Erstwhile

Erstwhile Erstwhile is the dream Erstwhile is the scream Erstwhile the wish to redeem

Life looks on and moves Wheels locked in grooves We live, we die, we live, we die Zenith, nadir, nirvan in renascence

Rotate, gyrate , succeed, culminate Heartbeats accounted for per diem Propagated by clockwork A polite clap to signal requiem

Life

Does life drop off like sand 
Crumbling rocks, exposing root and bone
Or does it wait for the designated expiry date
Sell by, use by, best before
Or does it leave as wonder goes
And ponder, marvel or woe.

Boundaries

Boundaries
Between hearts
Between cities and countries
Between life and death
Within me
On the brink, in my core
Between my ending and my starting point
Between living and existing

On The Clothesline

Each item like clothing 
Wrung, shook, neatly pinned
One following the other
All shapes, sizes, tinged

You expect a hollow aftermath
Windows flapping against walls
No footfall on the bare floors
Doors banging in atrium halls

Thoughts move more freely now
Unencumbered, unfettered
Gliding through ventricular spaces
Speak easy, let it go

Love's Last Rites

I lay you to rest, alongside Gershwin 

Along with my Rhapsody in Blue.

There in amidst moments in Thumri. 

In Dadra, Khayal, and in Ghazal

Auden steps in, stops all the clocks.

Winehouse walks out back to black. 

And still no Cadence just Vamp till cue 

All encore the Prelude, my Canto Ostinato 

Glossary

Thumri: (in Hindustani classical music) a light romantic form.

Dadra: Hindustani classical rhythmic cycle

Khayal: a traditional type of song from the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, with instrumental accompaniment and typically having two main stanzas.

Ghazal:  a lyric poem with a fixed number of verses and a repeated rhyme, typically on the theme of love, and normally set to music

Cadence (music): a melodic and/or harmonic configuration at the end of a phrase, section, or piece of music

Vamp till cue: A jazz, fusion, and musical theatre term which instructs rhythm section members to repeat and vary a short ostinato passage, riff, or "groove" until the band leader or conductor instructs them to move onto the next section

Prelude: musical composition, usually brief, that is generally played as an introduction to another, larger musical piece

Canto Ostinato: obstinate song

The impossible man

The impossible man for
The impossible girl
Shapeshifter, magician,
Phantasmic, set in stone
And that's just the girl

What say of the man
What indeed. Illusory,
A dream disjointed,
Inert. The girl's mirrored
Image lies upturned

Smoke and mirrors

Whirling and stooping

Swooping and scooping

And at a beck and call

Swooning and dipping

Slipping, tripping, flipping

Always at love's call

Smoke and mirrors now meet 

Me; as I crouch behind latticework

I build my fortress of filigree 

With my dance of light and facade 

And throw red herrings into the sea

Shout to the big bad wolf 'en garde'

Blind devotion, complete compliance

Acquiescence too soon, no indeed 

Absolute devotion in obsolescence

Eyes deny recognition, touch remains 

Unknown, the voice resonates

No more. I exist once more.