No return

We left because we thought

Leaving was best when staying

Would mean dying in despair

And waiting looked like endless

With no one coming today or 

Tomorrow though it was said

It would happen when it was right

We could not wait to find out for we

Didn't know who was coming, whether

To free us or tell us to wait some more

For the true one who follows the other;

Leaving was best for in moving, the mind

Lost its imaginary mooring and the feet

Learnt the virtue of moving, not waiting

Indefinitely for time to move and change;

In movement there was freedom for there

Was no destination and no threat of return.

Need only to be still

Time hides inside the mind

Making the feet look for it

In places they have long left

The landscape has changed

And erased the landmarks

That marked our growing up

The house we cannot rent out

For fear of losing it to tenants

Who are too possessive to leave 

Remains locked with all its

Furniture and memories inside

From the wall hanging gifted

By a friend called to heaven early

God exhorts us to only be still

And leave the battle to him,

From time to time whenever

We can, we return and relive

The years we cannot relive,

Sit staring at the hill looming

In the distance and still carrying

Footprints of sky-clad renunciates ----

Our coming and going count for little

As the time that counts keeps chipping away.

Together

At first light birds find their voice again

After the long silence forced by night

For me tottering out of forgetful dreams

Into the new day the chorus from the trees

Seems a gracious greeting from kindred

To one who can fly about without wings

Bring down white clouds to soften nests

Make the moon glow brighter with praise

Let the rainbows linger long after sunset 

At home both on earth and in the sky 

Revelling in the respair of the present 

Keeping dreams warm till they are hatched

Teaching fledglings that they have to fly

But can't fly forever for they have to roost;

The sun begins to cast its shadows

The colours return to the colourless

The streets are back to their cacophony ----

For a while at least the other was together.

Anonymous

On the streets the camera

Watches the odd observer 

Stopping to watch the trees

In bloom and the flowers at

His feet, worn from walking

The observer is observed

The dog looks at the masked

Bespectacled man suspiciously

Could he be the dog-catcher or

Just the post-corona survivor

Guarding against the next wave?

The anonymous do not draw 

Crowds to an untimely death 

They go about their daily life

As peacefully as possible 

Do not dream of what is not

Possible or desirable or lasting

They are happy to just see

A butterfly on their way to work

And the moon shining when they

Come trudging home on tired feet.

Hail Mary

Through the umbrella the rain

Drips on my head and does not

Mind falling on a balding pate

That does not look like growing

Back again for all the herbal oil

Smeared lovingly on it every day

I secretly wanted to get wet like

This, not enough to catch a cold

Yet enough to remember it by ----

I have run out of drops meant

To prevent dryness of the eyes

Brought on by endless gazing at

The virtual reality images

That take the mind away

From all that is falling off ----

I loftily look at all those taking

Shelter before wayside shops

The Mary shrine is all lit up for

Her weeklong festival close on

The heels of the Mari temple fete ---

I pray to both when I stir out

And when I come back unscathed

Not without wondering when it will be 

When I have to leave and never come back.

Fresh from the past

On a cloudy day the dysania

Is a given though the seatherny

Seems to suggest some days

Can be forgiven for their slowness

The distance of the native city

Vanishes and the feet stand by

The lake as the sun slowly rises

Making the heart feel happily warm

The childhood friend soon joins me

With his fishing tackle to spend hours

Catching sunlight and singing songs

That probably kept the wary fish away

Stern faces pop up now and then with

Gratuitous advice not to while away time

We laugh at them and time laughs with us

The feet return juvenescent and I am ready to

Enter the world with eyes fresh from the past.

Shading long-distance

The moon is being eaten by the earth

Or so it seems when its shadow

Takes away all the satellite's glow

In another city we returned home

Through almost deserted streets

From a movie during an eclipse

Had a meal against the neighbour's

Dire warnings and something else

Without any significant consequences

Tonight the slow-moving clouds cannot

Keep away and keep hiding the show

What shade is this, blood red or copper?

The flatness turns to spherical as my son

Keeps coming back to the balcony 

To capture on camera this cosmic line-up

The mythology of a monster ingesting

The full orb makes the spectacle more

Dramatic than it is but no less wondrous

Even when it is no more out of reach it is

As if we have now all made a landing there.