were-
Yet only spoke of love…
_________________
Upon the paths you tread
It’s a long path you’ve chose to tread,
In the lands of faraway,
A long walk through longer nights
Until the dawn of day
And though I cannot ease your walk
Nor your ways to guide:
I only wish I could be there
To walk along your side
To not remove the mountains high
Nor to ford your streams,
But just be there, when non else is
To remind you of your dreams
And wipe your tears that you may see
The golden starry light,
And know that there is Hope beyond
The darkness of the night
But if it be of little joy,
Throughout the tests you take,
Do remember someone prays
Always for your sake:
And at the far end of your pilgrimage
Waits patiently for the day
To welcome you with open arms
And walk along your way…
_________________
Awaiting the nor’wester
The horizon, melancholic, hides the sun,
Gray clouds start the day,
A windy breeze ushers a storm:
A nor’wester on its way;
When broken leaves will fly abound
Lost in a reckless mirth,
And the forlorn clouds will melt their grief
And crying ‘brace the earth
There’s life in every drop of rain –
Yet empty seems the cloudy day,
Thoughts awakened once again:
That rather should be left astray –
Though the day wakes up to the rain’s caress
Deep inside, there’s parchedness…
_________________
Meet you again on a cloudy day
We didn’t have an umbrella that cloudy day
The clouds looked ominous initially,
But when we realized the rains would drench us both
Didn’t we laugh in childish glee?
The clouds grew their giant size –
A never ending army in indigo blue,
But the wise sky seemed unbothered
Just like me and you
The dark clouds looked beautiful;
Or was it the moment then and there?
Far from madness, lying on the dewy morning grass
With a chill building in the air
And then the motes fell, one by one
Reminding me of paratroopers from the sky;
You scold me in your dulcet voice:
‘Can’t you think of anything better than soldiers who fly?’
We were lying on the grass: the cityscape far away
The rains in soft slow- motion laze
And ourselves drenched from head to toe
Both lost in life and all its haze
Just like the air all around
Hazy with sheets of autumnal rains
Yet, there was a sliver of a rainbow hope
That the sun would shine to melt all pains
So I looked at you: Your eyes locked deep in mine,
Those eyes that dissolved the world, its lies;
But at that moment I despised the rains
They looked like tears on your hopeful eyes
What happened then, we both don’t know
(Or maybe that is what I’d like to think)
The last time that I saw of you,
The unforgettable sky dressed in deep blue ink
I still wonder whether the answer,
Was it floating in the sky that day?
I am sure, you’d have said, “How does it really matter?
What’s important is this time, right now, today”
I don’t carry an umbrella anymore:
Perhaps because I don’t need a shield as I did yesterday;
Perhaps because its absence reminds of you,
Your last memory, on that day
Or perhaps somewhere deep inside I hopelessly hope,
That empty handed, if I saunter on a cloudy morn
I will find you in those green meadows
And the past will be reborn
Sometimes I restless feel and try to run
But I see the sky and once more stay,
And hope that when the north wind comes laden with rain,
We will meet again on a cloudy day…
_________________
Realization
On a cloudy day,
A gust of wind snatched my umbrella from me,
Watching it sail,
I only thought, which of us felt more free?
_________________
Rain in the mountains
Rain in the mountains, call to me,
“This cloudy day, where can you be?
The vales have greened, the meadows too,
Primulas wash the hillsides blue.
This misty day, truant’s the sun,
The hills alive, with the rains begun,
And awake’s the pine, the oak and yew,
Wild brooks, they sing, but where are you?”
Miles away, in lands afar,
Faint echoes I get to hear.
When I look upon the graying sea,
Familiar clouds voice silently:
“Much have you travelled, much did you roam,
Its time, my friend, to go back home…”
_________________
On a rainy Sunday morn
Sunday was a sunless day -
Myself so bored I slept away,
When I heard a whisper in me deep,
‘Wake, my friend, why do you sleep?’
‘So dark a day,’ I start to cry
‘The sun’s not up, then why should I?
So let me sleep and do my best’
I reply back in full detest
‘But just look out,’ it starts again
‘The freshness, beauty and the rain,
The frothy fields so watery green,
Why not just play? Are you not keen?’
And so I rise with a groggy head,
(But do not step outside my bed)
I look out through the window pane
To see the day all drenched in rain
And then I see a little kid
Who in the rain does jump and skid
And plays with muddy hands and toe,
As if there is no tomorrow
‘Looks familiar…’ says I to me
As I see the child, so full of glee
Dancing, prancing in the rain
Falling, rising yet again
And then I hear a distant voice
‘Come inside, play with your toys!
This rain will make you catch a cold,
So come inside and don’t be bold’
‘But ma’ says the little child
‘The rains are slow and very mild,
Please let me play awhile with glee
For this day will never wait for me
And Sunday’s still the same with rain
(Before the classes start again)
So please don’t stop me while I play
I have to live utmost today’
The last few words hold onto me,
As I break out of my reverie
The child, but me from a distant past
Whose wisdom for long, did not last
For here am I, many years away,
Wrapped in darkness while its day -
The joy of life, awash in rains
As I hold onto just all my pains
The voice inside comes back to me
‘Won’t you play awhile with glee?
In this busy life, my little friend,
We lose the way, seeking the end’
‘So wake up friend, don’t sleep and wait
The day’s begun, but not yet late,
The sun you search is in the mind,
Seek, and you will always find…’
The cloudy day, seems bright at last -
No future nor the dismal past,
The rain and skies just sing away
‘I have to live utmost today…’
_________________
Listening to the road
There always seems a lot to walk,
Upon the paths we tread,
And it wearies when we cannot see
Beyond the turns ahead
But lost in pain, when despondent,
We stare upon the way,
We see footprints of the many more
And if we listen carefully,
We’ll hear the road to say:
“So many more have trod this path,
Then why can’t you today?”
“Many had stopped oh, just like you
But on they went ahead,
For Hope lies in the walk in front
Not in turning back instead”
“So shed your tears, but carry on
Through the oases – sands unknown:
One day, on walking far ahead
You’ll have a story of your own”
“And tomorrow, when another soul
Stops hereupon as well:
I’ll show him of your footprints too,
And sing to him your tale…
_________________
A child’s dream
When I fail to sleep on a spring filled night,
I look outside my room,
And smiling watch the silver moon
That slowly gets to bloom
And softly wish how if I could
With all this moonlight here -
Stitch myself a pair of wings
With silver, magic, care
My magic wings would softly glow
In darkest of the nights
And cut through space and swirling time
In flash-of-eye-ly flights
And take me off to far off lands
The ‘bode of fairy-elves,
And sometimes, with l’il mischief too,
To the eerie dragon dwells
And there the magical creatures would
With a tinge of jealousy,
Dream about my moonlit wings
While I’d fly in glee
They’d have their wings of rainbow gems
And some in dewdrops blue,
But none to compare with the best -
My wings of argent hue
Of course, the dragon ones be strong
In slithering hides of green
But travel through the zones of time?
Well, that would not be seen
So every night the moon would shine
My tendril wings would wake
(You’d question ‘what of no-moon nights?’
Well, even I deserve a break!)
My wings would also take me through,
To times in history, when
Kings would reign upon these lands
Or maybe stone age men
Or nights before exams, perhaps,
To give myself a clue,
Okay, not all the tests, but only those
I failed by a mark or two!
And