Ecstatic

This road looks unfamiliar

But we don't mind

The trees on either side

Are in bloom, look like

Birds thinking of flying

But not wanting to leave

There is no male gaze

To ruffle the serenity

As if to complete the scene

A light drizzle begins

The little one says

Don't unfurl the umbrella

I want to get wet 

The other companion

Takes off her stole 

What burden this is

We stand and laugh

In the middle of the road

And looking at our faces

Laugh some more for no reason

Suddenly happy for no reason

Suddenly ecstatic as if stumbling upon a truth.

Reset

I wake up to birdsong

Welcoming the dawn

Of another new day

With the same love

As yesterday and before

I do not want to get up

Though I see the blue light

Turning the darkness away

And asking feet to stir

I do not heed the clock

Ticking away every second

I recall my toddler sitting

On my chest and tapping

Away with his tiny fingers

As I pretend to sleep on --- 

If there were a reset

I'll choose that time yet.

Time

Time tires of the present

Brings back the old

Pretends it's new

Icons are debunked

Till they are buried

But someone finds

Overlooked virtues

And resurrects them

Nobody can go back

But everything returns

Rituals draw circles

Where time meets times

Seasons, likenesses recur

The grandson's nose

Is like the grandfather's

He inherits the same fate 

Time favours dead poets

Recites their words anew

To the delight of trees

And birds and memories

Circumambulating unseen.

Redeemer

Now is the time to

Talk of the silence

Engulfing you like grief

Of words that wouldn't

let you sleep

Till you made sense of them

All the sorrows of the world

Seem to hide in the

darkness of the night

Think of feet trudging

in individual deserts

Amid rolling meadows of affluence

Their skies draw no clouds

Do not know the respite of rain

There the drones chase the

children in sleep

And death is redeemer.

Waiting

The blank page
Waits for words
To fill its emptiness,
The bare blue sky
Will not mind
Even barren clouds,
The white wall
Wails for
A child's scrawl,
The lonely aadi wind
Knocks on doors, windows
Crying to be let in,
Dreams stand orphaned
In every street
Of the sleepless city.

Lust

In the dark
Colours lie awake
For the day to break,
Roosters sleep light
Cannot wait
Serenade false dawns,
The dream brings those
Who have vowed
Never to step
Into the house,
White chases tan
While brown blanches
Ochre darkens
With lust
Turns ogre
Finds the door shut.

Colours of desire

When we meet
We swap lists
Of what we have bought,
She looks admiringly
At my designer wear
Praises my taste
Envies my luck
At getting a rare shade
Extracts a promise
To get one for her;
Pleased, I seek her tips
For repainting my house
I tell her I liked her decor
The last time I visited her;
After making a fresh list
Of what was new in the market
And what we needed to buy
We take leave, heads bursting
With the colours of desire