Reasons

Dry leaf falling in wind.
Orchestra of a million things,
Happening over an eternity.

Oil and water

We share the same bed.
Yet, our dreams are different,
Our lives are different.
Like a cab driver and a tourist
We still go along.  Together.

Inspired by my own Tamil pseudo-poem, சக பயணி.

Leaving ASAP

I misplaced my self-respect.
Here, in this very room.
I'll leave as soon as I find it.

While I am still here,
Let me remind you, oh my love,
How badly I want to be your slave!

Hopping crow

Soon after the car hit the dog
There came some twenty crows.
Some flying, some hopping
They ate the driver's sin.

There I saw the one-legged crow
As he hopped near the dead dog.
He didn't have a wheelchair.
Neither did he skip the queue.

I smiled, clutching my crutches.

I'm over you

That's what I believed
Until this night broke me again.
Each broken piece has one want:
Won't you say that at least once?

A fast lone sparrow
In an almost dark sky.
Who'd know its story?

Love for the ball

The first ball in my career went for a sixer.
"That was a bad ball," I thought.
Soon I realised it was a bad over.
Then I found it was a bad spell.
We lost.  A very bad first match!
We returned early; bad series it was.

3 years later, I'm thinking,
Feeling the red shiny ball in my hands.
That was a bad career move.

Optimism

Optimism is good,
I was told.
I started gambling.

But not everything

I am sitting on my easy chair.
At 73 life looks very different.
Everything has changed.

Medicines are essential like food.
There is nowhere to go, except doctor's.
Only the dreams look clear.
Body clock has gone mad.
Heaven knows when I will sleep.
Everthing just changes, I think.

I turn hearing the anklet of a girl.
She must be around 22, I estimate.
Why won't she sit here and talk?
Oh, this loneliness and longing!
Won't it ever change?
Oh god, why can't I sleep now?!

I don't understand

"Why?" I asked god.
      "You chose it," he said.

"I understand why I chose her.
But why is she leaving?
Why would I choose that?
I don't understand."
      "You chose not to understand."

And I hate him for that.

Butterflies

The sincere kid was drawing butterflies.
He had already drawn thousands of them.
I was silently watching him draw.
He smiled at me and said,
"When I have drawn enough, they will turn real."

Plea

Among tens of thousands of shaved heads
I am also one, pleading to god
To take ‘that’ off my mind, and my life.
Should I say I want him to ignore the plea?

I hate it

I was madly in love with you.
My friends called me mad.
I hated it then.

Later, I eloped with you.
Everyone called me crazy.
I hated it then.

Now I'm here all alone.
No one is calling me anything.
I hate it now, too.

Unfair

Atmosphere gives me oxygen,
I give it back carbon-dioxide.

Earth gives me food,
I give it back shit.

I shower my love on you,
I won't cry for what I get back.

Blind bird

Love is a dark forest.
Walking the woods in dark,
I tried to find the boundaries.

One wise man said
The forest was like our mind.
As vast or as little as we think.

I saw a blind bird pecking grains.
It knows wheat from rice -- but
Can it spell out the difference?

When this fine woman woke me up
I realised I had been sleeping.
And she fed me ripe fruits.

I saw the most beautiful flower.
It was her face.
She spoke words of honey.

I can't leave her ever, I knew.
I gave up my quest, and
Surrendered between her bosoms.

Now I understood the wise man.
And I saw how the blind bird sees.
And I knew love!

Freedom

The police put handcuffs around my hands. And the handcuff was on for 3 days. Then they let me go. I went home and chose the next handcuffs. I am a free man now.  I can choose my own handcuffs!

Mirror

I like looking at myself.
Sometimes I like my image in the mirror.
Sometimes I don't.
Some parts of me, I like.
Some parts I don't.
A mirror can only reflect light, they say.
Had it not been for that reflected light,
I'd still remain in dark!
Oh my mirror!
God only must have sent you my way.

Lost gift

I loved it when it was night. I said to myself, "God has gifted this night to me. And he created nights with me in mind." I was full and overflowing with joy.

As it dawned slowly, as I saw light, everything darkened in me. As it got brighter outside, darker it became inside me. My god's gift was slipping away right in front of my eyes.

Stuck between reality and dream, I pressed my face against the pillow.  I think I wept, and then somehow slept.  I woke up when the sun was hot on my face.  Now I only wish I were asleep that one night!

Miles to go

Second gear slips a lot. I make quite a jump from the first to third. Twenty minutes wasted in fixing the tyre puncture. Damaged roads and sleeping men. I can't help running late. I slow down to 15 and pull into the dhaba. Waking up irritatedly someone curses aloud. "Asshole!" I know it's me. But right now, I need a tea.

You are my sun.
Be here every morning by my bed.

You are my water.
I never get over my thirst.

You are my sky.
I'll be seeing you wherever I go.

You are my air.
You just don't let me kiss.

You are my fire.
Burn me alive to bliss.

You are my earth.
Bury me after I am dead.