Red Shadow

Red Shadow

August 28, 2015 at 4:14pm

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If I had acolourful shadow
I would wear
the darkest cloak
just to see
how much colour I could bleed
through the thickness of the night.
That lay in saturation within the folds of my destiny

The earth
would suck the colours
and give them away
to the maple trees
All lined up along the trench
And from my piece of earth
I would watch the black leaves,
The black trunk
And the black sun.
Sprinkling a plethora of myriad colours all around
Blue,
Red,
White and gold


The only thing alive
Would be the dust
In hands all grey and charred
From cooking up stories in black and white

Each crack would fill up with golden dust
‘kintsugi heals’,I heard them say
and wisdom comes when maples bleed

unfolding mysteries in my fist
I’ll show you love
in a handful of life


-Ghazal 28.8.2015

A tribute to Intezar Husain

Dedicated to Intezar Husain-The legend who lives on in our hearts forever.

You promised you would visit my home
For last time was too busy
And we couldn’t go to the bird sanctuary
Or the by lanes of old Delhi
Or meet Bittu who has an eatery just round the corner
You promised you would come...

I remember a long time ago
A marigold in your hand
You found amid the trimmed hedges at my place
How tenderly you had picked it up and cupped it in your hands.
The sun had so subtly borrowed some yellows
from the sunshine in your palms
And as you walked ahead
With me , a little girl , trying to match your steps
My tiny steps
Struggling to keep pace with you and Papa
You stopped and smiled and matched your pace with mine

And at the Okhla Barage
Under the big banyan tree
As you paused to take a look around
The monkey with the long tail
Cautiously climbed down
And snatched the flower from your hand
How you smiled!
The notes of the orchestra coudnt be sweeter.

“Kahaniyon ki jade bohot gehri hoti hain lekin nazmein
...nazmein to awaara hoti hain..’’

Your words still ring in my ears
And today
As I watch the sunset
The yellows are a shade quieter
A story in my heart
will live on forever in quietude

The paper is wet
The ink-
Invisible

(Rest in peace Intezar Husain)

-Ghazal

Wear Walls

Wear Walls

Let us all wear walls

For the lamp on the shelf

Is scared of the breeze

The breeze that blows

Will extinguish it

Only the wick will remain

Carrying remnants of fire that once danced on its apex

Now let us all wear walls

 Remove every single clothing that sticks to your silhouette

Against the setting sun

You are too conspicuous

Your voice too loud

Let the plaster consume the brittle pieces of your thoughts

As you spit them out

Wear walls

You will be safe

Let them design walls

 Cheap

Economical

Strong

In every shade

But monotextured

So that every voice is a single voice

A single voice

A recurrent rondo

Wear walls

…..Ghazal ( 23.2.16..10:20AM)

Zoom in

Zoom in

Far far away

From the mainstream life

On a mountain rugged and raw

Lives a monk

A crimson speck on the horizon yonder

My eyes behold

His cloak

 as purple as the misty brush

Of  Claude Monet

Over the purple landscape of the soul

As I inch closer

The pall rises

The monk is a tree

The tree is oak ,  a hundred years old

Each line on the bark

As deep as the sigh

Of Godess  Inanna on Ebih

That fills the hollows in the universe

Closer ahead 

Under the tree

Sits  the wise one

With wisdom of the sages

Sanctifying all crevices

He speaks and the winds pause to listen

A million stars break into dust

And sprinkle far and wide

Unto the smoky void

As I zoom my lens

On  a canvas wide

I see a painting live

Embossing a Van Gogh stroke

Of  a starry night in daylight

The Wise one

Under the crimson tree

Amid  bells  and beams of light

Amid bells and beams of life

Somewhere up in heaven

The Maker smiles

And puts his palette  away

…Ghazala  (18/2/16….1.15 am)