2011......A wish for all

Something surely loves a nest
that bees still feed their drones
that ants sweat and heave and carry
and beauty dwells with crones.

Why else will the squirrels steal
and dads come back to dine
unless it is to hug a son
and proudly say `he's mine'

For , long the clouds may wander
and forever they may roam
the showers strangely, always pause
to let the birds get home....

Beyond The Pale

And then I met my other self
looking ,and strangely, doing well
slowly sowing shrivelled crocuses
in the Hadian fields of asphodel

He smiled a-pace, then wryly smirked
"in that world of inverted norms,
how often did you plant the posies
and the upshot was a clutch of thorns ?

You looked up to, to be looked down upon
by the ones you thought were yours to be
now hail the fates for broken illusions
and thank the Devil that you can `see'

Thrice welcome , then , to the city of Dis
where I am sowing some blossoms dead
perhaps here , at last, in a visiting spring
I will reap some roses red................"

A heart that was.......

And were you fain , my cloistered heart,
with the unsaid, unheard and ungained ,
when the world embraced, kissed ,and said it
was'nt your silence the string that pained ?
Can we sever the cord that binds,
and will we set that wish on fire
when in a pulsing, stand-still moment
you'll be the `longing' and me `desire' ??

Love-Chess

The instant that they pop the question
and the moment that we say `yes'
gods say` let the sport begin'
that goddamned game of chess.

It's not that we do not try
to decline the queen's gambit
the `move' is by then too, too strong
to let us out of ambit .

We lose our pawns , we lose our rooks
unaware, benighted yet unseen
we thrust and parry and still we are
lanced a-back by the wily queen .

In this bootless game of you and me
I am just the feckless king
itemised, numbered ,by myself
forlorn, and waiting in the wing .

Am castled in that darkened corner
so vulnerable to the shiny knight
unlaced ,stripped , without an armour
A Lear , abandoned in the night.

I full well know how it ends
sooner ,or maybe, a little late
I'll be toppled, usurped ,uncrowned
sheepish ,silent , in my mate.......

Gravity's Rainbow

Too long, too long
that I've dwelt
in the half way house
of the could have been
tethered to the ah-may be
baulked by the should have been.
Be it that I'll ever touch
an assuring blush of being;
and be it that I'll ever reach
that softened glow of seeing ?
A naiad will then sooth my brow
and no more will I pine
coz she'll quietly lend her words
when I am done with mine .
May be that'll make me float
unchained ,unshackled, far above ,
gathered for sure by tender arms
in the zero-pull of total love...

The Thorn birds....revisited

Methought I chose the longest thorn
and had my heart in rips
what came out was just a croak
a wail of broken relatoinships

The world went on and no one turned
to hear that fractured song
maybe I did'nt bleed enough
or the legend is all wrong

Let's then change the rules
by which this game we play
you gotta have two untrue lips
to have love come your way

Maybe then the hearts won't bleed
and the phoenix be on wing
maybe then the birds will pause
to hear a true man sing

You......

And, I had seen
the world's fetish with the `I '
with`mine ', `me' and `my '
what ignominy !
I almost said `bye-bye '
I thought I had SEEN IT
I thought I was through,
till I saw eternity's amazement
at the `you ness 'of you.....

उन्वान अब और नहीं हैं ........

करता हूँ मोहब्बत इक तस्वीर के साथ
हैं ख्वाब खफा जब से ताबीर के साथ

दिल-शाद अदा उनकी और मासूम तकल्लुम
लगता है कि करते हैं बड़ी तदबीर के साथ

मेरी रातों को चरागों का गुमां हो गुज़रा
वोह मुझ से मिला था इस तनवीर के साथ

आज़ाद शाम के धुन्दलकों ने क्यूँ कहा मुझ से
कितने रोशन  थे तुम  उस   ज़ंजीर के साथ

मेरी नज्में तो मेरी तख्लियत कि हामिल हैं
किसने पाई है मोहब्बत फकत तहरीर के साथ

हाँ ,वोह चले गए लेकिन,मुस्का के तो गए
कोई गिला नहीं है अब तकदीर के साथ