DEATH

The hour was now
The time was day
Your thoughts eternity
And Death -
Just a moment
Leaving no time for
Philosophies
Prayers
Goodbyes

The players move on...
For them
The hour is still now
The time is still day
Their thoughts eternity.

A drop evaporated the ocean
Some ripples, and then none
Above
A cloud floats by.

SUCH A WASTE!

They said the postal service

Was the safest and the best

And I put pen to paper,

Their words to put to test,

And waited at end of tether,

And confirmed it did depart,

But such a waste of a letter,

For it failed to reach his heart!

They said the email service,

Was the right thing to do

And I put pen to paper,

That they were right to prove,

And though of the service I did avail,

And make the correct start,

But such a waste of an email

For it failed to reach his heart!

They said the faxing machine

Was science's special gift

And I did fax a letter,

My spirits to uplift

And thought that I could now relax

Surely things couldn't fall apart?

But such a waste of a lovely fax,

For it failed to reach his heart!

They said the telephone service,

Took minutes to convey,

And I dialled out the number

And sure there was no delay,

And though concisely conveyed all,

In precision lay my art

But such a waste of a phone call

For it failed to reach his heart!

BABY, DEAR BABY

Ere your eyes are dimm’d by pain,

And your baby bawl, a soundless strain,

Ere your wobbly legs acquaint with thorns

That prick so hard in miscellaneous forms,

Ere those flower buds that pass for hands

Turn aware of skill and enormous plans,

Ere that tiny brain, so puzzled and young,

Gets Einstein’s formula all unstrung.

Ere your life so merged in this passing moment,

Winds up into dreams that love does ferment,

Before your mind so very wonderstruck,

Adds to these wonders with genius and pluck,

Ere your absolute blind faith gets replaced,

By realized mistrust from problems faced,

Ere your tactless smile so charming and petted,

Grows reserved and gets misinterpreted

And your life is one big frustration,

Too tangled in teeming competition...

Ere you learn what real fear is,

And having learnt, overcome even this,

And go on to learn what true courage is...

Before you realize that this huge world is not,

Half the snug security, but false comfort,

Come baby, we’ll forget these smiles and shame,

And celebrate your babyhood with a small ball game.

A CURIOUS PARADOX

In my heart,

At the bottom of my heart,

I buried the seeds of pain.

Tears of hurt, whence rude retort

Shall never bother me again.

And over them sowed

Within my heart,

The seeds of love and joy

And He his skill, and He his art

Did most happily here employ.

And they into blossoms

Within my heart

Grow so beautiful and so lush

And people did gaze and eyes did dart

And made them tremble and blush.

And the goats gazed

Within my heart

At the blossoms so gay and so lush,

And voiced desire to tear apart

And the flowers underfoot to crush.

They said the flowers

Within my heart

Were too perfect to be true.

What so much joy, like a witch’s cast

And no regret and no rue?

The goats gazed

Within my heart

At the blossoms so gay and so lush

And quenched the desire to tear apart

And the flowers underfoot to crush.

The rains fell

Within my heart

And hard they fell and true.

Oh! What are these plants, so grey and so dark?

They’re plants of regret and rue!

The people gaze

Within my heart

And turn their gaze away.

The goats gaze

Within my heart

At the ugly sad array.

The goats gaze

Within my heart

At the ugly sad array

And say, “How sad this once happy heart,

Now so full of dismay!”

THE PATRIARCHAL FELLA’S DILEMMA

His mind goes,

Not correct, not correct

She’s not playing her role

She won’t fit into the box

And I’m losing control!

Well,

Goodbye patriarchal fella

You’re from a different era

You can stand there holding my trilling laughter

It’s my freedom you are after

I’m goin’ goin’ gone

To follow my dreams and Sun

Not angry with you at all

Cause if you try you just might fall

You can’t change, you’re too old for that

Stay home and take care of the cat

Goodbye fella

from a bygone era

helplessly holding on to “isms”

these never-to-be-resolved schisms

That just don’t work anymore!

CAN JESUS UNDERSTAND?

Can Jesus understand

that, as a child

the scarf wouldn’t stay on my head

no matter how tight my mom tied it

around my chin?

no more than the pullo of my sari does now

as I frantically pull it to cover my head

in keeping with the church’s orders

in keeping with the other staid women

I see around me.

As I take my communion

and filled with the Lord’s

blood and body,

I still wish that the scarf

would behave itself.

Do I lack feminity?

or am I not Christian enough

that sandwiched between keeping

my scarf on

and listening to the sermon

I miss the whole point of worship

And the key to the doors of Heaven?

