On Sunsets and Loss

Staring stunned at the horizon,

Bathed in your warm red afterglow,

Weighed down by this teary air,

I await the breeze that used to blow.

As I retrace your last rays,

Drink in the splendor of your twilight,

Flashes of your times past, find me

Pining no more for your lost light.

Mistaken in my mortal ways,

I couldn't hold back when we last met,

I disown now the tears I shed,

Looking at your looming sunset.

For this night is not for mourning,

When strewn all around us we find

Memory lanes that lead to you,

Lanes your gardens had once lined.

You shine on where we cannot see,

Beyond Death's singularity,

So let's part till I too can leave

This cycle for eternity.

Interrupted

As I cast off each night

Looking for sleep,

I feel my likeness

In his pale outlines,

Pull away and row

Through his dreams alone,

Freed from my mind

And it’s wakeful confines.

In his wistful smile,

Piled in dusty stacks,

Lay all the plans

I’d made and put on hold,

Aspirations withered 

Waiting for their time,

Graying dreams 

Prematurely grown old.

A Sunday Morning Find

Sifting through the scattered stack on my shelf,

I stumble on the wreckage of a sink,

Faded lines rise from my forgotten book,

Washing up words submerged by waves of ink.

The mouldy covers like jilted lovers,

Feel distant to the hands, for which they pine,

Crumbly pages now with tattered edges,

Not yet resigned to their yellow decline.

For it was not so very long ago,

Stuck in a room just like this that I took

An escape and unloaded my phrases

Into the waiting whiteness of this book.

Mending ties as I hold it in my hands,

Verses fly as I pore back to those times,

Into my mind as it must have looked then

To see my jumbled thoughts rain down as rhymes.

Forgotten now the search I had been on

When I chanced to find this lost part of me,

For I feel the angst of these unfilled rows

Spur us both into another journey.

About a Storm

The clouds have lost their shape, blended even,

Their grey blanket dusk-like over the day,

Untimely calling out to the dark

Before the keepers of light could have their say.

Sweat that streamed freely down in the blazing sun,

Bead up now where they form on my skin,

Sit on through your oppressive prelude

Waiting to be washed away when you come in.

The birds fly back silently to their nests,

Tiptoeing through the still afternoon air,

For they too perhaps sense your arrival,

Caught up in the foreboding that I share.

The wind comes first behind a wall of dust,

Screaming in through, stripping trees of their leaves,

Followed by sheets of water born in clouds,

The rain pattering down beyond my eaves.

We shutter ourselves up in the house

While you swirl around it whistling our names,

Till the knocking on the windows die down,

After they have stopped trembling in their frames.

You leave back broken branches by my way,

Torn apart from where they used to dangle,

The rain-washed breeze blowing past them bring

The scent of wet earth rising through their tangle.

Awakened

Its been months since I chose to turn my back,

Shut out your love which like the glowing sun,

Constant over the long Artic summer,

Called me home from above your horizon.

I wasn't afraid that your sun would set,

The last rays leaving me cold in the dark,

For it wasn't like a spoken promise,

Words washed away without leaving a mark.

I opened up in parts to the light,

Pouring in through the skylight you had restored,

Chasing away shadows from the corners

Where the mirror to my thoughts lay ignored.

Brushing aside the dust of my mistrust,

I found outlined in that once polished glass,

A reflection of what you must have felt,

Of unasked questions you had let me pass.

Together we will unearth those answers

Inside the garden you have just planted,

My frozen wastes that were barren transformed,

As I now too want what you have wanted.

From Nariman Point

Nestled in the arms of a man-made rock,

As are the hundred others piled around;

Cast in common moulds, bereft of stories,

Quite unlike those nature carved from the ground.

Bridging the gap between the road above

And the waves below, disturbingly calm;

They crawl their way crisscross along the coast,

Like forming crease lines in an infant's palm.

From the footpath leading to where I sit,

The drive curves evenly across the sea

To where the captive waters of the bay,

Escape their walls and on the beach spill free.

