on air
Mark not its spotlessness
Trim not its exuberance


If doubt be there, love walks
If the heart stumbles, love walks
If you know me not, love walks
If you release it not, love walks


Dance close but hold not tight
Stay beside but clutch not tight
Read the unread just meant for you
Hear the unsaid just said for you


Let it move, let it sway, let it live
Beyond time, for it asks not for time
Beyond space for it asks not for a place
Let it breathe for it asks not to bind


Not caged, chained, trapped, set it free!
Not blinded, scorched, scarred, set it free.
It is yours all the more if it sings high
It is yours all the more if it glows

The Tease

Ripe out of fate's sharing box, like clockwork
You get a piece of bad news a year
Sometimes you may get two
Like a tease, the One above meticulously
Dishes out pain intense, satiated
You can take no more; till next year.


April 2011

For I Know Me

I lose myself in moments of joy
I return in times of sorrow
I close not the door to grief
Or tribulation; for I know me
From the heat of my tears.
I know me through my heartbreak.



April 2011