A Noun?
A Verb?
An Adjective?
Human value?
Emotion?
Attachment?
Attraction?
Respect ?
Friendship?
Kinship?
Dopamine?
Oxytocin?
Validation?
Affection?
Admiration?
Desire?
Conditional?
Unconditional?
Affection?
Romance?
Platonic?
Narcissism ?
Passion?
Adoration?
Devotion?
Compassion?
Sympathy?
Obsession?
Lust?
Greed?
Love encompasses all, takes various forms… yet no one understands it…
PS: Have I missed something? Do add..
Sun and stars may seem like
Permanent fixtures of our lives
Moving across the sky
The sun and other billions of them
They are literally a ball of fire
Constantly fusing atoms together
Depleting their reserves slowly
And very brightly
They are going to die too
Each one of them
Die and evolve into something else
Depending on how big or small they are
White dwarf, black dwarf, neutron stars
Or maybe a black hole
Just like every other being
The stars burn out too
And fade into oblivion
Their life timescales are too large
For us to witness
Like ours is for creatures who
Live for only for a bit
Nothing is permanent
Nor stars, nor universe nor we
Yet we keep seeking forevers
Knowing very well that
The cosmic dance can end any moment
Knowing that everyone will move on
Memories linger but that too
For a while, only a little while
In the grand scale of the universe
Sky, horizons, time, colours
Eternities and forevers are illusions
Stars burn out too…so do we…
Idiot!
They laughed
When she looked at the horizon
No one knew
She could see that
Sky never kissed the earth
They laughed
When she looked up at the sky
Idiot!
No one knew she looked into the infinite space
Seeking…
They mocked
When she kissed a youth
What would an idiot know about love?
No one knew
That she had kissed Life
And paid her compliments
For being alive,
For being able to laugh and cry
For being able to love
Written in 2000 after watching Gelsomina in Fellini’s La Strada
.
Time
In vain
I try to hold
It back
But it slips away
Just like the cliched
Sand slips
Through the fingers
Time doesn’t seem
Fluid or granular
But still
Behaves like one
Always flows away
Unidirectionally
Unintentionally
When I try to wrap it up
In my dreams
Or memories
I end up
On a mobius strip
No two ends meet
Beginnings don’t
Always end
Endings don’t seem
To have
Any beginnings
In a world obsessed
With origins and ends
Time plays a
spoilsport
It keeps winding
And unwinding
A perpetual clock
That keeps our
World dancing
On its rhythm
Of Tick tock
Tick tock
Sometimes you know
At the end of journey
Either a new wound
Or a healing touch
Awaits you
Choice is yours
You can stay
With good old
Known scars
Or take the risk
You might return
With more scars
But the hope of healing
Always will fool you
You will jump into
The fire
With a hope of
Rising like a phoenix
Fools always
Dream of paradise
Only wise ones
Peer into
Dante’s inferno
Did what it can
Shattered my existence
Where do I begin?
How do I pick these pieces?
There is no ground
Under the feet
It’s all water
The roof over my head
Has blown off
Whatever I held close
Simply floated away
Some with water
Other with the wind
How do I get my life back?
How do I prove I am me?
How do I show?
Where my mud house stood?
It’s all gone
Either with water
Or with the wind
Did you hear howling winds?
Did you see the waves rise?
Those uprooted trees?
My uprooted life?
No, you wouldn’t notice
You were all locked in
Blind and deaf
Till they cleared it all
There is no sign left
Of howling winds
Of broken homes
Of my lost past
I too ask
Am I me?
It was in the news
Cyclonic storm was on its way
They did what they could
To prevent the disaster
They monitored the eye and the tail
There it was circulating,
feeding on winds
And gathering momentum
It all seemed calm on the shores
Till the waves began to move faster
It came closer,
Sounds of the howling winds
Made it all real
Everyone knew
All preparations were made
All estimates looked good
But there was no way to assess
The damage it did
Young ones quivered in fear
Homeless knew they will be
Unaccounted ones
Lonely man walked on the street
Unaware of the perils
No one had told him to be safe
He took shelter under the very tree
That crushed him minutes later
Howling winds
Harbingers of death
Preyed on lonely, helpless
And homeless
Farmers lamented as
Entire harvest got washed away
No one realised
Storm was our harvest
By feeding Earth, wind and seas
Our anger, disgust, greed,
wastes, pollutants and hatred
Cyclonic storm just churned it all.around
And returned what we had reaped
With anger and vengeance
Winds, earth and sea turned hostile
Howling winds perhaps were warning us –
“Don’t be a bully
It all can all boomerang very badly!! “
Unable to find answers
Unable to bear the questions
Acutely aware
Of all closed doors
And humiliations
And all silences
She decided to jump
As she walked along the edge
Too many thoughts
Crowded her mind
She wanted to cut loose
From the past
From the present
The questions
The helplessness
The despair
Her luckless and
Loveless life
When no one pays heed
When life is cruel
What’s the point?
What’s the point?
On and on
The thoughts fogged her mind
Tears blinded her vision
Suddenly a stranger stopped her
“Please take one bunch please.
I haven’t eaten whole day”
A blur of bunch of yellow roses
Were staring at her face
Prodding her was
Another voice of despair
Carrying a bunch of bloom
What an irony!!
She paid the boy
And watched the train go by
She brought home
The yellow flowers.
She wondered…
There is a point maybe…
There are people maybe…
There are doors maybe…
There are paths maybe…
There is a future maybe…
That day she didn’t jump
But took a leap of faith instead!
They hide tales
Old Ports
The getaways
Or the anchors
Under the Canopy
Here She lies
In Paris
In exile
At Pere Lachaise
A mother, a queen
With a vanquished dream
She crossed seven seas
A sin in the 1850s
In the hope of justice and freedom
From the Queen of England
Mocked, ignored and bribed
She told them
They could not own
The kingdom of her son
And her pride
Here she lies
Our own Queen of Oudh
Next to a bush of roses
Growing in the wild
In exile
at Pere Lachaise
Resting quietly among the greats
She sought nothing
But Peace and Freedom
Among all the shiny graves
If you see an earthly grave
Fractured by Time
Under a green canopy
Know that it’s her
India’s brave Queen Mother –
Janab-e-Aliah Mallika Kishwar
Who crossed seven seas
A sin in the 1850s
To seek Peace and Freedom
And fair political justice
From the Imperial queen
And did no compromise
Do pause
And pray
If you may
But do tell her tale
Here She lies…
Mad Decadence 