Musings on Love

Death of loved one 
Is difficult to endure
But death of love itself
Is impossible to accept

At times
Just like a bird
It simply flies away
No reasons given

For some death of love
Is slow and painful
Resentment just grows
Like cancer

For others it is a sudden death
Heart simply stops beating
For the other
It leaves behind a void
A wasteland of promises

Love may seem a gift
A burden, a nostalgia
A baggage or a lesson
Just like life itself

Love can grow at unusual places
It can grow roots
In most hostile ground
And bloom like a wild flower

Love is a life breath
Breathe it in
As long as it lasts
Cherish the illusion

It often brews a storm
Out of mere flapping of
A colourful butterflies
On a lazy afternoon

Just like a storm
It rages and ravages
Dazzles with rain
Light, colours and rainbows

For those who claim forever
It becomes a habit
A known rhythm of heart
That resonates
Till the vibes lasts

Then there is that rare Love
Whose beauty lies in its brevity
Whose grave you build within
Which gives you strength
To endure its passing

Hate stands no chance
In comparison
Love lurks in nooks and corners
In that gentle pat
Love has life's back

Time Portal

Time portal

On some days I wish
Time portal did exist
Just a familiar knock
Would lead me to its door
To another time, another space

More than the Time,
I miss the familiar spaces
With loving faces and embraces
That are forever lost

I wish to go back to a time
To enjoy long walks with my father
Have ice creams with my mother
Or to get into arguments
With my grandmother
about ungodly behaviour of gods
(While savouring her ladoos)

I wish I could go back
To just be a naughty giggling
back-bencher in school
Or climb those Sahyadri hills yet again
To reach dilapidated fort premises
Just to lie on my back
Under open night dark sky
Beholding the starry night

Or maybe go back to a time
to be held
In a long tight embrace
by my very special little nephew
His eyes conveying fears
And a promise that
he would always
Be there to hold me tight
Wish he could return
Through that portal door
To me yet again

Sometimes dreams
become that portal
They take me back to time
That’s when I wish
I don’t wake up
To this hideous reality
Of an unsafe world
That teaches us
Only to doubt, fear and judge

I wish there existed a Time portal
And a familiar knock would lead me
To another world
Another time and space
Where I could be me
Throwing all cautions to the wind
Embracing or being embraced
By those I have forever lost

Just Like a Driftwood

Don't behold me 
With contempt
Because I floated in
Just like a driftwood

I had a name
Born to someone
Isn't it enough
To qualify as a human?

Do not fear me
Do not hate my folks
Simply they couldn't afford
- love, pyre or a grave

They probably thought
Water should be my grave
Instead of fire or earth

River being the river
Did what it does best
Buoyed me back
Just like a driftwood

I had love to give
But there were no takers
In the land of hate

River could have set me free
But it returned me to you
As a nameless corpse
To be counted among
The countless

River will remember me
Even if you don't
This beloved river is
Our memorial!

#CovidDeaths

Spin

What kind of a spin is it?
What goes around, does come around
Yet, its never the same!

Laws teach nothing is lost
Yet, much cannot be retrieved
The top is also below
A walk on the mobius strip

In a world so self-similar
Nothing is familiar
For – What is, is never,
What really it is!

What we know, is actually,
Only the depth of the unknown
And that bond also decides the drift

Stuck on a blue planet in a vast abyss
Where war literally is sold as peace
I wonder,
What kind of a spin is it?

Jump

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!

Strange

Strange is the light that blinds

Strange is the light behind dark shadows

Strange is the joy that inflicts pain

Strange is the love that teaches to hate

Strange is the life that must end in death

Strange is the meaning that is absurd

Strange are the dreams that cannot be real

Strange is the reality that is a dream

Strange are the clouds that don’t bring rain

Strange is the regret that hides the pride

Strange are the journeys that never end

Strange are the words that defy the form

Strange are the doors that never open

Strange is the religion that robs the faith

Strange are the bridges that separate

Strange is the war that is fought for peace

Strange are the journeys that never end!

Juxtaposed

Man against man

Man against women

Women against women

Man against Nature

You against me

All of us are juxtaposed!

One defines other

One ends other

One begins other

On a dark night

We seek light

On a sunny day

We look for shade

Light and dark

Day and night

Love and war

Life and death

Juxtaposed!

Sad seeks joy

Happiness

Sadness

Juxtaposed!

Broken against

The Whole

Nothing can stand

On its own

It needs the other!!

You eliminate one

Other loses meaning

Yet the fight remains

Eternal!

Juxtaposed

One belittling the other

Forever!!

Time

Time is wrapped
We move forward
But yet in circles

A new beginning
Another New Year
All dots
On the circles

Time is a trap
An endless wrap
Moving forward
Yet in circles

Histories repeat
Dictators return
But tyrant
Time
Beats them all

Let us not despair
No one colour or
One faith can
Rule Forever

Light refracts
Even through
The Prism of Religion
Into a Rainbow

All mighty forever
Will bite the dust
As children of soil
Will rise yet again

Time goes in circles
Some look ahead
Forgetting the wrap
Others who look behind
Fall in the trap

There is no way
Back into the womb
Only death awaits
Ahead

Time moves forward
While moving in circles
Maybe Sisyphus is happy
For he knows
The clock ticks…