RAT TRAP

The cat nibbled at the rattrap

Not because the rat was inside
Nor breathing the rat smell.

The cat knew pretty well
That the rat was not home
Ever since the trap had been set.

What distressed the cat was
Not that he could not catch the rat,
But the presence of the trap at the attic.

The trap was teasing
His prowess, thought the cat,
And taunting his identity.

Shamed but furious
He began to scratch its plank
With his canine teeth and nails.

The rat forgot his archenemy
And feeling relaxed, fell asleep,
Gnawing a slice of coconut.

Well, if you want to know my version of the story,
I love you b'cause our love will belittle my death,
Your death, the death of all, all of them together,
Even the death of the universe, so to say;
As only love is immortal, living long, too long,
Never shaken by any deluge or catastrophe;
Until one of us hate one or the other wholly; 
Entirely beyond impossibility; till then
Let me love you, live in you, love you.

little by little

every minute objects

petals, pebbles and pearls

dots, lines and sketches

those abandoned pots

rusting nails on the hinges of the door

emptied pens, broken crayons inside the drawer

the pond, grass and rotten fruits on the ground

little by little

take me again to the shore

from where you vanished.

little by little

I realize,

I could never be the same again.  

So thus I wait for you
Day in and day out,
Out in that darkness
And ghastly rains,
Misty mornings,
Grey befallen noons
And moony nights.

I wait for you thus,
For you
To take me under
Your spell
In your flash backs
To that memories
Of ours
Of love and
Only of love.

DISH

God made me a vegetarian food

In a most benevolent mood.

Neither meat nor fish,

But a sweet vegetable dish.

He cut to pieces an unborn cucumber,

An ungrown carrot and unseen tomato.

He sliced a non-existent melon

And a never ever existed onion.

Mixing these five in an imaginary pot

He boiled them without oil and water

In an oven without fire… fire without wood…

Wood without tree…trees without forest…

And forest without trees.

Thus God made me a vegetarian food

Which was good to the last sip.

Neither meat nor fish,

But a sweet savory dish!

TOYS

‘Son, arrange your toys in order,
You are now grown up.’
Mother said.
Kid gazed at
the roaming skies,
the rainbows,
the birds in the wind
and
the mist in the valley
and asked:
‘How can I, amma,
if they too are childish?’

FORTRESS

Far above the walls of the enemy’s tower
Blows the flailing wind of your freedom.
Splinters of rock keep falling on your weary face, wounding it.
You should forget the ruby eagles that flutter around,
Pecking you with their sharp beak,
Perching on your shoulder in a frantic show of love.
All are but tempting jolts of defeat.
Wounded by the naked picture of the parched sky,
Your terrified eyes are infected with cataract.
Why do you brood over escape only at the dark hours of night?
It’s safety that’s paramount, not escape.
Strengthen your mind with steely resolve.
Preserve your breath and quivers in the repertoire of bio-remnants
For the use of your progeny.
Even if your fortune fort crumbles, never smash down the delicate
Fortress of your nimble mind.
Never smash down the delicate fortress of your nimble mind!

Your simple love letter

(First and last),

Your handwritten words

In the autograph,

The rosy roses you sent

Sporadically,

The hat you dropped for me

From the last train,

Vaguely did I remember.

But, alas, your last glance!

Love becomes immortal

In its final expression.

GHOST

I don’t get sleep.

Why?

The moment I close my eyes nightmares begin.

Haunting you?

No, causing distress.

Who?

A Ghost!

The one from the fable who was shut up in a pot, long ago. Is he the guy?

Yes, and he grins at me, teases me in glee.

Teasing? What’s he saying?

That I am an idiot with no sense of loss.

And then?

A sharp blow on my cheek with his smoke-smeared arm!

The revengeful fury of one who was trapped in a pot for a thousand years.

Is it?

Yes, so forget it, since it was just a dream.

Shall forget anything. But, the sense of loss he mentioned. What did I lose?

Don’t you know yet?

No. What’s it?

The way out from the pot!

Oh!

Freedom.

BLOOD

You can block

Love

Life and

Revolution.

But never

The wind

That carries

The smell of

Your conspiracy,

Your execution;

The smell of Blood.

-Tribute to Fidel.

KITTEN

The Kitten that ran about

In playful abandon

Sat quiet and restrained

In the Kitten deck

When it came of age.

But I, childish still,

Go on sketching nonsense

On the torn sheets of paper

Considering it as profound.

Man grows; so too do animals…

But man realizes it

Only when someone tells him;

Animals know it on their own!

LIFE

Tell me how you died

I will tell you how you lived,

Said the Master.

Looking at my corpse

I saw a man sleeping tight;

Unhurt, young and

Fresh like a flower.

Indeed,

It was a peaceful death.

Never rebellious

Never anarchic

Living an easy life

Drinking and eating

At other's mercy

You lived a slave's life,

Said the master,

With a chuckle.

Dejected,

Disappointed,

And dissatisfied;

Bleeding his heart

And writhing in pain

A real man dies a

Disturbing death,

An eventful one!,

The Master concluded.

SPIDER

I was fond of the spider in my room

Though I haven't ever seen it.

The spider that wove its web

In every nook and corner of my room,

On opened windows, book-shelf,

And the hanging chandelier

Never even once came out

To catch the trapped prey.

The spider seemed to find fulfilment

Not in predation but in threading together

The warp and weft of the web.

One day, it was when the weaving of

The web stopped in abrupt

Did I look for the spider,

Rather frantically.

At night, the shadow of the remnant web

Silhouetted against the bright chandelier

Distressed me; I couldn't sleep.

The spider resumed weaving the web.

-In my mind!

LOST LOVE

Rose he sold

Brought money in return.

Spending that money

He got boozed

To 'celebrate' that loss.

CROW

Imagining as

the harbinger of peace,

the kid used to love

the visiting crow

until that day

when the crow

with a killer instinct

sat on the rooftop

of his house

and,

as if for the very first time,

pecked at a part of

dead fish, so brutally!

Love turned to fear

and fear began

to eat up the kid,

with a vengeance.

I will become a true man,

Only if and only when

I liberate myself

From religion,

From the rituals intended to blow up fear of religion,

From the symbols of religion invented to create religious bigotry,

From the maxims motivated to make religion's slave,

From the terrorism that resulted from religions' blindness,

From the immense wealth manipulated by religion,

And from the limitless power religions carry!

Then what about God?

Don't be upset, 'it' is Omnipresent!

Built and rebuilt in multiple ways

From a worm to the universe

'It' is in fact the Atom;

the life saving parcel of

protons, electrons and neutrons!