With street lamps on guard, hazy lines of light

From cars, encroach beyond the embankment,

Catch the silver ripples as they creep back

Into the shadows the towers have sent.

Though the stars, spread out, refuse to take sides,

Over the high-rises the moon hangs low,

A halo where we expect tiaras,

Bathing all I see with it's warm white glow.

On Your Presence

Staring out, my eyes on an unknown land,

I travel dreary days on a train,

Hearing not the sounds that come from that place,

My ears numbed by a rattling refrain.

As I pull the drapes and prepare to withdraw,

My mind turns for I hear something new,

When amidst the overwhelming grey,

With a dash of colour you sweep into view.

Wearing a refreshing pink between black,

Adorned with green your pretty little feet,

I look up as you walk jauntily past,

Like an oasis in the desert heat.

A glint of gold, your hands dance while you speak,

Like welcome sunrays in a prison cell,

Your voice bubbling forth like a youthful spring,

Carrying your laughter like a trinkling bell.

Another day replaces the night,

The hours rush on, for once when I'd love to wait;

Now that I'm held in your shining image,

Lost to time, I wouldn't care if I was late.

Afterwards

As the dust settles on a setting sun,

And sheathed swords bring the carnage to a close,

I stand, waiting for the moment to dawn,

Unmoved, as Death amongst the dying rows.

Days spent alone with my bloodlust bottled,

I believed that once I set myself free,

I'd walk back from where others saw their ends,

And it would only be a start for me.

But once unleashed, where it once raged, my lust

Like battle blood seeping into the sand,

Now drains away leaving back the last dregs,

And a guilty stain where it used to stand.

An uneasy peace comes on afterwards,

Unconvinced, it suffers to convince me,

That my old craving, now disowned, ignored,

Will never hence blind this truth I can see.

But I'll know I've changed when I face myself

With guards down and that feeling at a swell;

For afterwards, we let our regret speak,

Afterwards it's always easy to tell.

Celebration Song

For long have I shackled my voice,
Afraid of the echoes screaming my pain;
But the time has come to set it free,
For now I'm sure you've heard me again.

Forgot the roads we'd once walked together,
Overgrown as they lay before today,
Roads I'd given up as lost forever,
Till I found my new path winding your way.

If I could paint the sky, just the stars and you,
You'd shine brighter than the brightest few,
So let me splash the colours I've seen,
Cause all I want to do is celebrate you.

Like a minstrel with his magic flute,
Singing songs for a princess he once knew;
Let me weave my words into a tune,
Cause all I want to do is serenade you.

I do not know where our feet will lead us next,
Thoughts of tomorrow can't obscure my view,
I'll lose myself in these moments we've found,
Cause all I want to do is remember you.

Unrequited

Unrequited, like the parched waiting earth,
Looking up at the lone cloud in the sky,
Flying by, driven by the wind, caring not,
For the streams of tears that now run dry.

Unrequited, sands left back by the tide,
Watching waves recede with a careless bye,
Washing away their unborn dreams,
Leaving silent pools where their castles used to lie.

Unrequited, dewdrops before the sun,
Sparkling in its rays, mourning with a sigh,
The night that wouldn't embrace them as its own,
Yearning the faithless night just gone by.

Unrequited then these feelings of mine,
That blossomed wild where no one else would try,
Unrequited then, my love, like a fire
Snuffed out before its time, my love will die.

Milestones

Imagine a silent milestone,
Up there where the hill road crested;
Carrying the flame, not of miles burned,
But of weary feet that rested.

Moments spent alone with your thoughts,
Just you, a cool breeze, and your goal,
Before the coming caravan,
Drowns out the music in your soul.

A moment perhaps to reminisce,
The roads you tread to reach this place,
Crossroads you'd like to revisit,
Small detours you'd like to retrace.

But there are roads yet to be seen,
So let your mind not linger long,
For there are whistled tunes on your lips,
Waiting to break out into song.

