Lost to the Alpenglow

  And the prevailing circumstance

  I can't help but wonder

  At the zebra pattern

  Of the lives of

  These humble souls

  In an ambiguous world

 

  19. I REMEMBER

  "Just because you are lonely

  Doesn't mean you are alone

  You are just apart

  From the rest of the world"

  I remember I once had a heart

  But it took flight when it realized

  That nobody cares

  About my bleeding wounds

  Now that I no longer have a heart

  That is why I still feel lonely

  Still singing the blues

  Even when I am lying in your arms

 

  20. FORLORN

  With broad forehead,

  Eyes, wide and white,

  With a tinge of passionate red

  He stares, deep and complete

  Height, slightly above mine

  Neither tall nor short

  We together made a pair, Thisbe couldn’t

  Have it this good with Pyramus

  His lips, soft, incline toward smiling

  But seldom laughs, encased

  Set of teeth, each with its pair

  Ablaze with the happiness exuding from within

  But reserved and alone

  Unapproachable and forlorn, a pair

  He and I, remained alone

  Both sought and neglected.

 

  21. I AM REAL

  You might think I am fantasy,

  Hatched by the wandering mind,

  In a lazy afternoon

  But I am real.

  You may believe

  I am just a piece of

  Imagination,

  Brought to life by the tip of your pen,

  As you reminisced on the page,

  But I am real.

  You have seen me, talked with me,

  Yet I remained to you, an enigma,

  A Book you can’t comprehend

  I am real.

  I but deliberately kept you in suspense

  For you to ponder deep into history

  And to wonder whether I had lived truly

  Outside your fantasy and imagination

  But I am real.

 

  22. STOLEN GLANCES

  I will cherish the moment

  You first saw me and pretended

  Not to see me

  I will cherish those moments

  I saw you watching me with stolen glances,

  Observing stealthily the construction of my being

  I will cherish that moment when

  You lifted your head,

  With casual aloofness

  And ignored me, hiding with great efforts,

  The pain of not being able to say those words

  I will cherish that moment when

  I beheld you, standing proudly alone, stately,

  Perhaps thinking on how best to say “salaam”

  I will cherish this moment

  When I, standing before you

  Completely free and possessed

  By you, as your secret admirer and friend

  23. SOLITUDE

  Silence should play

  Its music

  In solitude

  24. THE MAD POET

  At first

  God created the Pen

  Then He created Man

  And then created the Woman

  The Man took the pen

  Looked at it

  And became a poet

  Then he looked at the Woman

  And became a mad poet

  He became possessed

  By the forces of

  Good and evil

  He has since been raging!

 

  25. THE ELUSIVE CRITIC

  I found myself

  Falling in to a snare

  I set to capture providence

  But, alas, ended up falling

  Deep in to the webs of

  My soul's caprice and

  The blinding quest for criticism

  Of the lines of prose and poems

  I humbly called'' creative art''

 

  26. THE VISITOR

  I oiled my hair and

  Scrubbed my teeth

  In anticipation of

  An August visitor

  The visitor on his part

  Considered the journey

  Too onerous and the road

  Too narrow, the city too far

  The beauty not withstanding

  The trap not enticing

  The smile not bewitching

  And the hostess not worth the trouble

  ''Open your heart for me'' he said

  And I did. ''Open your eyes and

  Welcome me '' I believed then disbelieved,

  ''I can't make it my dear, another time''

  Who would want to visit

  A spoilt child of the Muse and Venus

  Who resides as a recluse

  In a Rocky City on the moon?

 

  27. PEN BROTHER

  With the stroke of your pen

  You opened the door and let me into

  The recesses

  Of your heart

  I had a glimpse of the bliss

  The excesses and the exuberance

  Of the green pasture

  Of your mind

  You had a grasp of the past

  While still battling with the future

  Yet, here I stand pen Brother

  In the presence of your life

  But for the entanglements of your heart

  And the diversions of my life

  I would have been the incarnate

  Of your dreams

  Yet, brother in pain

  I suffer the agony of

  Your betrayal, with

  The non fulfillment of my desire

  Alo! Pen Brother

  Would you pull the strings

  And move the lyrics of

  My song?

