A LONE BOTTLEBRUSH

Winter is here

I can feel it in the air

In the greyness of the morning

In the freezing atmosphere

The leaves are listless

The plants stand to attention

There is no glee, no mirth,

No ejaculation!!!

Only a baited breath

A composed grief

A listening to the wind

As though a premonition

Soon going to be unleashed

It's the beginning of November

An autumn exiting dolefully

And invasion of winter

A conquest won unopposedly

A chill leaves me shivering

Perhaps a hint of the future

But in this bleak facade

As I look up and see

A lone bottlebrush in the park

Waves and winks at me

There's more to life my friend

Not just cold, chill and grey

A rush of red in a stagnant green

That is what "Nature" has to say

A SMATTER OF RAYS

Cold feet
And a tortured silence
A smothered glow
On the eastern side
The dawn breaks in

KALIEDOSCOPE

A few stars dance
In the liquid vessel
A few thatched roofs
Pitter patter
Of pans and pots
A floating island
Seen from the road
Far beyond

TELL HER PLEASE......

She has lit a pyre
With a few words
On a page till then
Virgin white
Scorched now
To a charred dream

Tell her please
To shed a few tears
To clasp the tongues
Licking the hearts
In frenzy amuck

YEARS LATER....!

One desultory summer noon
I burned a few pages
In a speechless corner
Of a tidy kitchen

The pages were a hue
Of blushing pink
Deep and light
Intertwined with
A few ink drops
Of pearly words
Woven to an
Imperfect song

The blue flames were lit
With unshaken hands

I watched the pages
Curl and churn
Into Charred dreams
With mist-less eyes

There after life stood by
And time ticked on
Rolling days into
Months and years….

Doors were closed
Windows shut
The sheets and drapes
Were left untouched
Life went by
Like a ripple less lake
Stagnant in thought
Muted in words

Years later………
On sun set days
A mist gathers in
The dreams though late
As I sit by an open
Window curtain less

Years ago……..
The moon dust had
Trickled off my palms
In crystal gray heap
Into the hapless recycle bin

Today I feel………
I had mistaken a step

The ashes if strewn on
The meadow afar
Clusters of colour
Would have draped
By far a barren land
In shades of red

Today I feel……
A tale was left
Deliberately untold
A dream strangled
Before unfurl

Today I think
By a gaping window
Agog with wonder
And perhaps unease
Why did I erase the dotted lines?

The ugly wounds
The gawky gashes
A story stitched &
Tailored to pale
In a pall of gloom
I repressed so soon………

Doesn’t time heal the way?
As the wise men used to say……

ONCE AGAIN

Blessed with notes
Birds tweet, chirp along
Blessed am too with melodious strains
I sing Thy song

MY ROOTS

I was born on this soil
But my roots stretch
To the lush, green land
Where rivers dance
And boatmen sing
Earthy songs

For long I have scraped
A handful o’ pennies
To visit my roots
And the house that
Now no more belong
To my kith & kin

But I hear they have
Built a wall
And a length of barbs
Now adorn
The faithless grass
O’er which if you
Place your hands
Thorns prick
Tears bleed
And hearts too…………