Diwali-3

The shiny curtains that hide your beautiful wrinkles,
If I were to set them on fire, and bring to life,
your letters, written in coloured wax,
Would it reveal any more than your silhouette did?
Would an earthen lamp suffice ?

The ugly knots, all wrapped up in shiny gift paper, your craft,
If I exhibited your eyelashes too and the Kajal, smeared, of its own virtue
Would the onlookers read in your eyes, the encrypted tales
of the storms we've passed and the smiles we wear?
Would a heavy heart suffice ?

The songs, of the seekers, the puppets and the plastic flowers,
lost in the sooty flames, in the face of the blackened verandah walls,
and the ones the folklore haven't sung for decades,
Would a day of music, of brightness dissolve the anguish?
Would an insane laughter suffice?

Amidst the pompous crackers and the guileless lights,
the sweets gone sour and the blunt edges of tethered bookmarks,
for the naive birds singing poetry, creating illusions of depth
What am I, more than a mere narrator, a heard-unheard voice?
Would a festive season suffice?

Garden-weed

I see from my rooftop,

the garden of a medicinal nursery

The lawn-mover comes and goes, the garden is levelled

The weed grows with the herbs,

gets shortened with them,

The sun, the moon and the wind

nourish it no less, no more than the herbs,

until the day when it will have to be pulled out,

or be made aware of its identity,

and left to die slowly of alienation,

herbs can wait, and so can the ailments, can’t they?

Dead or alive, weed shall be weed.

Do these words even matter?

A free bird

In one corner of this art exhibition,

A little girl sits with an empty cage,

and draws on white paper- dark portraits,

silhouettes and ink sketches, all of wingless birds

birds with shiny feathers,

hopping in the lawns, perched on live wires,

on leafless branches, none trapped in cages though

When you reach her corner of the exhibition,

you’ll notice on her shoulders, the sprouts of a new pair of wings

Every fortnight these grow to their full span,

and are clipped, sold to young and old dreamers.

She is a free bird.  

If We were Trees

If we were trees

Would we bloom to our fullest in the spring,

and embrace the autumn with grace?

Would we bear with the thirst of feverish dry leaves for months,

and then let the drops seep in, dissolve all angst in one go?

Would we flow with the wind, and sing with the birds

only to let them go fly away, without a wince?

Would we not get attached to the travelers taking refuge in our shade,

to the birds-of-passage, to our own leaves?

Would be breathe the joy of giving relentlessly,

without getting tired, without the thought of self?

Would not pomposity poison our veins,

crawling into our state of being, becoming one with it?  

Would we not look down upon shrubs,

and envy the ones higher and greener than us?

Would we be bound in the ritual threads, or worshipped as deities,

and smile at human folly, stay rooted and calm?

Would we still remain rooted,

while being shaken by the storms, hollowed down by the forest fire?

Would we still smile, and be at peace with each bud and flower,

while the chains of our own  greatness bruise us, make us bleed?

Would not the infinite stillness slowly grow into meaninglessness,

and consume us, empty us out?

Could we help being human, if we were trees?

आत्मबोध

आज सुबह उठकर,

बेसुध कलम को जगाया सलीके से,

थके-मांदे राही की कच्ची नींद का टूटना,

देखता रहा कुछ क्षण मुस्कुराता,

फिर एक कविता लिखी, आज पहली मर्तबा खुद पर

उसे पढ़ा मगर मैंने तो अवाक रह गया,

वही आखें, वही उलझी लटें, वही बेढब फैला काजल

यह मेरी पुरानी कृतियों से बिलकुल भी अलग नहीं थी

तुम जो उतर आते थे मेरी रचनाओं में,

क्या मेरे अहम् के पहलू मात्र थे?

क्या तथाकथित वह प्रेम मेरा, संकरा, उथला,

मेरे कृतिम अधूरे स्व की पूर्ति का साधन मात्र था?

आज निरर्थक, जड़ हो गए इस एक ख्याल से,

सारे श्रेष्ठ, पवित्र, मनोभाव मेरे

पूछना बेमानी है- क्या तुम हो?

सारांश

टूटे गीतों की अब चाह किसको?
हिम की स्निग्ध सतह पर नेह, 
दावानल सी उष्म लगे अब अपनी ही देह 
शहर बस्ती, नगरों का थका-माँदा,
उलझी हुई मुस्कान की चादर पर पैर फैलाये,
बैठा फ़कीर अविराम गाये तो गाये|

कृत्रिम श्रेय का अब मोह किसे? 
साकी ह्रदय से जिसने हों कुछ रंज लिए,
बीती रही न रत्ती अनकही,कल किसने जाना प्रिये!
आज यदि नेपथ्य में खुद को अनाम कहकर,
आम्र का रस पिए, वो नीम की दातुन चबाये 
क्या फर्क! बोल मेरे फिर कोई दोहराए तो दोहराए|      

Tonight

Tonight I am singing a rotten melody, 
to lull myself to sleep under the open sky
You throw a stone and it sinks in me,
I am bottomless tonight,
Shallow rivers don't mix with the deeper ones.
I am drowning, your laughter eclipses my anguish
Tonight, I am the voice of the river bank,
trapped in the glass sheets, melted and frozen, 
Oh! Dead lake, if only you could listen to me
Oh! Mad Heart, If only you could visit me, Tonight.