Escapee

The desert in the heart grows barren by the day

Where yellow buttercups once grew

Scavengers are picking the bones bare

What happens to the part of me that lies there?

No one can hear these wounds weep

I have shut my ears to them, too

But before I leave my memories behind

Sanity I must find.

I will be strong

And tomorrow will be a new day

But will it really be courage or cowardice

To turn my back on all of this?

I bury the truth in a gaping hole

Not enough sand to cover the grave

Maybe the dust of time will make me forget

That we ever met.

Regret in each step that takes me away

Guilt in the backward glances

As I take my chance to live a lie

Till the day I die.

Tirade of the derided

Must I worry what you think of me?

Who’re you to tell me you know better?

Have you been to the end of the world?

Why didn’t your God answer my letters?

What are you so smug about?

How dare you judge what I do?

Do you even know why we are here?

Does it make me bad if I’m not like you?

Do I sympathize ‘cause your life is worthless?

Why should I pick money over soul?

What do I care if you hate my guts?

Am I to weep if you condemn my goals?

Can I ask you to moralize elsewhere?

Who said you can cluck your tongue at me?

Do you know who matters at the end of the day?

Why must you give me advice for free?

Have you always lived so passionlessly?

Do you know what it’s like being true?

Where did you learn all your wrongs and rights?

Did I tell you it must suck being you?

Paradise

Wavering in the blue darkness
Wrapped in a sliver of the moon
Wild blossoms entwined in each tress
Her scent makes the willows swoon


Stepping back in the inky shadows 
Quivering lips and straining eyes
He journeyed infinite crests and furrows
For just a scent of her many sighs


She knew for eons before he arrived there
He would cross time that held them apart
To touch her warm footprint or a wisp of her hair
And seek a place for his soul in her heart


Endeavoured to find paradise all his life
He has pursued the key fervently
At last he finds her after such strife
This time he would not let her flee


The hard planes of his countenance
The obsidian glitter of his shoulder
Tormented her from the first glance
She is as enraptured as he is of her


This once she would not disappear
This once it would be as it was meant
This once he would not lose her
In the depths of clouds unspent


In a slight wave that stills every motion
Within reach of his outstretched hand
She brings soft light into the dark ocean
That has eternally submerged his land


Infinite clouds become infinite clarity
In a lingering embrace of infinite grief
Giving him what he had wanted an eternity
She wanes in his arms with a smile so brief


Upon finding paradise and losing his moon
He cries unlike one who has received his answer
And the spell of nirvana is broken too soon
He finally knows his paradise was her

Think of me

When your hair gets damp from winter fog

When you come across a famished stray dog


When you journey up a pine covered mountain

When your step sinks into snow that’s freshly fallen


When you pass a stall filled with Oriental charms

When the wind wails eerily in torrential storms


When you forget to clip your toenails for days

When you visit a mall and get lost in the maze


When Whiskey with water is ordered at the bar

When the rainbow pulls up after a sunny shower


When you bump your knee or nick your thumb

When a drive in the rain makes your fingers numb


When you recall in winters how cold my feet would be

When our being together was the only time we were happy


When yellow blossoms overwhelm amaltas trees

When your heart aches with the weight of memories


When you rummage through the debris of our dreams

When the mind feels like it’s coming apart at the seams


When you can forgive this disguised heart, finally

Just that one last time, think of me.

While we dreamt

Floating in a timeless space
Dreaming of long-ago days
All memories lay suspended
While the winds grew demented

The sun dipped low many a times
Church bells rang a million chimes
Seas brimmed over with tainted tears
Torrential rivers wept their despairs

Wild poppies that once ran over vast plains
Their seeds became dust while waiting for rains
Edgy and slippery and recently bare
A once snowy slope that ran out of its share

Towering skyscrapers razed to ground
And rebuilt a thousand times around
All lost in a little snort of slumber
While forests steadily turned to timber

Earth to concrete, to dirt, again
Streams to clouds, to drops of rain
Hundreds of thousands of circles of rust
While we dreamt, our dreams turned to dust

Woke up to find a different reality
Saw one another in all our frailty
Unnerved yet buoyant in primeval fervor
Tied as one in strands impossible to sever

Drifted in bewilderment for an unending moment
Uttered silent words which for ages were unspent
Grasped the minute-less hours that never came
Sank back to nothingness where it was still the same

Too much of nothing

Visualize a world where intelligence is evenly circulated
Everyone could be intellectual without being well-read
Money wouldn’t be so sought-after or fashionable
Poverty and the destitute would all seem a fable

No one would die of choked up arteries
No more kwashiorkor and marasmus casualties
Women would be free to eat all they want
And yet have trim and pert bottoms to flaunt

Not a soul would suffer from a broken heart
Each would have their share of love from the start
Luck and fortune would be things of the past
Pain and suffering would hardly ever last

No country would be able to go over-populating
Tropical rain forests would just grow back in
World heritage sites would be off UNESCO’s list
Endangered species would robustly exist

No place on the planet would be colder or hotter
If only osmosis weren’t restricted to water
Superlatives would swiftly sink into obscurity
Seems bizarre but I’d like some of this absurdity




This post found inspiration from random conversations with my friends Divya and Anant. This one's for you :)

Just another love story (II)

Feeling sorry for the lone girl standing quite away
From the noisy group of boys who barred her way
He felt that he ought to help her out
Maybe he should start by clearing her doubt

Bernoulli’s theorem was rather straightforward
But girls were dumb from what he had seen and heard
So in plain words he tried to elucidate
Things started out simply but it must have been fate

She was just another girl and all was fine
Or so he thought till he heard the grapevine
Someone mentioned she was crazy for him
But he did not think it was more than a whim

He did not have patience for useless rumour
He loved another, so this he wouldn’t humour
And thus, he decided to steer clear of her
As luck would have it, something else was in store

One love wanes then another appears
Days turn into weeks, then months, then years
When suddenly the intoxicated haze of alcohol and drowning sun
Brings the memory of the girl he has ignored for two autumns

A crazy impulse makes him dial her number
His brain is scrambled but he hopes to sound sober
She is surprised, no, shocked - but not as much as him
She is with someone else and his chances are grim

He disregards the whole episode as a one-off
But despite his efforts he is unable to laugh it off
Her changed loyalties don’t just prick his heart
It is more than wrenched and that is just the start

Perturbed by his own growing volatility
He feels it is not the time for stability
Yet there is an overriding urge to win her over
So he pursues her in a rather peculiar manner

He blows hot one day, blows cold the other
And discourages the girl till she can take no further
Then when she is finally on the verge of fleeing
He tells her he loves her with all his being

Both are dumbfounded at this confession
Warily they set out on an expedition
Into the labyrinthine world of love and affection
This was some years back but the journey has only begun