Soulcage

Why to confine you more?

It has lasted for moments

And hours, for days and years

Justice never meted 

Reasons never assigned

Purpose never had mission

The learned raven goes on

Chanting the sacred name

Knowing neither ends of the tale

The path has too many bends

Shrouded by mist, 

Pebbles are nostalgic

Inert is the cage

Passion does no more bind you

Find you behind those bloody veins

Why to confine you more?

They move from space to space

Delight flourishes in flight

Burn the wings of wishes

The ashes shall have no remorse

Between cells, why to shuttle in and out?

The divine gift lies unconscious

In forlorn corner of sky

The golden moon weeps 

Her face loses shine in the wane

Still shining? Still revolving in 

A passion to come closer one night?

The celestial flight leaves a signature

Upon the universe; who knows how

Shall it make me bankrupt soon?

Is it securing a place on the page

Or a dot is just a dot—an aberration

Of thought or pursuit of some dream

Suddenly interrupted by an exclamation?

Why to confine you more?

The night is living

So is the day

Alive is the worm or the rose

The faint broom of light 

Reminds that the dying comet is still alive

Alive is the sun

Burning till the end

A dwarf shall be dark and heavy

With void attracting 

Devouring all in a moment

Will it confine you too

As I do now?

Will there be justice

That you deserve

The liberty that you seek for?

How does it matter for me?

I have only loved you

Encaged, chained to a distant dream

Lying naked, abandoned

I love to see you there

I envy your purity

Like then, I used to hold you close

Loving, caring, like a bud of a rose

It is all a forgotten tale

There is nothing left but the wings

Heavy, unable to flutter it more

I love lying motionless beside you

Folded those wretched wings

I love seeing them idle

Never wished to fly

I love seeing them confined

Purposelessly honouring my company

As you do, unloved in the cage

Only it pricks so often

Why to confine you more?

Alien

I live in a sepia world
Where the Sun is not a star
And, the Moon in not a satellite

Maybe

Some faces never fade,
Some moments never die;
For a war-torn life,
Those remain a symbol of peace.

They sat—the man and the woman, side by side;
Silently glow twenty five candles
To burn a few pages of memories
Of a little girl whom the angels brought for them
On one such day to shine on their eyes.

She would lie on his lap
Gently holding her mom’s hand,
With eyes broadened would endlessly tell
What amazing things she had discovered.
Every day, he would dream of a new tale
To tell her, else how would she sleep?

The candles burn
The pages burn
Burns the last glimpse of those innocuous eyes
Burn colourful wings of the butterfly
Burns a new school tunic.

The man dreamt of a new tale,
But the evening dug the grave for it.
The tiny bird was snatched away
From a tiny nest that her parents built,
Not even knowing, why...why?

None could see her again;
Maybe, she was killed
Maybe, she was sold
Maybe, she was rescued
Maybe, she grew up
Somewhere, in another distant moon.

The father still dreams of her,
The mother still sobs alone,
Maybe, she still too weeps
If she is alive; maybe, she’s not!

Maybe, she needs to dance
Amidst smoke and stench
For to carry her father’s dream
Of feeling how precious is life;
Maybe, sleep evades her eyes
For a tale to be told by her papa,
Maybe, she is too tired of tales of life,
If she is alive; maybe, she’s not!

Her papa roams in and searches for
Within faces of every girl of her age,
Ceaselessly guessing, “Isn’t she my doll?”
Maybe, if she is alive; maybe, she’s not!

The dream story lies hidden
Within moaning soul of an old father,
Maybe, to remain forever untold;
Maybe, destiny does not permit
Some promises to be kept...maybe!

(A repost )

Hate !

In war it shines in burning hope

In peace it pines for a faster lope

Hatred breeds in love and awe

In a sunken space of blunted flaw

The beauty of the mountains

In sunshine or twilight

A verdant meadow

The peasants’ plight

The swearing by a golden moon

The pride sparkles in serpent’s tooth

Always there to find a foe

For glory of an endless show

A fall or a rise, a leap or a pain

Taming lips as soul is slain

Thoughts sweep in dust and glow

Failings succeed in heartless blow

Be a coward, in power and wealth

Be fairer in a handsome filth

Once they know that you are there

What to do with love and care?

Smile hides the venom’s greed

Margin stretches in faith and creed

Hatred has its mission of love

Patient peace in tears of dove

Hate reigns in soul and mind

In land or ocean or sky or wind

Walk no more to find it more

Flee fast to an unknown door

That opens up a thousand more

To lose the sense and tragic core

The laughter lounges on a slouching tree

On the bend of a silvery stream

A summer holiday or an autumn dream

Moment arrows down in a joyous spree

Such were the days and I and you

Unripe, unwise, humble few

Walking on the lovers' lane

Nothing to lose or none to gain

A dream that died

So soon that lied

For reasons applied

For success tied

To empty life in endless game

Securing hate in love and fame.

Me

Don’t dig me up

Roots are still wet

Fresh leaves of Spring

Had enough sunshine

Rain I love, the weeping tales

Of dove beneath grey eyebrows.

Don’t dig me up

The pearl is yet to shine

Moments to walk long

Rustles of brown leaves

Strewn on pavement of life

Undusted for so many years

Don’t dig me up

Down to the stairs still

Childhood gestures

An inseparable illusion

Of me, my tree, my seed

Of memories neatly painted.

Untimely...

Racers see only the racers

Count who is ahead or at heels

Crowd cheers, money flies

Floats the craze, rises the rage

But, racers count only racers

Life and death race together

Collars and shoulders up

Who knows which is ahead of whom

Races go on racing

The country soul !!

I listen to the music of my mind

Eternally mirroring those moments unkind

The words that fail

In blows of gale

Of yes or no of doubts unsigned.

I walk so far from country soul

Judging the road or a rapid roll

The steps that haste

In sleepless rest

Of stony heart of a racing droll.

I sing a song of a lonely bird

Whistling pain of an erring nerd

The tune that splits

In lighted streets

Of grieving notes of a rural bard.

I whisper tales to rains and spring

Passions tied to cluttered string

The dreams that weep

In gallows strip

Of losing nativity in urban bling.

Life traverses the time's way

Living needs to earn and pay

It runs and flees

From inner peace

Through shining black to a boring grey.

(I wrote this decades back...nice to find it back from an old diary)