HurlyBurly on the road

Tag: Loneliness

  • मैखाने में नादारद

    मैखाने में नादारद, एक दस्तक-सी ज़िन्दगी;
    कभी चंद ख़ुशनुमा लम्हों की मोहताज-सी।
    ग़म के नग़्मों में, अकेले एक साथ बन गई;
    और एक और जाम के इंतज़ार में, ज़िन्दगी बदलती गई…

    सितारों से पूछी मैंने अपनी तन्हाई की कहानी;
    उन्होंने कहा — यह राहगुज़र है वीरानियों की।
    कभी रात के साये में, चाँदनी की आरज़ू-सी;
    कभी सुबह के उजाले में, ख़्वाबों की तलाश-सी…

    राहों में बिछी चुप्पियों की चादर को,
    महसूस किया मैंने हर क़दम पर;
    साँसों में बसी एक अनकही तड़प,
    और दिल में छुपी एक बेक़रार चाहत…

    फिर भी, उम्मीद की किरणों से रोशन यह जीवन;
    हर दर्द में छिपा है एक नया सवेरा,
    हर आँसू के पीछे एक मुस्कान की चाह —
    और हर अँधेरे के बाद, एक नई सुबह की आस।

  • महफ़िल में तन्हा

    तेरे चेहरे को देख-देख,
    यूँ ही हँसते-हँसाते रहे,
    तुझे पता भी ना था,
    किसी किनारे हम भी बैठे थे।
    तेरे मेरे बीच के दरमियाँ से
    कहे भी तो क्या बेकार में,
    तुम पूछती तो कुछ कहते, लेकिन
    महफ़िल में तन्हा तो हम ही थे…

  • An Outage of Sight

    An outage of sight leaves me blind — but it opens me up:
    to see, to witness; to feel, to know
    what it is like, being loved and hated,
    alone in a room of darkness,
    counting my own possessions, and wondering at my life.

    How far the outcry; how seldom I try —
    but on the closest side, I realize there is a hope, a light.
    But where is it leading? How soon will it be another day,
    with a new mystery, a self of a new realm?

    Still, on the corner of that street,
    I am walking down, in the hope of catching her glimpse,
    and whispering a few words;
    and with the rain, I hide my tears —
    seen, to unseen, I figure it out, another time;
    but, overlapped and collapsed, here and there,
    I am everywhere — but with the confusion, and despair, of a call.

  • Some Day

    Some day I try to understand life;
    some day I try to forget my mistakes;
    some day I try to keep myself low;
    some day I try to hide my happiness;
    some day I just like to watch time go;
    some day I stay back, and watch people go;
    some day I look into my own eyes, and call myself a winner;
    some day I forget what I am, and what I want to be;
    some day I just destroy my every thought;
    some day I want to hold my breath, and feel myself fading;
    some day I want to fill myself with endless food;
    some day, I just write for her.

  • जाने क्या बात है

    जाने क्या बात है, आज गुनगुना-सा मिज़ाज है;
    बता पाना तो चाहता हूँ, पर न जाने क्या बात है, जो रोके जा रही है फिर भी।

    कुछ तो है इस वक़्त के दरमियाँ —
    मेरी एक छोटी-सी और कहानी, लफ़्ज़ दो लफ़्ज़ की एक और जवानी।

    जाने क्या बात है, विरत-सा मन आज है;
    चंद लम्हे ही तो थे, न जाने मन क्यों उदास है।

    रुख़ से, रुक-रुक के आते तो हैं,
    पर ज़ुबान समझ नहीं पाती, क्या बात है।

    एक और किस्सा-सा लगने लगी है अब मुझे मेरी ज़िन्दगी;
    जाने क्या बात है — याद भी है, साथ भी;
    न कोई रूठा है, न जुदा;
    बस, वक़्त के साथ दिल से एक ख़ुशी नहीं,
    और आस-पास सब बेकार-सा है — न जाने ऐसी क्या बात है…

  • Colourful Night

    Like a night full of light,
    scattered raindrops all over;
    a skeptic moon under a dark cloud,
    and a breeze of wind over my skin.

    A fallen-apart rain of hope,
    running short of you;
    though whispering, alone, at night —
    through the end, we reach the start.

    From the far sky, I see a ray:
    a moment of life,
    a second of joy,
    and the hope of the new;
    artistically playing a game of hide-and-seek —
    sometimes my dreams,
    and the queen of the night: you, the moon.

    A long way to go, still, to reach;
    but beauty lies everywhere I go,
    hidden beneath the clouds, or in your shine;
    and I see you, laughing at me, and at my lonely night — with you, or without.

  • Somewhere I Belong

    I am leaving behind memoirs at every step;
    some are known, and loved,
    some are helpless, like feathers of cloud,
    and bewildered, like my dreams at night,
    and lonely, like my day without you.
    But I am stepping forward, every day —
    lost, and left behind, but stepping, to where I belong…

  • Gazing Life

    I recall my life, and reckon it through its flakes;
    I have come so far, in an exile of time and its frame.
    Not the plain I have come through,
    not a bed of roses I have laid upon;
    not the shelter and comfort of the beheld and safe,
    not fearless of loss, or of weakening dreams,
    not loved and cared for, all the way — but
    I find a tranquillity when I look back at time.

    I step forward, and watch myself run afar,
    to reach the end I always admire;
    but the trees left behind, the shadow of them —
    be they lovers or friends, I hold them still.
    And in the nostalgia of time, I whisper my lonely words:
    “Wish you were here, to complete this journey.”

  • Lost Night

    A glimpsed day, and its thoughts;
    dreams, and the far reality of life;
    someone to know, and to love,
    someone to call, and to cry to,
    and one to call your own.

    Sheared eyes, and time,
    seeking for the one that’s lost;
    to the past, to the future —
    something to remember, and to forget,
    something to hold, and to let go,
    and one to keep safe, inside…

  • One Arm to Hold

    How long I chase my dreams, only to find them void;
    how long I travel alone, on the path I aspire to;
    how far I go, alone, with one lost reach —
    and by the evening, I wake to my own night,
    through and through my own pain…

    And by the morning, I want to wake holding one arm,
    and smile with you, for the rest of my life.