Wednesday, September 18, 2024


Pink flowers that can never in my garden grow

so wild and with such joyous abandon

He looks over her shoulders at the pretty girl on the platform while

his arms are still around her and perfunctorily smiling

at the something silly she's saying, laughing at "I don't know what she said"

she looks up at him adoringly in a relationship never meant to be

The train moves on...


 

Monday, August 26, 2024

UNQUENCHED



We closed account long back, didn't we

when we moved our different ways

or just that maybe skills were lacking then to say

I love you

I want to be with you

What has life taught us since then?

Some better communication skills?

Pronunciations, prepositions...

and a travesty of lies

that if you lace it all back to back

and one by one

lead right back to where it all started

with us still unable to voice our thoughts

with us still waiting.


 

YOU ONCE MORE


Do not blow life into a dead mind
that has not just renounced life but
denied there could be any beauty in it
that when the smallest of fires is lit within
will make the heart beat faster
the butterflies in the stomach flutter
and suddenly there is Sun in every diamond-like dewdrop
the Peepul tree has tender leaves again
the cold refreshing breeze blows through the hair, and
the flowers are fragrant once more...

Yes, do not blow life into a dead mind
that has forgotten how to love
lest it hurt all over again
lest the rains fall, and 
tears never stop flowing

Let the cold winter be

 

IT' SURE FELT RIGHT...


Maybe the rains should not have fallen so hard 
outside the window
the pitter patter of raindrops on leaves
the day slowly darken so early in the morning
the wet sparrows on the railing beneath the red tiles of the roof
shaking out the water and squabbling
maybe we should not have watched them together and smiled
maybe it should not have been so warm and cozy inside the room
or the lights so dim throwing shadows
maybe there should not have been the proximity
that made us look into each others' eyes
throwing out into open the blatant truth we tried so hard to deny
maybe your touch was the warmth I sought on a cold day
your breath in mine, knowing your fragrances for the first time
maybe we should not have kissed and blocked out the world
Maybe it was all a mistake...

 


 

Thursday, June 13, 2024

TEACHERS AND THE TAUGHT




Not very fond of teachers, 
and they were never really fond of me. 
All I can remember of my teachers 
(this includes my parents, siblings, husband and kids
 - and sometimes, friends) 
is their hauling me up for something or the other. 
They seemed quite convinced I was edges all over, 
needing trimming and shaping

Did I learn anything from them? 
Have to admit grudgingly, everything I know.


 

Thursday, May 9, 2024

EXCUSE ME


 
 



It's my immaturity
My lack of control
How convenient the excuse!

And yet it's true
we are not always 
masters of ourselves
and every act of evil
that fell our way
governed by 
someone's lack of control
or our own.


I WISH


 

I wish Love would conform

to its definition 

of being the most gentle of emotions

of being unconditional, unselfish

understanding, giving

patient and kind

instead of the way

it seeks revenge, competes

desires...lusts

fights, scratches

keeps score and scorns

but all Love seems to know

and say

is no matter what

its here to stay