Gods in the way

When I saw you I became blind

To the world, lost my tongue

When you spoke, stood still

If you walked

Forgot where I was going

As you crossed

The smiles you tossed I caught

And stored in my heart

Sighed I couldn't walk by your side

Share what you thought and sought

Yet when you entered temples to pray

I knew I had to walk away

For your gods came in the way

Talking to myself

Everytime, inside the bus
Full of strangers
I keep looking for
Known faces
Someone I could
Lighten the journey with
Trading inanities
On life's Sisyphean grind
Or trumpeting new acquisitions
Aware of sounding like the serpent
Selling the forbidden fruit
Even while saying it
All the time both
Hiding the pain in lies
Pretending to be swimming
When being swept away
Living the same servile lives
Yet assuming sovereign airs
As the bus lurches, sways and surges
And I trade old words
With him, I often feel
I'm talking to myself
In a dream I've already had.
(Published in Kavya Bharati)

Inviting

The sodium vapour lamps
Come on early like the night
Despite the illumination
My glasses look like they need changing
The air in my lungs
Whistles as it comes out
I think I should wear my woollens
Next time I dare to stir out
When I see girls go laughing along the road
Savouring cone ice creams
Mocking the nip in the air
Even death seems seductive
(Published in Kavya Bharati)

The Buddha laughs

When the lights blow out

The children forced to study

Cheer as if darkness were godsend

Candles which do not want to die

Disappear but when found

Bring the walls alive -----

We are all children again 

Marvelling at the shadows

We can turn into deer or hound ----

The air hums with unheard sounds

The empty chairs glow with life

The streets flow with chatter and laughter

The Buddha in the showcase stretches

And laughs at how time can come to a halt.

Cooum

Near the cinema
Stripping women of their souls
The river quietly breathes
Stoic like a saint
Though dying of the city's sins
On the bridge
The harlot
Too weary to walk the streets
Stands staring at the waters
Mourning the river
She had lost
In her hamlet green
Where it skipped like a girl
Without a care
Frothing, foaming, giggling
Unlike the river here
Dying of the city' s sins
(Published in Kavya Bharati)