Disappear

In the dream
I  kept looking for things
That wouldn't change colour
Fade or just disappear
As if they never were ---
Like the dead
Remembered once or twice a month
When the moon mellowed
Or vanished;
Like the past
Still wearing its foolscap crown
Bougainvillea garlands
Scrap medals
Tattered suit
Clutching an album
And talking of things unseen
That look like they may have never been ---
Even as I thought I found something
That would always be
I felt myself disappear

  

Suspect

We, devotees, were asked
To go through a metal detector,
Frisked for belt-bombs
Our bags were searched
Life-weary faces scanned
For suspicious looks
We were looked at pointedly
For telltale body twitches
That would give away
Any evil designs
I expected to be asked
To declare my faith
In the presiding deity
Even recite a sloka or two
To be found out
The sun-soaked courtyard
Made us hop on bare feet
I stopped by the temple tank
Thinking of the bard
Who dared to question god.

Resurrection

Bats beat
Around the fig tree
So dark, I cannot see
If they eat,
In the December air
There's a rare
Sense of glee
Of something breaking free
These angels of mercy
Can give wings to the tree.