Eternity

too short to quench

love

He walks down the aisle

looking for the nave

to kneel and slide out

After prolonged heat wave

sky watery explosion

earth lovely doom

Seasonal change viral

suffering, realignment

with doctor’s bill

They sculpture psyche

in the city of dumb dreams:

idols sweat in sun

Pulling out white hairs

she reminds increasing age:

time’s fragrance unchanged

Each morning the sun

shines through window panes, revives

the dream for verses

Smell of kamini

in front of my house excites:

hummingbirds mate

Cloud over cloud

darken earth and hide stars:

dawn and dust one

I see a finger

point to the eye in her breast

mist lingers on lips

No letters today–

addresses of his dead friends

greying in diary

She wraps nudity

in sari turns graceful:

love-touch in colour

Each stone, drop, pebble

waste of life in worldly self:

haiku nothingness

After the red

the dog, the girl

knotted double face

In the darkness of backyard

he searches his shadow:

summer clouds overhang

I stir the water

to pierce clouds in it:

throw memory stones

He has no wind-rope

to tie waves in the net:

sand melts beneath feet

Stealthy invaders

chill surge of river and dreams:

the year waves good bye

Reshuffling the shelves

it’s only dust in alleys

sneezing scholarship

She reads my age in

the synthetic dark of moustache

and whitening chest

Willow summer-sways

its bough half-rests on the pole

light goes off again

Her wet lingerie reveals

more than her body:

I drown in her sea

She undresses in

dim light perfumes her body

fills room with herself

Silence is sound in

the blank of unthinking mind

poetry is peace

The child lost in

letters and numbers

spins new designs

She waves a quick smile

from her new Maruti

tyres screech

The sun vanished

in the blue morning couldn’t last

the flower’s smile

The nightqueen fragrance

seeps in from the windows

my bedroom blooms

He sees the ape

in the glass self-satisfied

his own image

The blue white dapples

on the canvas seeing

the eye of silence

Sipping gin

he says he loves sex each night

but hates the smell

Seeking good news

I watch the lines on my palms

taking new turns

They are skinny but

skilful, can’t be swatted:

their vibrations haunt

He sweeps yellow leaves

or gathers years in a heap

burns to merge with dust

After hours of power-cut

cobwebs in the room

swing in thanks

Seismic lab

a network of cobweb:

no earthquake for long

My bedroom

a maze of cobweb

spiders breed

Her smile

arrival of spring

at the bower

The red light is on:

they all have secrets to hide

no use peeping in

In nightly silence

glides the airbus through the clouds

trail of white smoke

After sleepless night

a drowsy sun tears

the morning sky

A dead man

can’t keep standing

lies in dust

A lamp floating on

river breast in bridal grace

waves in the gloaming

Looking for Taj in grains

through sand storm find history

trapped between toes

Shining from the blade of grass

a drop on earth’s breast:

tribute to sun

With changing weather

they look for sun and shade both:

chameleon tune

I know waves that roar

I live through silence of shore:

the sea grows in me

I felt her fingers

the strings of my son’s guitar

unplayed for a long time

She hides the mirror

with rose and lipstick

and keeps her fiction

Joy of union

reduces as rhythm falls

restless embers grow

After hurried

lovemaking we drift to sleep:

our backs to each other

Flickers of peace hide

god in heart like running brook

love in nudity

Monsoon shower

after a long heat wave

monotony breaks

Ripe on the branches

mangoes fall one by one

end of the season

The mirror is so small

I can’t see the ocean

beyond my own look

It’s utter helplessness

true, but to survive

one must be tamed

Dragons play whirlwind

among clouds– meet and rain

unite earth and sky

Coal grows golden

each moment in quiet corners

raw wind singes

It hangs like a drop

any moment evaporates

love is gullible

Morning mist rests

on a swathe of pond

lone fish looks for sun

The moon glows and

heat wave all through night scalds leaves

kills butterflies

A butterfly

restless over the other

trying to console

The mynahs

herald the day clamouring

for moths

Vacating the house

he leaves four decades

no thanks to any

Not age but

years of worries–

his furrowed face

The sun rolls

on waving Ganges

whitens love-hope

The leaves sway

to fly like birds

free in the sky

Long forgotten

the beginning and the end:

exist in middles

He closes the eyes

expanding inner space

a short-cut tour

Red oleander and

hibiscus calling morning

to Kali

After lunch

stretching legs in cubbyhole

like a frog

Looking lovingly

she bends his head down to hers

twines like a creeper

Unable to change time

my watch doesn’t move

moment at will

The solitary bird

like uninspiring tracks moves

alien homeward

The rains

wash the paints

that hide the face

Tending the hooks

she blushes to see

the line of jewels

Making love

she presses with her nails

a sparrow sports

The frog in mirror

slips by damp towel

cold sets in slippy hands

Half-fleshed faces

track from behind the windows

rawness of journey

Summer turns prettier

after duststorm and rain

night alloys with cool colours

The leaves have turned moth

we cross-leg with crabbed wishes

erase one more year

The half moon

on her neck reminds of love

before departure

Falling chalk over head

clouds understanding: eyes itch

and nostrils run

Rains leave soil soft–

seeds sprout with first sun

pearly dawns

Among the white hairs

a solitary black one

keeps her hope alive

The fig of life with

roots above and branches below:

man and woman one

Frosted faces

dissolve in stale rain clutching

female body

We lie together

filling our body with

each other’s sensation

Celebrating

forgettable memories

at public expense

After morning walk

the trio gossip each day

fresh revelations