Worry not, as the day passes,
For the milestones you've left behind;
Just walk on till you blaze your trail,
Till you find that milestone in your mind.

Angel In Blue

A stormcloud, darker than the night,
Pierced by a splash of bright blue,
A single sunbeam shining through;
Like a wild bloom 'tween paper roses,
Like a crystal amongst glass pieces,
Standing out without trying to..

Empty faces all around us,
Lit up with painted pretty smiles,
Fade away when you turn my way,
For in your eyes lies an ancient truth,
One of hope that drives me still,
One that the rest chose to give away.

An island of tranquility
In the midst of this sea of noise,
Drowning out every other view;
Like a lighthouse in my stormy dreams,
Helping me safely ashore,
That, sweet angel, was how i found you.

Like a pilgrim at the end of his road,
Standing at his shrine,
I wondered if it had all come true;
And when you turned for another glance,
Held my gaze and searched my eyes,
I knew that you had found me too.

And Quiet Rose The Dawn

You and me, the summer spring gurgling on,

Rising crashing on the rocks, carving dreams,

Carrying us into the land of the quiet Don,

Of love, lost and found amongst frozen streams.

Old pages, an older story, alive

With our tears, held back between us no more,

Brimming eyes, lost in your dark pools of light,

Stolen moments we'd never craved before.

Now the tears are gone, leaving cold hard eyes

To look for the pages we read that day,

Though the words are same, their soul is gone

With the part of me I let go on the way.

The spring flows no more where we used to sit,

It must have changed its course, like you and me,

But the pebbles lie strewn where we left them,

Reminding us of a past that has ceased to be.

Shine On...

Sunshine, do you remember that time,

That smile on your lips, the twinkle in your eyes,

Lighting up hopes in the lives you touched,

Like an enchanted star across the skies.

Twisted fate and a little slip, snatch you

From the depths of the waves of carefree bliss,

Stranded, with a gathering storm clouding your thoughts,

Worried lines, pondering what you might miss.

I watch, helpless, from my distant perch,

Straining at these chains of habit around me,

Picking my cluttered mind for a way,

Anything i could do to set you free.

You are hurting, but the tears are mine,

So hold on sunshine, let the storm pass on by,

Cause every twilight promises a sunrise,

Every nadir is a prelude to a high.

One For The Road

A slice of moon in the night sky,
As the breeze whispers through the drapes;
Streaks of light in my dreamy mind,
Thoughts tracing out familiar shapes.

I think of you, our moment,
Frozen in time, framed in silver,
Remember the smile on your lips
And your carefree promise of forever.

I stayed back, sighed a silent goodbye,
As you walked past, out through that door;
Caught a glimpse of the sparkle in your look,
That which wasn't mine anymore.

How strange that it hurts you not
To greet me now like we never cared,
To not see that nothing else I felt
Could ruin what we already shared.

How strange it is to be in such a place,
Knowing there's nowhere else to go:
Wonder if you ever felt all this too,
Wonder if you know you had touched me so.

Words

Syllables, restless in their chains,
Scurrying around in my head,
Crashing into my thoughts,
Forming words, words I should have said.

Words raining down, an endless drizzle,
Piling up as I hold them back;
The busy hum of my day,drowning,
Words seething swirling till I crack.

A dark blur on a page of white,
My racing pen pours forth a stream,
Like a tune from an olden flute,
A melody for an orphaned dream.

Written at Dawn

You came in a flurry of fallen leaves,
Of pearly snowflakes scattered on bare trees,
As a chilly whiff in the fragrant air,
A gentle whisper in the rustling breeze.

This is what heaven must feel like, I gasped;
Soaring above that untouched sea of white,
An entire landscape just to paint our dreams
In the hues of love, the shimmer of light.

Pools of darkness in our portrait of life,
Murmured echoes of a voice in my head
Shrugged off in the manner of that charmed time,
Buried by our ageless dream, left for dead.

Countless memories wherever I tread
Indelibly etched along the way,
Wish we could retrace our steps
A new road to an old place; an old sun but a new day.