your star...

your star is shining
somewhere
not very far
behind the mist
someplace
not beyond reach
just within your grasp

it's delayed, did you say?

maybe it's lighting the path
of your guardian angel
who's on his way
to guard you
maybe it's honing its shine
to illuminate
your life when it's time

so don't whine
and enjoy your wine!
while the sun shines
because your star will arrive
only when there is real darkness

you want you star
right now, right here?
maybe you do...
but do you badly NEED it now?
not really, right?

go back to your wine, then...

deal

one minute
an eternity holds
cold-bloodedly murdered dreams
wake up slowly
to haunt me as nightmares
i look at you
from my crouched position
for help
but you feign disinterest
busy ruffling your dogs'
fluffed, shampooed hair as you are
i crawl towards my escape,
through the door to the kitchen,
then through the refrigerator
but the kittens outnumber me again
hissing and spitting back at me
with each step i move further
the tiny, venom-frothing rascals
those soldiers of yours!
but my renewed promise
straight from the heart et al
is a warning
that i will attempt my escape again
night after every sunset
new moon or full
stars or none
clear bejwelled humid skies
or breezy, cloudy ones
one drink a night,
i like
and only with that in my hand
will i play with your dogs together.
deal?

smiles, let them come easily

i don’t want to rush, my dear
let’s just hold hands
and walk quietly, amidst
nature – pristine and pure
– as, and when, first created

let soft white sands caress our bare soles
let our souls breathe, live,
just the way
it was surely meant to be.

let satin sheets glide off my shins
let the silk robes intoxicate my love for you
let champagne toast our togetherness
far from the madd(en)ing crowds
yet, not far from our cozy hearth

my dear, till you stepped into my life,
i never felt loved at all
but since we stepped in this haven together
it is finally, my turn to smile.

rain distressed

water in that fall
didn't appreciate
getting wet
in an unseasoned rain
and that too in winter

his teeth clattered
his tongue lisped
and his nostrils exhaled
blue mist of the wet cold

smoothened dents
in the stones at his feet
where he had let his watery arms flow
for years, decades or even centuries immemorial
complained tacitly
in rheumy, gout-ridden voices

tears welled up
as he shivered uncontrollably once more
but soon he gratefully rinsed them
in his rushing torrents
just when the skies cleared to ease his suffering

beneath

where are you
where are all the ones i know
where are my dreams
where are my nightmares
where are all my sufferings and joys
where are my tears
where are your smiles
where are all our fingers clasped together
where are the letters i never opened
where are the ones i tore away
where are all the notes i scribbled to you, alone in bed
where are the dregs of tea from you cup
where is the single cultured pearl you won free
where are our infinite futures together
where is our home, with vines and trees and flowers and fence
where are your dogs - bobby and rascal
where are all the toys of our boys
where are the lime-sandalwood-pine-and-ginger perfumes
where are the gold-plated one-faced rudrakhsh seeds
where is my lucky lottery ticket
where is my ergonomically-designed office chair
where is my wedding band, bought at $400 from thailand
and where, my dear, am i...
beneath all the layers in this picture?

a private universe

little planets
in this privatised solar system
can grow
to immense proportions.
older planets
having seen time through
infinite light-years
shrink
till they become hybrid atoms
full unused, pent up energy
groggy with intoxication
of mature, liquefied gases and...
romancing, all-embracing
meteors...
the ageing planets
release the neurons of their dying cells
like dandelions in summer
wafting past galaxies
known and unknown -
then, when
bereft of everything else
they are left breathing with
their last living cell
they explode, shatter and dissipate
leaving behind ample
space for their offspring
to occupy clumsily.

january eleven, twenty o' eight

it was 11 november 2001
when met for the first time!
surrounded by noisy but beautiful
darkness of corbett,
fireflies cast flickering lights
against the blue black sky
as moths whooshed past us
inebriated with mating lust
crickets created a cacophony
like a distant tribal ritual ceremony
voices floated around us
as we were pushed to each
other's embrace by forces
beyond our control.
that touch skin against skin,
hands against hands
- that very first touch -
is etched in my memory
now and forever, even though it was
devoid of colours and forms.
the name, when announced,
resonated, like an echo
from far away dear mountains
shading us from the wild unknown,
reckoning,
at times, to come hither
on the first steps to the shivalik foothills
we met, then.

dangerously deep, steep valleys
ravines, creeks and cliffs
later...
...happy anniversary darling!



inspired by yudhi's imagination and directed by the little packet's bouncy energy.