Monday, November 14, 2011

221. The Sky Songstress


It was not until
She came along
that algorithmic silence
was so hummable

She would sit
and tune the skies
while the tone deaf evenings
and pitch dark nights
rumbled on

The skies were Her swan song

The now-intolerably-altered song
still plays to
packed audiences -
the seasons,
the undiscerning yet devoted seasons
the unfashionably fanatical seasons

She fled
when they started re-writing her work
(the people who talk in inspired whispers
of things they knew little about
of things they could do little about
of things they cared little about)

She fled and now
She keeps to herself
while She walks through strange silent towns
to hide from taunts of unfinished songs

The winds,
which hoot and whistle in applause
to the off-key skies,
turn mute when they hear Her hum

and She wonders -
would She have felt less miserable,
if She were a song and not a songstress?

Sunday, November 13, 2011

220.

muskaate-hanste the, gurrate-danste hain
saleeqe seekh gaye, zamaane ke, kuch ham bhi

ittefaqn sukoon jo mile, bechaini hoti hai
jo dard se ishq sa ho, sazaa lage marham bhi

guzarte hisaab se hai saare paaband pahar
manaaye do pal ke jashn, bas do pal maatam bhi

tasveeron ke teelen bahut sajaate to hain har jaanib
par bun-ne ko yaaden yahaan, waqt hai kuch kam bhi

rah rah-ke sulagte hain, rah rah-ke baraste hain
haan, apne hi jaat ke hai is shahar ke mausam bhi

------

Ruko. Gaur karo. Dekho -
Mehfil me kya rakha hai!
Lutf uthao to safar ka zara.
Manzil me kya rakha hai?!

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

219. Identity

 I bring the blinds down
 though the streets outside are deserted and dark
 double-lock the doors
 turn all the lights off
 and return to where he lies

 I sit by him
 and close my eyes tight

 needless as it be

 I run my fingers
 over him
 over
 the ridges
 the contours
 the grooves
 familiar yet cold and hostile

 I want to learn him
 by rote
 because knowing him was owning him

 I was free  till now

 because I belonged

 But
 now?!
 
 Now 

 that he leaves me
 unfettered,
 I sit here
 just a name
 trapped in his history