Mist

Slowly a mist descends 
Shrouding 
Cold
Sharp
Wrapping its fingers 
Tightening
Clammy
Hard

I forget to breathe
yet heave

I grope forward 
Blind

A sliver of a sunbeam
The mist lifts

A smile breaks
On cracked lips

A struggle for it
To reach the heart

From the corner of an eye 
A tiny shard
That breaks away
And dissolves

A blanket of cold
A fading echo
settles down
claims its space

And calls me home.

Ships!

And I wait for a vessel to carry me away

Far, far from this madding crowd

Far from the fake smiles, the pretense

The curtsies, the handshakes

The hugs, the kisses in the air…

On to oceans open, transparent

The honest rumble of the waves

The true dialog of the gulls,

The whispering rustling of the sails

The pure sound of whistling wind…

The salt in the breeze on my smiling lips

Mingled with tears of happy release

The days gone by slowly, swiftly receding

Into the fading distance

As this vessel

This vessel of freedom carries me away….

How Long...

How long before

catharsis sets in?

before this dull ache

lulls itself into

a quiet throb?

before thoughts

that rush at me

slow down

into a distant memory?

before the grief

of betrayal genuflects

in the face of 

forgiveness?

How long before

I forget?

How long before

I forgive?

How long before,

once again,

I live?

बेतकल्लुफ़ी से उन्होंने ज़िक्र अपनी मोहब्बत का किया
और तुम्हारी पहचान हवा के नाम की
हम अपना इश्क़नामा दिल में दबाए
अश्क़ आँखों में छुपाए
सर उठा कर चल दिये ....

Casually they mentioned their love
And gave your name away to the wind
I concealed our love story in my heart
Hid my pain in my eyes
And walked away, my head held high...

Oneness

How do I merge and become one

with the warming rays of the sun

With the rushing breeze promising to carry me away

With the naughty gush of the ocean's spray

Or with the moonlight that beckons me with an enviable calm

How, how do I go back to oneness

Like when I melted in your arms

The light shining inside you
Strengthens the light inside me
Why then should love
Have to flicker out and painfully die?