Two burning ends of a candle

On the first day
I walked over a virginal beach of glass
Burnt cold with the icy glare of a dead sun

On the second moonrise
I reached the edge of the red sun
Blinking tiredly over the yellow pockmarked planet

On the third rise of dawn
I looked up into the trapped eyes of the man
Draining his life-blood on my expensive Turkish rug

On the fourth burst of first light
I looked askance at the walking green
Lolling sideways with each passing twirl of wind

As the fifth day bled into symphony
Each red drip like the stealthy stroke of soft percussion
Each paper cut like the fine chords of the deaf master’s opus

The sixth day struck; And –
I wandered past the mechanical junk of eyes and limbs
Obsolete; with their masters long buried in decaying stench

As the sixth day wound down
I mourned the bitter arrogance of a youthful species and
Took issue with the smugness of old deities for letting things come to such a pass

And there was no seventh day comfort for a mortal

Random Walk

A reflection of the mirror within
The wandering of the soul without

A patchwork of lived experiences
Filtered by the haze of time
Every road passed -
Every face faced -
Every shake of hand and nod of head
- A record of a life's passage

A detour into the garden of white lilies
A flick of the magical wand of time
A laurel crown over the golden swathe
Dewish temptations on the lips of dark angels
Waving red heralds of deceitful hope
Enticed by the righteous look of thorny path
Prodded by the drool of quick accomplishment

My Day

I could speak of my day

I could speak of my...
Obama-induced envy of the Americans
Resignation at Rafa beating Fed X...again
Contentment at winning some scattered ODI
Duh! at Modi's misappropriation of funds
Impressed nod at a Black Republican head

Rolling eyes...
At hijack dramas by petulant boys
Of jobless men getting a hard on
From a misplaced sense of putting
The 'virtueless' girls in place
Of unfulfilled men in mid-age crisis
Ranting about trailers of bomb blasts

Exasperation at...
The air of growing impatience
Intolerance of fellow humans
Suspicion of all the 'Others'
The literal man-eat-man world

Distasteful awe at...
Freshmen negotiating like pros
Newbies = smooth operators
Misuse of womanly wiles to wash hands
Big round eyes and a hint of wetness
Rediscovered godliness; smoking jaunts
Clueless hierarchy piled under dislike

Pathetic self-pity at...
Being caught in crosshairs
Overdone sense of duty
Wimpy sense of individuality
Seeping away time and chances

Self-consciousness at...
Being caught in a phone conversation
Unawareness with five people in a crowd
All staccato limbs and scattered balance
Morally grey conscience and white lies
The unbidden smile that creeps on my face

Joy at...
The thought that brings the unbidden smile

Clouds of Grey

Shore me, anchor me
As I drift away in billowing buffets

Moor me
As my soul fritters away in pieces

Bind me
As each nagging word cleaves me

Be my earthing
As the same lightening strikes twice

Hold me together
As my spirit threatens to crumble as ever

As hot bitter words wash over me
As I drown in their disappointment
As the whispers rage behind my back
As my trickster mind corrupts me

I seek you now more than ever before...

The path shimmers before my salivating eyes
But the thick metal ankle cuffs hold fast

Salvation
Redemption...
A walk in the park for many
A burn in the hell of self-pity for me

The Dark Tower looks ever more enticing
Castiel & Gabriel - deliver me
The crumbs do not satiate me

Have I turned, finally?

Trace

Mouldy wooden planks, a sad mockery of refuge
Shored bay windows akin to closed down soul
Crumpety droppings of long sundered kindred
Errant hairs clinging to a pupil-searing scarf
Yellowing ends of torn picture scraps
Of shining smiles, broken love promises
Open hingeless door drumming a mourning dirgy
Insistent as the relentless tread of time

Broken glasses trailing past the shadow gate
Crumbled seashells in the wake of retreating surf
Time chapped footprints walking into the sunset

An exhausted sigh flies in the evening breeze

Embraced in found-again arms
And sea-kissed to an inch of after-life

Dark and Light

Walking beside the silver brook
Beneath a swaying green canopy
Over the soft bed of bluebells
Pillowed with golden sun followers

Snowfall of pheromones
Chocolat and copper kiss
Spunky webs and unseen tears
Scaly heart seeking anchor

Of two-fanged curses
And clawy reach of fate
Dark lofts and attic corners
Scavenging humanity’s filth
In the indifferent darkness

Times past and journeyed
Times awaited in hope’s abyss
Life-string as a puppet
Of desire and ambition

Of forbidden loves
And over-cooked angst
Like crumbling waffles

A tear drop of gratitude
A tear drop of regret
Choices made and abandoned
Of alluring and thoughtful roads…

The enticing quiet breeze lures
I slumber deep in the unbenown

Voiceless Wail

She slithers down the broken asphalt
Blood pooling in its dips and cracks
Tattoos of scratched broken skin
Speaking of lost eyeballs

Reeking air; putrid and green
Speckled with fungi clouds
Telling marks of decayed cult
Of blanched life and sold souls

Of fanged mouths and dead eyes
Limbless walkers and tongueless jabbers
Misguided into evolution’s purgatory

Renaissance painting
On bleached white walls
Of round fledgling worlds
Ectasy and tears and quests
Pulsing enthralling vibrancy
Alchemy - potent and intoxicating

Broken down into thousand pieces of glass
To a final rabid casket of convulsing breaths

Overflow

I think of you...
When dusk spills red
When the birds fly south
When the poinsettia blooms
When the stars streak the sky
When the moon smiles its half smile

I think of you...
When cloud wisps linger away
When wolves howl under dark skies
When black night blankets tired souls
When the creaking land sighs with relief
When the clock strikes the witching hour

I think of you...
In the passage of filled hours
In the gathering heartbeats of day
In the miasma of remembered caresses
In the supposed heat of meeting epidermis

I think of you...
My thoughts overflow
My fingers trail away
My heart accelerates on

Thoughts are all I have for company
Till I hold you within my passion wrap

Why Me?

