Free verse and quiet poems — in English and Hindi — on love, longing, loss, and the slow work of healing.
You row my day, and wake my night;
you sleep beside my heart in its fight;
you fire my dreams, and flow my blood,
under the hope of one more life…
You come across, and whisper love,
but you make my life a hell, and goodbye;
you burn my heart with one more desire,
under the hope of one more Valentine…
Come before, and still late to myself;
noise all around inside, and peace outside;
from day to night, and night to hurt,
the ringing, and the silence, of time.
In the heart of hate and love,
with the cycle of joy and pain;
destinations with no journey,
one voice — and all of it empty.
A recreation of thoughts and incidents,
lasting, though never in your presence;
fame to loss, hate to love —
merely the active dichotomy of your love.
Gone far into the night,
leaving only clues in sight;
they reach you everywhere you go —
a world of joy, and of rejoicing…
Falling through the sky,
below your dream-line;
walking upon the trees,
the storm has passed your side…
There you go, and shine —
the glory of her, and its time;
withered, and trembled,
but nature has its own drawing…
I stand between one and another:
one is close to my heart,
and the other, devastating;
but far beyond, where I reach, I found her by my side…
Nature.
Open your arms, and shower your love onto me;
shall I be lost beneath it — your heart, your caresses —
lost in the loaf and the work of these illusions?
Spare me not a rose, but spare me from hate;
I shall go far, with the smile of yours in my heart…
One day, she flies into my thoughts; she dwells,
circling, the same, across my face;
she holds her smile, and cries to hold my hands,
and promises to last forever.
Today she is near, but not to my heart;
close to my thoughts, but not mine;
she laughs more often now, but with my lost love,
and finds her joy with time.
I am like a fool, waiting on and on —
morning to night, day to dark,
love to hate, and hate to love;
I hope that, someday, she will be mine.
Somewhere aware of my intentions,
she fades away into the diminishing wind —
the preamble to my pinnacle-like heart, again, this time.
I am searching for my solace everywhere —
in fields far away, in the sky below the blue,
in the green near my heart, in memories above all;
face to face, it is just you, in all…
I am searching for my peace, every day —
in the dark of day, on the dawn of the moon,
in the rise of cold, within a rising tremor;
and you, in every thought, by day and night…
I am searching for my smile —
in the cry of a child, in the company of you,
in the breaking sky, in the joy of midnight’s crises;
losing myself, second after second, in you…
I am searching for the words to define you —
in the love of you, in the smile of you,
in the eyes of you, in the day of you;
and in how much I love you…
A wink — a liar, you are, and your eyes;
they speak of something, but unknown;
close to the truth, but far from reality,
where the sun rises at night, sleeps with the sand, and mourns.
Tomorrow, maybe, it rains; but beneath the shelter,
the one I call mine, and the other of lies —
but time will pass, and life moves on,
and tonight, I have you in my heart.
I can feel it, my heart, miles apart;
and every time I try to part it down,
it runs back to you,
with every thought that crosses my mind.
Though you live in my heart,
the rain today will end, and shine;
over the ray hidden in you,
time will win back my love…
Toward there, and the way it possesses —
spanning all my past and future,
I walk behind a shadow of mine,
and hope to shine one day…
I see the end, and the start,
having been through point to line;
always so close to success —
but does desire ever cease, this way?
New hope, and old remembrance;
an old suit, and a fake smile again;
and I believe in yesterday,
when expectation hangs of its own…
Love was easy, and breath;
but with its going, I was lost —
in today’s end, today’s success,
walking alone behind myself, today.
I walk on the sky, I play with the wind;
I sleep with the moon, and wake with the sun;
I love everyone, and someone —
today, I am the one: you.
She is tenderly hiding herself in a smile,
spreading happiness, while hiding her eyes;
more precious than the narrowest light,
when she whispers a new song every day…
Slightly she shies away with her smile,
its traces leaving joy amid the cry;
the more she looks around — but love
stays back with her, and hope, inside me.
Every day of her raises a voice,
but with a gentle caress, it settles into a smile;
though far from the moon and its light,
she smiles, and loves, beneath the starry sky…
An endless gaze, through her eyes;
the farther I reach, the more I lose mine;
and she smiles, girlish and shy —
and I fly to endless joy, in the smile of her eyes…