poem#21

I am midway across the river
Along its two banks are two worlds
made in love and hate
truth and lies
joy and despair.

The tide is thick
beneath the clear waters
pebbles bleed my feet;
                          I need to cross!

Ah, who comes by?
O majhi bhi in canopy boat, which side of the river  do you come from?
Will you ferry me across-
though I know not which side?

"I am the child of the water
by water I live
in water I live."

Ah! How do you spend your days?
                                  Your summers?
                                  Your winters?
                                  Your springs?
                                  Your autumns?

"People come and people go
but I go on for ever!
I cross beneath half a hundred iron bridges a day
I ferry half a hundred  people
I pass by half a hundred fields of hay
I cruise with every ripple.

I have the sun by day
the moon by night
and half a million stars in sight;
come storm or calm
through thick and thin
I fish by my rod
and sing in my shade
and life is as prfound as could be made.

Hop in.There is room for one in the shade
and you can make a fishing rod of the lever
men may come and and men may go
But we must go on for ever."

And my world?
"Who says you need it?"

poem#20

Yesterday I had a deeply touching conversation with my Fupa. He was very nostalgic about the days of my father and their endeavors. He uttered 'oi Ramo nai, oi Ojoddhau nai.'The line struck me like lightning. Here is how I have fitted that into my emotions:


That Ram is gone, that Ayodhya is gone!
So many days are gone, so much time is gone!

Why the silence
Why the disguise
Why have patience
Why act wise

Why not speak
Why not express
Why not rush
Why not face

That Ram is gone, that Ayodhya is gone!

So many moments half-lived
So many buds nipped
So many feelings ripped
Bleeds tears in the emptiness of the soul!
They are not just lost days
Rather many different lives
Lost
Trapped
In layers of nostalgia- in one melancholy hive.

That Ram is gone, that Ayodhya is gone!

SPEAK
EXPRESS
RUN
FACE!

poem#19

One love lost in silence
one love lost in cowardice
one love lost in being fool
one love lost in paradise.

one love lost in going easy
one love lost in cheating
one love lost in being busy
one love lost in beating

one love lost in war
one love lost in rage
one love lost in poverty
one love lost in age...

I have miles to travel along this lonely path
and I have one last love left
in the vaults of my sorrowful heart  it is been nicely kept!

Poem#18

You think

restless I am like the wind:

I blow defying whatever stands by

ravaging the trees and the waves!

You fear I will escape your bondage of love!

You fear you will lose me in my pace!

But can you bind the wind ??

Can you stop its pace??

The falling leaves

the robin's melody

the smell of you
your earth
and everything in it

blows with me all along;

To be with the wind

blow with the wind!

My love

do not bind me

blow with me till the end!

poem#17

As I push you far and far

And you push me far and far

Across the fragile touch of time and memories of massacre

I see,

I see bit by bit:

It is not love that I am after

But the absence of it!

It is absence that

drives my pen

spills my verse

coins my glory

subdues your curse!

I hail your absence!

I hail the absence of love!!

Poem #16

He was what they called a loser

He didn’t have the money

the power

the look

the fame

and he didn’t get the girl!

He thought why should all that matter in love!

Today he has all that,

he is all that:

the money

the power

the look

the fame

and he has the girl

and he is in love.

Why should all that matter in love!

poem # 15
You dig out my grave
So beautiful it is;
I want to die
I want to sleep!

Poem #14

What is the color of confusion?

I am color blind- I do not know;

But I am scared of the answers

I want to remain confused: let it be so!

poem#13

My love,

It has been ages that I have not seen you,

Kissed you,

Fought you!

You blew away like the wind off my arms never to be eyed

Melodized,

Despised!

I made a terrible mistake!

I made a terrible mistake!

You may never forgive me!

You may never forget me!

I am hunting you for ages;

Storms have changed courses and blown

Zillion roses have fallen and grown

And the ‘love’ that you knew: reborn!

I go looking from place to place, from door to door

My sole long rusted, my foot rotten sore

I knock every house, ask every living thing

Some do not answer, others have not seen:

I look for you,

By every flowing river

At every floating cloud

Through every tree green

In every bird that sing

All the rivers say no

All the clouds say no

All the trees say no

All the birds say no

All the doors say no

All the souls say no

The heart says yes

poem#12

Some shattered soul seeking somebody sulks somewhere

she smiles she smirks she sleeps she snores – she seldom stares

sufferance sorrow sadness slowly sore

she spins serene soiree strumming Santoor;

solitary soul seldom sought, suffocates silently

she spins, she sings - she sees scarcely!