Dry Eyes Beyond the boundaries of the day's business Lies my rack of decrepit wishes On the rack----sundried; crisp and wise Covered with obstinate memories Specks of dust that stick on the fringes Of my soul Have you heard the wail of fingers? Gnarled with the weight of all that it's lost? Pining for what could be but isn't Pointing to yet some fresh new dreams? My reckonings flap on the clothes line Clean, washed and dry Smelling fresh-----of starch and experience Oblivious of the wet hands that dried them Yet, the sun still shines…..on those dry eyes To make them moist again.
Fish Fry Obstinate turmeric stains and corrosive mustard wafts in the air Witnessing creation be born of death Submission at its best Of life profound, infinite to the conspiracies of petty power What’s cooking? And from when? Who’s cooking? Seething oil smiles. Who set the flames? The urn’s still warm and the brush still drips off paint As the wet sculpture stands in silence Eloquent with tales of the sculptor whose shaking hands stopped In a strange dilemma The crimson-yellow fish smiles back Who’s defeated? Scars that show scorn those unseen The great flame keeps burning Who’s defeated?
My Love I have been searching for you Through dusty days and silhouetted nights Ever since this thirst was born in the womb of my soul A single nameless thirst it has been That tingled and welled into tears as I looked at the beautiful moon On the first breezy summer evening that kissed my parched lips. An all pervasive search Adding fire to streams that blur vision... Have you been searching too For the one who keeps searching for you in faceless crowds? In nameless faces? Would you know if you found me somewhere? Would you give me a song to live my life by A hand to rest my weary soul in deep slumber That would wake me up to a dream Where my search for you will end forever?
My Unborn My child, you lie there in the warmth of my dreams Can feel you weigh down in the deepest crevices of my soul Your fingers rummaging for me in all my veins Your shriek in the frosty silence of my suffering.
Many a sunshine I have given you Many a cloud and rain Have ran across sunflower fields with you In moments of utter inaction and frozenness.
I have carried you in my womb for ages Our communion is not today’s So, will wait till it is warm enough outside To show you the light of the day.
Lovers forever... The cold grey dawn breaks into a bright promising day, As the phone buzz gets disconnected at the other end Life and love pulsate beneath hushed perceptions and inarticulated thoughts-- Beyond words, actons, idle luxury of lazy talking Long winding roads that take them in different directions Amidst numberless faces, vehicles, tasks and commitments Transcending rationality, judgement, fears ... They wake up to a belief every day Of being together forever.
Returning to the sea, after ages I’m back to your passion, your rage Your serenity as you silently and eternally Commune with the ethereal blues above Sharing with it your limitlessness And unfathomable depths Mirroring the milky clouds in your lashing waves I’ve come back to you eternal song or roar ---- I know not To the story you began to tell when you lulled time to sleep And rocked life to a divine awakening The story has not ended and perhaps it would never end Yet somewhere it seems that the story has just begun I’ve come back to you … to myself … To the little girl whom I’d left at your shores picking shells … in search of oysters Her eyes searching everywhere for a pearl hidden in the sands of time The pearl she never found- you never gave her But I’m back to look for the pearls that I sent you from afar Pearls gifted by time that remained hidden in my eyes… In the eyes that have witnessed it all… My pearls were precious – so I sent them to you To treasure in your secret depths forever Now I see them sparkle on your bosom Under the golden sky My precious pearls and those of so many others Pearls that you’ve lovingly held to your chest And when you couldn’t breathe by the weight of their stories Your started to wail and roar in rage Your lashing waves wanting to wash their feet and wipe their tears So that they didn’t send your pearls anymore
Madness I can’t forget those eyes---eyes that gleamed with the fire of thoughts Thoughts that ran through her mind in a feverish frenzy Like busy black ants in a line-speaking to her incessantly. I can’t forget those eyes ---eyes that were eloquent with unspoken words As she stood silently amidst those who pelted stones at her Calling her a ‘mad woman’. Her mud smeared cheeks bled with tears while her eyes burnt with the glimmer of unshared thoughts A contemptuous smile broke on her unfed lips---a smile of disdain ‘twas perhaps. The madness was hers and hers only, and so were the secret thoughts that peeked through her burning eyes. The eyes that were rich with her treasure of insanity Eyes that shut out the mad world and ensconced her into a secret world From where she did not need to return to anyone From where no one could steal her back Where her dreams were safe, her hurt untarnished, her complaints unscorned Her truth unraped, her wounds unweathered by the ravages of time, her battles undefeated Her silence promising her an escape from the unforgiving world. I can’t forget those eyes and that smile That made me wonder if ‘twas not her but the rest of us Who were irretrievably lost in this eternal marshland called sanity.
My son, my light I have walked a life of thousand miles In search of truth after each dark night My wounded soul craves not for a while To walk any more and see the light. Is there really a new story to tell? To ring in hope with a silver bell? A magic wand that will erase the pain? The wound, the hurt, the darkness vain? Do you remember how they won that fight? And laughed a scorn with their truth-less might? Yet there is light, there is, you say The light of hope to wipe dismay The light that will arrive one day The lies for the truth will sure make way I trust you not, if you truly ask I have seen it all, the lies, the mask The new is old turned inside out Rust seethes in that enamelled spout The bones will show when the paint shall fade It’s all a game of light and shade
But wait my friend, did I just see A glitter in those eyes of my son of three? Oh how celestial ‘twas, that shine so bright Hope, love, truth and the dream of light! I can’t deny the strength of those eyes That fills me with hope, makes me forget my sighs Come home to me, my dreams tonight Together we shall wait for the morning light If all was lost then there wouldn’t be That serene smile of my son of three.