Withering suns...

As the night just 

got stuck onto you 

I try harder 

to pluck the day

out of the moon-tree. 

It is then a thousand suns 

wither like autumn leaves 

only to make you smile 

which in turn brings 

my last boat. 

I now start sailing 

to the banks 

of the spring.

,..

Spillover

It takes exactly the same time
as drinking a cup of tea
to write a poem

As one takes a sip
the words fall into place
one after another

And then a poem
just sits there
as an empty cup

,..

Suroohi

The pre-eternal silence
was just waiting
outside the door.
The yet-to-be born moment
grew more curious
of all the possibilities.
And then
...BANG...
She jumped into the scene
shouting 'Yey' with a
three-teeth laugh.
The universe was born
and started looking
at itself.
Now one notices
the snow-peaks
that came onto the sky
after the rains.
,..

Mayan

Words were the ones
that left the place first
and then
the meanings.

Following that happened
the death of the poem.

Much later
Mayan started playing
chase and catch with them
and bringing in the words
as meanings followed.

The great poem too was
resurrected by then.

,..

a night . . . few words . . .

Full-moon night
Two dimensional trees
Chattering wind

,..

Bamboo railing
Folding cot
Nightjar calls

,..


I am
near
I am not

,..

Flash of lightning
Inaudible thunder
Distant rain

,..


What else
a mirror reflecting another
could possibly mean
except an infinite reflection
of being with
and within each other…

 ,..

When you get a smile
in return for
few words,
you are assured that
the meanings are freed
from their roots

,..

a journey... few words...

Good or bad
the road doesn't matter
as long as
the journey brings you
those dark shadowed trees.
,..

The evening said
that it hasn't seen the moon
for a while
as the moon slowly drifted
behind those
colour-filled clouds.
,..

When the moon is
journeying with you
what else can one do
except being
with the stars.
,..

When the moon becomes a boat
and the sky an ocean
one is tempted to
reach out
to those drowning stars.
,..

I first saw a shooting-star falling
and she saw a raising one.
The moon was just silent.
,..

When she saw a rainbow
in the night sky,
I saw those colours
trying to
enter her eyes.
,..

I sent few words
that reached her.
The ones that didn't reach her,
flew towards the twinkling stars
to fill their gaps.
When she started copying those words,
their meanings started jumping out
and playing with each other.
Forgetting her task,
she then joined them.
,..

A word that ignites
a smile
can burn its meaning
to be born again.
,..

A street lamp.
A star.
And they talk to each other.
So bright is their language.
,.. 

half-bitten apple

Sitting on the roof-top-garden restaurant
Just above the 128th floor of the building
I told him
“I think I am bitten by
the half-bitten apple”

“You think?!”

“Yeah,
isn't that we normally do,
think?”

“Hmm... when and how did it happen”

“I didn't know it was the garden of Eden then”

“Oh that place!
We all quite know it.
A not-so-dense forest
where Adam and Eve used to
run around the trees and
sing duets”

“Yeah, the same place”

“mm..”

“I was just walking by and saw this
serpentine creature”

“The Satan?”

“No, the serpent”

“mm..”

“He warned me not to roam around
and it's better to be out of the garden”

“Ah! Atypical”

“Yeah...
I asked him why and he replied
anyway that's what is going to happen,
over the fence
out of the garden”

“mm..”

“I just ignored him and continued walking
and it's then I saw this
half-bitten apple
on the ground.
In fact, there were many
thrown around on the leaf litter
as if they were organised so
to catch one's attention”

“Interesting...”

“I am not sure if it is interesting.
I picked up this one
and dreaming of a possible-Eve
attempted to bite,
I mean eat...
It's then the apple
bit me
on my nose”

“Oops... then?”

“There was no then.
I just remember that
I was already looking at this
vast and resourceful world outside the garden
and wanting to conquer it all”

“Nothing but natural”

“Is it so?”

“That's what they say”

“Oh!
I indeed jumped over the fence and
on my landing I felt this great urge
to shout...
'YES YOU CAN'
and I did”

“Why 'YOU' can!
Why not 'I' can?”

“No, I then felt this
beautiful divide between
me and myself.
So the 'YOU'
and the say unto myself”

“mm..”

“But you know what,
after my shouting
I heard this Satan...
I mean the serpent
murmuring something”

“Really?”

“Yeah...
I asked him to say it aloud”

“Did he?”

“Yeah...
He laughed sarcastically
and shouted back at me
'Yes my dear,
you can but only if
you sustain”

,..

Postscript:

“So the story ends here?”

“Yes”

“But what did you respond”

“I didn't.
Why should I?
It was anyway a grammatically wrong sentence.
How can he use sustain there?
He should have used survive...
Faulty rhyming...”