 

  28. PATCHWORK

  You are free

  To substitute me

  But please

  Do not replace

  Or abandon me

  I know I have turned away

  And have grown cold

  Fallen short of

  The glory of your love

  And the warmth of your affection

  We have indeed agreed

  Not to disagree

  But I am glad to be

  A woman

  29. VOLCANIC ERUPTION

  Soft as petal

  Hot as fire

  Vibrating

  Pulsating

  Throbbing

  Erupting as a volcano

  Diffusing like water flowing

  Into every cell and fiber

  Of the body

  Till it climaxed

  In a cosmic explosion

 

  30. THOSE EYES

  The cold northern winter

  And the hot southern summer

  Came together and lodged

  In my heart

  I shiver at the thought

  Of being removed from your presence

  And burn with the yearning

  Of the glimpse of your eyes.

  Those eyes

  Those searching eyes

  Stripping me bare

  Of my senses.

  How do I deal

  With this freezing coldness

  This heat -- no water can quench

  The fire of love not even flood.

  If I can ride on my wishes

  I would not only ride to you

  But run, jump and fly.

  31. THE VISITOR 2

  He flew in

  As if riding on a wave

  Indifferent to the throes

  His absence created


  He walked in casually

  As if stepping

  Down the stairway

  Of an airplane

  So full of himself

  So sure of his steps

  The mighty man did me a great favor

  By putting in an appearance

  I watched him quietly and prayed

  I didn't even pray

  I just watched him and said 'you're welcome!''

  And he became paralyzed

 

  32. THE CONFESSION

  You are my inspiration

  When lost in thought

  Battling with myself

  My dream

  When I close my eyes

  In a blue moon night

  My companion

  When alone in a world

  Of lonely people

  My fragrance

  When I breathe heavily

  In the darkness of the forbidden world

  My ship

  In the stormy waters

  Of this life

  My Heritage, as I walked barefooted

  Along the shores

  Of the River Jordan

 

  33. AT THE HORIZON

  Where the sky meets the sky

  Where you went up

  And gave me your heart

  At the Horizon

  Where the earth meets the sky

  Where you came back

  And took it back

  At the Horizon

  Where daylight meets the night

  Where you were bathed with light

  But you still saw darkness

 

  34. THE CONFESSION OF A GOOD GIRL

  I have done so many good things

  With my right hand, and

  Have done many others that were not.

  But you said I shouldn't worry

  Nor complain

  That I shouldn't tell the world

  That I am angry and hungry

  Even as I looked at it devouring

  Through the O of your arm akimbo,

  Well then, let the spirit feed fat

  On the fat of the body

  And let the body grow lean

  Out of fear

  I have realised

  I have been alone all along

  And from now on

  I will dream my dreams awake

  35. ON BENDED KNEES

  Go down on your knees

  And worship me

  Because I am the man

  Your king

  It is not so, you see

  When the wheel turns round

  I will be on top, so you go down

  On your bent knees

  In this kingdom

  I am the Queen and you are

  The Subject that goes around the World

  To get the wealth that pleases me

  And when the world turns round

  I will be on top

  As for that king

  I have not yet met

  36. THE RAPTURE

  " Under me, your living face endures"

  He said, "descending on you in a rage

  Of tenderness, you bore me patiently"

  Yes, that was when he ruptured

  My rapture

  Dashing with each of his breathe

  The last hope I have in him, even as I

  Breathe in the fragrance of his perfumed

  Sweating body

  I wept.

  I refused to be swapped.

  37. MUSING

  All I do these days

  Is Fantasize

  The Sun and the Moon

  Passed me by

  And the Hands of the clock

  Slowly ticked my life away, but

  I do nothing but sit

  With starry eyes

  Conjuring

  Oblivious of the

  Brightness of the Stars

  And the ups and downs

  Of the lives around me

  All I do all day

  Is building castles

  Of pure conjecture

  That seemed to be so far

  Far away, reposing with the sun

  In the distant horizon.

