Spring

I look at someone older than me

And tell myself I am not there yet

He shuffles along before me with

The air of a tortoise enjoying a walk

I imitate his slow gait and stumble

My feet are used to a different pace

And protest this momentum drop

Green shoots on the bare branches

Have quietly appeared from nowhere 

The torn old leaves have not all fallen 

It is like grandparents and grandchildren

Seen together, the leaving and the arriving

Spring comes to every tree and plant

Without any prompting, sans supplication

My winter is beautiful because it is spring.

Such a sea

The moonglade glitters across the sea

As if it is a golden path to eternity

The incessant waves sound like the mind

With its eternal chatter and entreaties

The harbour cranes loom in the distance

Huge fishing rods angling for prize fishes

This is the second flight heading out

Twinkling stars with a cargo of wishes

The sand under the feet slips away a little

But the cool waters take away so much

All the past that meant so much so long

Does not mean much when the sea is such.

Rain

The flickering silences of a

Cloudy sky are like melodies

Yet to reach the chosen ears

A river from nowhere rushes past

The other bank cannot be seen

A butterfly meanders in search

Of flowers that scream at its sight

The wind too blows the pollen about

Love brims over in the fragrant air 

Seeds are on their slow way to light

The lone bird is set to find its voice

The soulmate is all eager to hear

The rain cannot wait, bursts into song.

Wrong turn

You can't ask the trees not to litter

It's how they make over for summer

Along the streets the yellow leaves

Have been swept into little piles for

Being set on fire, smoke from which

Stokes stabs of nostalgia for a city

Receding into remote corners of a mind

Fast losing its words, places and faces

Children from a passing vehicle cheer

The weekend freeing them of classes

I remember my son waking up crying

On Saturdays thinking he had school

His smile of relief after was precious

I take a wrong turn and find myself lost

For a while in a neighbourhood no more

Recognisable with its fancy new shops

The frightening dreams of losing my way

Seem to have found their way into waking.

Sleepy morning

At six it is still dark for a dawn

The crescent moon still bright

In the east doesn't know it is

Time to go for the street lights

Are just going off to say it is now

Time for early risers to wake up 

And begin the morning routine

One jogger is already out coaxing

The sleep out of his night feet

What is this new bird singing?

It sounds like a migrant from

Colder climes celebrating this

New place just right for breeding.

Should I sleep or keep watching

The sky for the late riser's arrival?

No borders

The full moon is clear of the tree

After staying behind it for hours

The yellow glow has given way to

A milky luminescence, no less

Enticing, for all the memories it bears

All the facts we now know about the

Non-luminous body cannot lessen its

Lustre in a sky that is more an illusion

No more tangible than a mirage.

Do not remind me of nights when there

Were not as many lights to keep the dark

And fears and phantoms and gods away

History reminds me more of human folly --

This white orb that inches across the blue 

Helps keep the earth in orbit around the sun

When nations tighten their borders all over

The universe will throw its arms wide open

To the fearless migrant with new propulsion.

Look back with love

Let me remember those days

When we forgot ourselves

The days we want to remember

Are those when we forgot ourselves

The songs we love take us away

From troubles we can't get out of

When we return we seem to have 

No troubles we can't get out of 

We look back with love at the past

For it contains all the ones we love

Those we have lost to time and those

Who have no time to look back with love

What we will own

The friend calling me after a long time

Recalls times we can't stop laughing over

For we almost got lynched that tense night

Going to help a couple elope from home

What happened was we had to abandon

Our mission and catch the first bus back,

The two later found the right time to leave

Their place and had a civil marriage which

Soon fell apart as the man woke up one

Morning and found his love had evaporated,

We were glad we had not forced the issue

To only find that hearts lose their ardour.

In college we were called vagabonds by

One classmate, prone to malapropism.

He did not take time off from his books

For an occasional film or to hang around

At the tea shop listening to the prince's

New songs that still light our way back,

The days we wasted are the ones we want

To relive for when the end comes we know

We will own nothing and nothing will own us.