DANCE OF THE POSSESSED

My feet move on their own

to the beat of the music

The drums beat a slow beat...

then faster, faster!!

My body sways

to the rhythm - 

my feet out of control;

my head rotating

hair flying!!

I throw my hands in the air

and dance with abandon,

hopping from one foot to another

faster and faster

till I am nothing but a blur...

The drums pause...

and started a slower

rhythmic staccato

and I fall forward and backward

in keeping;

forward, backward

forward, backward

 the drums are still -

and I stop.

A slow beat echoing...

rising to a crescendo

I swirl and swirl

my skirts awhirl!!

The drums are now distant

a rhythmic staccato

echoing, insistent

picking up speed

the beat...

I lie there

motionless and still.

YOUR WEDDING DAY MY LOVE

Counting raindrops on the windowpane

Was it my tears that blurred?

Ticking seconds and my heartbeat

Count...

Now it’s the day

Now it’s the hour

Now it’s the morn

Now it’s the noon

Now it’s the even

Now it’s the night

of Celebrations.

Now all is still

In the dark hour

As you lose yourself in her

Lost to me - forever.

LET ME IN...

Let me into the realm of your thoughts
Beyond the spoken
And the felt
Till I merge into the magnitude of your silence.

Let me into the coolness of your touch
A thousand births and deaths
Being baptized again and again
Till my name is lost in yours.

Let me into your songs of triumph
And your dirges of sorrow
Looking at the world from a cliff
Till I laugh and cry only with you.

Let me into the beat of your heart
Your breath, your warmth
Your proof of a life lived
Till my river of thoughts flow into your ocean.

Let me in on that spark in your being
That exists in no-man's land
That ignites a spark in mine

Let me into your soul...

FOREVER MY LOVE

Life has been some milestones -

A wayside bar

Of discreet legal permits

So out of the way

In one long, dreary dark night

That flies by

In fearsome silhouettes

Of shady pasts.

Drawing shades

Over my present

Lest it shows -

this ugly mark

of chronic hurt

on a psyche

that once knew love.

Now centuries old

My love

And written on yellow parched paper

That I store so preciously

in a steel trunk

With silks that break to the touch.

My gnarled hands

I note

Are still pretty

As is the shape of my nose.

This swirling mist will soon clear

And you will know

that even after all these years

I still stand by the doorway

Looking inward

At the exquisite designs

You once wove

In lighter and darker shades

Over the

transparency of my soul.

THEIR CITIES

Their cities appeared on the map

She looked at his forehead and said
"The people in your city are intelligent."
He looked at her hands and said,
"Your city is clean and small!"
She looked in his eyes and said,
"A fresh breeze blows through your city"
He looked at her hair and said,
"There's a lovely river in yours."
She drew in her breath at his smile and asked,
"Why are the people in your city so happy?"
He watched her as she walked and said, 
"Deer prance in your city."
She walked into his arms and said,
"You city is very warm."
He held her close and said,
"There are flowers in your city."
She closed her eyes and said,
"Evenings come too soon in your city."
He closed his eyes and said,
"There's a lullaby in yours."
When it was time to leave, she said,
"I wish I could come to your city."
And he replied, 
"I wish I could come to yours."

Their cities disappeared from the map.

ARE WE?

Not that I want answers
to a relationship 
that seems to flex 
to meet our erratic selves -
so moody and unpredictable
so based on imperfection -
but our sidelong glances ask
are we the ones?
Are we cosy bed, pillows and sheets?
Are we cuddle, kiss, curl and sleep?
Will you wipe the dishes while i wash?
Roll out the dough while i flip?
Peeping over my shoulders - 
our quadrupled vision.
Will it be our laughter that will break the silence
of a dark night, startling the owl
and drawing stars closer?
I won’t let the outside world in -
will you?
I can’t walk away - 
can you?
At will, I ask you:
will we be the ones?
‘cause right now, as we are,

our fingers barely touching - 
a relationship on a shoestring budget
of superficial small talk
skimming surfaces...
How far must we go before we know
we're forever?

I AM GANGA

Where Ganga meets Yamuna

Confluence or conflict?

Conflict I say, Yamuna so calm

And Ganga – raging!

I am Ganga.

Sunlight and breeze

and tornado at times.

Don’t try to own me

Just feel…enjoy…

Till I decide to whip you along

Into my whirlpool - 

Your calm, meditative ways

And common sense

And cool demeanour

A part now

Of the raging, rolling torrent

That I am!