  Bales upon bales

  Of lines, have I wrought

  To ease the pain of

  The reality that is

  Like a shadow

  A form without life

  Hard as I tried to

  Blow life into it

  It simply

  Refused to breathe

  That Stallion that lives with the Sun

  38. STRANDED

  It was a time of anguish

  When you are

  Treated as a

  Second class citizen

  No longer significant

  Even after making

  The sacrifice and

  Enduring the pains

  Stranded in a feeling

  She was never been

  Made to experience

  In a world of make-belief

  39. PASSERS BY

  I held my breathe

  For the glimpse of his face

  Cried all night

  For the warmth of his breath

  I held my breath

  For the feel of his skin

  I halt my steps

  For a touch from his eyes

  I held my breath

  As he passed me by

  Searching, agonizing, looking

  For the girl of his dreams

  I held my breath

  For the caress of his lips

 

  40. SWEET TORTURE

  I used to believe

  That true love doesn’t exist

  At least, not in its ethereal state

  Surreal

  The kind you only read about

  In books, and listen to

  In poetic ecstasies

  Of tortured poets

  But I was wrong

  Proved wrong

  When I became a witness

  To a tango of the hearts

  Witnessed

  The good pleasures and the pain

  That brings tears of joy

  To the eyes of the beloved

  As he stares deep into her eyes

  A love so unconditional

  So real, the Ying and the Yang

  41. DROWNING

  Plunging deep

  Into an oasis, you

  Opened the floodgates

  Of hot perusal and

  Burning pursuit

  Submerging me into

  Sublime Submission

  I became overwhelmed

  With the Love that is pure

  Drowning in the flood

  That flows from your brows

  And dripping with the dew

  Of remembrance of

  The ecstasy in my dreams

  Submitting

  Receiving

  Accepting

  Claiming the vibrating arrow

  And the diadem of the sphinx

  At the peak of the two mountains

  That are close to my heart

 

  42. I HOLD THE KEY

  Yester-night

  Your spirit visited me

  Running its fingers

  Through my hair

  Lullaby- ing me to wakefulness

  And I looked

  At the side of the bed

  Where you should have been

  Still cold and empty

  As it has always been

  Through the years

  But how dare I believe

  That you will ever find me

  When you had not been searching

  And you have not been looking!

  I neither went East nor West

  I remain rooted to the spot

  Holding the key to my destiny,

  My Fate

  43. STRATEGIES

  He lied

  He cried

  He said he loves me
>
  He planned

  He schemed

  He wants to touch me

  He knew

  I know

  He wants to hurt me

  He searched

  He looked

  But could not see me

  44. DANCE STEPS

  What happened yesterday

  Mr. Masquerade

  Your performance was beyond

  Expectations

  Why did your toes failed to move

  Along with the rhythm of the drum

  What happened yesterday

  Mr. Masquerade

  That your gesticulations were

  Arrested

  By the gusto of your moving

  Hips

  Your action is beyond pardon Mr. Masquerade

  And have to re-live your dance

 

  45. SERENDIPITY

  In the silence of poetry

  I hear rhythms

  In the coolness of love

  I felt the heat

  In the solid darkness of the night

  I found the light

  In the tango of the ying and the Yang

  I discovered harmony

  In anguish and turbulence

  I found victory

  Under the shadow of your eyes

  I found peace

  BOOK 2: PHILOSOPHICAL

  46. PRISMATIC LIFE

  Take Life as it comes

  Laugh when you are happy

  Cry when you are sad

  But always understand

  Without sorrow, Life will be

  Just a routine shuffling of feet

  So when sadness and anger comes

  Close your eyes and let their bitterness

  Soothe and caress your nerves

  Touch their rugged edge and get

  Refreshed and strength to welcome

  Happiness once again

  47. UPHELD TREASURE

  You can dig the ground

  And get wealth

  But you cannot dig the ground

  And get knowledge

  It has to pass

  From brain to brain

 

  48. THE LOVE FOR APPLAUSE

  And the standing ovation

  We crave for more and more, and

  Never have enough even as the last echo

  Faded out, we are already in the process

  Of setting up another arena, for the reception

  Of the applause, the ovation and innuendoes of

  Being the best, most autistic, most dramatic

  Most.... Until we fade away

  With the applause, the ovations and innuendoes

  Unto the great beyond, still bowing “thank you, thank you”

  With the ever ready smile, that has never known happiness

  49. MAMMON

  Mammon! O father of men

  Come and lay claim

  To what you have begotten

  O children!

  Worship your father

  Go towards East and West

  In your frenzy to amass

  For nothing

  Will fill your bellies