Night

The rains have retreated

Leaving behind a shower

Of the silent dew at night

Through the window I see

The mist clinging to trees

And the street lights that coat

The road with a whitish hue

Looking like moonlight

The past is the unseen eye 

Through which I see the present

The house across the street back

In my native city comes back

There I saw for the first.time

The framed photo of hell and

Felt a stab of fear as the faithful

Explained the wages of sin

I have seen since the earthly

Versions of inferno and wondered

How anyone can be punished twice

The night is passing quietly with no

Dogs to break its merciful silence

I do not want to retreat yet and miss

The dark goddess who recites new verses.

Denouement

The cat it is said thinks

The world disappears

Once it closes its eyes

What does it dream of

Rats or milk or cats

As it sleeps all day?

In the clinic when

I have to shut out the

Visual stimuli around

The world morphs into

A babble of voices,

Patients are called with

Respect due to clients,

Initials become important

When two have same names,

What is the story of the namesake?

I would not change places with anyone

Even a cat that gets to lounge all the time

My plot is just thickening, heading to a

Denouement that I can't come back from.

memories

who can I share all these memories

with but you who do not want to

have anything to do with them again

though we got them growing up

together when we delighted as children

in the little creatures like butterflies and

glow worms and snails and dragonflies

do you remember the scorpions 

you took for walks on the street, stringing 

them along after cutting off their stings

the girls including me screamed at this,

we climbed walls to get onto terraces

in rented houses where there were no stairs

the stars seemed within reach then

the black and white films we watched

i have to watch now without father and

mother and you, and i fly back to the past

where i walk alone on streets we walked ---

what do I do with all these memories

which I have now to suffer all alone.

Sunday

There's more to a Sunday than

Staring at the wife's face

How would a man know if

He is working on sabbath too

The rising sun is worth looking at

Through the canopy of trees

Where the birds greet its return

With a fanfare worthy of a king

Were you not there when the baby

Took its first steps towards you

Called you dada for the first time

Kept you awake with his stories

Spoken in the first language of man

There are chores to be done that

The hands doing them all alone

Six days a week should be free of

Let time not show its face for a day

When we have a face-to-face at home.

Sunset

The sunset speaks of dying memorably 

Turning heads with outbursts of tints

And outlines between form and thought

Homes beckon birds and humans while

Stars say there could be other roosts

That we have forgotten or lost sight of

The red orb flashes between buildings

Through the traffic it can be seen briefly 

No one has stopped to look at it sinking

The eyes wait impatiently for the signal,

There were times when the instant canvas

Daubed the heart with a myriad colours

Of ache, longing, nostalgia, and romance

When life's purpose was almost revealed.

Apricity

The light dims and brightens

As clouds keep the sun in and out

I am in two minds now  ---- to begin

The day or go back to bed, pretend

To sleep, hugging the shadows of night;

It feels colder than January last year

This could be because I am a year older;

What is that word to describe winter warmth

When the late riser finally gets to turn up?

Apricity --- is appreciated in the city not used

To the few months of hill station weather

The dew, I will swear, makes music sweeter

Even my voice is bearable when I dare to sing 

In the wee hours karoake songs of my summer.

Timeline

Facebook sends reminders of his

Birthday unaware he is no more

Friends do not forget to post messages

On his timeline with RIP greetings

To keep the memory alive of someone

Who is part of our unforgettable past

Is to refresh our own fading albums 

Remember our own imminent demise

When we leave behind all that we love ----

The morning sun casts shadows all over

I watch my own thin one trailing me as I

Begin my regular constitutional around

Familiar streets now prepping for rush hour

I do not have to hurry anymore nor want

To outwalk the predator shadowing me

I would not mind even if I am forgotten.

Spectator

On the curved lamp post

The grey and striped pigeon 

Perches, warming itself in

The rays of the January sun

Now rising to the right of the

Lakeview flats looking out

On houses where a lake

Once rippled and glittered

The predator can't have enough

The gig workers have resumed

Drilling at the nearby wedding hall

Raising two more floors probably 

In deviation of city building laws

Given the congestion of the street

All around me the world is busy 

Earning its daily bread with labour

The pigeon too has flown away

Leaving me gazing at the wisdom tree

Trying to hide a pair of doting mynahs,

I go back to my many chores cheerfully

Taking heart from all who are at work.