Red and deep wound
On the raw psyche

Each scrape of spirit
A body blow to soul

I can withstand pain enormous
I can survive belied expectations
I can live through broken promises
I can live out dispirited times

But these are the worst of times
And I seek comfort in empathy

I want to understand
Why me?

I do not seek to supplant
I do not seek to unruffle
I do not seek to replace
I do not seek to impose
I do not seek to thwart
I do not seek to inflict
I do not seek ignorance
I do not seek to destroy

I want to prosper
I want to learn
I want to work
I want to create
I want to plant
I want to offer jobs
I want equal rights
I want freedom for my people
I want to move fearlessly

I want understanding
I do not seek to belittle you
I only seek to enlighten myself

Then why me?

I harbour all
I may not secure all
But I do my best

I do not mind your colour
Or the length of your hair
Or the growth of your beard

I care for the smile
At the end of a hard day

I care for the contented look
At the end of reflection

I care for the proud look
You bestow upon your child

I seek to care for your heart
I seek to care for your future

For they make me
For they define me
For they will be my legacy
For you will be my history

This land, this people -
The aspirations and dreams
A land of thousand mutinies
A land of hundred living dreams

Cyclonic musings

The speck of dirt on a spic saxophone
First autumnal leaf in the garden
Sour grape in a vintage vineyard year
Sightless in the gaggle of speech-less

Clauses

For, those with veiled eyes -
Will count the thorns on a rose
Will see the half-empty glass
And dunes, not the oasis beyond
Will see malice in kindness
And threats in helping hands

For, those with Is -
Are like horse eyes
Fail to see the other side
Are like the sun at night
Fail to see the other view

For, those with egos -
Will be blind to brutal honesty
And see only the sunnier side
Will consider wake up calls
As betrayal in friendly arms

For those who forget -
Ambitions are pickled from sweet mistakes
Superficial friends are not for rainy weekends

Womanity

Bright eyes still undimmed
Eloquent with undammed hope

Every blink an unspoken truce
With the world's aptitude
To pull down the free spirit

Each line etched in experience
Weighed down with careworn furrows
Grey strands count the sunsets

In the midst of conforming lives
To stand tall and claim due rights;
With no helping hands or kindreds
To sweeten each blow to wilting heart.

Courage to plough a solitary path;
Power of faith in one's own will
With dignity and integrity -
Defining passwords for life.

Antipathy

Hilarity of the insular psyche
Mindless scurrying in the brain

Random throwing of the stones
At unfamiliar parallel notions
Just abstracts for linear minds

Aftersought...

I sought a sought
A sought so soft
Softly slinking
Sneaking by...

whirl

For the world spins on
Reaching out for the shiny moon
With every gory sun that rises

Oblivious axis
Off louder tinny murmur
Clothed in satiny waves

Hope leaks
Trust clots

Make time for humane optimism
Amidst petering futures

A-Line

I listened once and heard no more.

Dreams

Broken helix of thoughts
Twisted strands of desire
Like writhing snakes
In friendly lawns

A single window open
All doors bolted within
Enchanted form on bed
Overlooking grassy floors
Riddled with stalking lions

A floor of white snakes
Like miniature tapeworms
A single black slither
Like twisted heart’s desire

Harken!
The call of the black
The siren of my eyes
Under the thrall of night
In the bosom of stars

Block

A block of ice
A block of apartments
A block of cemented bricks
A block of ice cream
A block of French fries
A block of creative wood
A block of building blocks
A block of blank words
A block for blows
A b(f)lock of birds

This right here is:
Writer’s block

Have I Told You...

Have I told you
How a lick of snow tastes

Have I told you
About desirable lonesome oceans

Have I told you
About the adrenaline rush of skydiving

Have I told you
About stargazing in the tropics

Have I told you
Of the wonders of a forest inhabited

Have I told you
Of karaoke freedom in a Japanese bar

Have I told you
How freshly brewed wine tastes

Have I told you
Of discovering in deep veined mines

Have I told you
Of the aroma of freshly baked Amish bread

Have I told you
Of giggles that come with rice and chopsticks

Have I told you
Of the gorgeous Belgian bikeways

Or the sheer sensuousness
Of cruising in Kerala backwaters
Of watching a glorious tiger stalk
Of a ride on a majestic elephant
Of powerful sinews in a serene Masai
Of the blue-eyed Muscovite children
Of romantic nights in Parisian byways
Of colourful nostalgic markets in Morocco
Of beautiful women and bronzed men of the Nile
Of awe at Neimeyer's brilliance in Brasilia

Of a world resembling the leaves of a new book
Mysteries to discover; Mazes to decode
New lands to be explored
New people to be befriended

The exoticism of life
And the elixir of joy

Multiplied when absorbed and embraced
In the cocooning warmth of your love

Last Gasp

A decaying spectre
Odious green fumes
A scarlet haze
A red siren call

Chilled breath in heated embrace
Wispy tendrils of floating soul
Creeping through sludgey airs

Gaspy smiles on ashy faces
Streaked with crimson tricks
Gutless stumps on crispy legs

A wasteland of yellowed hope
Of crusty dreams & dried hearts
Of shrivelled angel wings
And scooped out trust

Of purple talk
In the nattering desert