Crow

 like that lone crow

which sometimes descends 

on my balcony railing 

and punctures the silence

with harsh cries 

darkness too has come calling

I can feel the heavy flapping
of dark wings in my chest
and know like the crow
 it has come
to sit awhile and converse

and this time I have promised
to hold it close
and listen to the torment
that cracks its voice
this time I will not turn it away
for I know that voice is mine.

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Darkness

some days it makes sense

to let go the desperate grasp

on the rope 

and fall into the darkness

of the well

some days it makes sense

to let darkness enter 

every nook and cranny

of my being

and take hold.

some days it makes sense

to surrender to darkness

and see whether the light

I had sought so long 

will come looking for me

206

ash

cold repose of fire's satiation_

ashes stirred by a playful wind

205

Sadness

sadness seeps

quiet little inlets

softening soil

for joy to grow

sadness breathes

chill winter draft

huddling one

to fire within

sadness melts
cold morning mist
when as it must
sun grows in the east

205

Lamp

body stained
with burnt darkness

the lamp died

its battle done

I Became In Your Love

I became in your love
a broken leaf,
torn from the tree,
buffeted in terror
by winds unknown 
and then 
in lightness of surrender,
rising higher and higher

I became in your love
a drop of rain,
bereft from clouds,
falling through the sky
in relentless lure
and then
becoming one
with earth's desire

I became in your love
a lamp set alight,
consumed
little by little,
in fierceness of longing
and then
gloriously burning
setting darkness on fire

204

Death Roams Free

wilderness, her beauty revealed
in drying of branches; fading leaves
seeds perishing for seedlings to live,
flowers that wither in birthing fruit, 
worms feeding the hungry bird,
freed from obscurity
of the coffin and shroud,
interwoven with life, in nature's tapestry 
death roams free

203

Losing and Finding

weaving between shadow and light
playing this game of seek and hide
we lose to find; hold to let go
we laugh and cry and yet we know
deep within where the luminous glows
the truth of our inseparability
for clouds may come and clouds may go
the sun in its burning truth does know
the lie of such obscurity

202

Those Homes

in the small patch of land

between the coconut grove and the barbed wire wall

they had lived, those who had built my home

and when the work was done

had lost theirs

they had gone

from my balcony, I had seen rubble
where their homes used to be
where life had been lived

and for some days and nights

the silence had spoken in their voices

years went by and I never knew when

weeds and  grass relentlessly

took over the little patch of land

and try as I might, I can no longer find

a single memento

of those homes and those who had lived in them

201

Desert

longing for lushness
thirsting for rain
in desperate dryness
the desert grows thorns

191

I Am

Its in walking, I am
in the treading of path
witnessing around me
the ever changing view

Its in dreaming, I am
in the awakening from dream
and falling in love
with the harshness of road

Its in feeling, I am
in the holding within
of ravaging storms
and burgeoned hope

Its in loving, I am
in the love that learns
to break all embankments
and flood barren lands

190

knowing

can the mango savour
its own tangy sweetness

or jasmine be maddened

by the lure of its fragrance

can fire scorch itself or can 

the sparkling fountain feel its wetness

I will let the wise ones argue

about who I am and who they are

I'll throw all knowing to the winds

and letting my heart roam free and wild

I'll live consumed by ecstasy

189

old dreams

old, faded, worn and torn
I pack them all to be discarded
but my foolish heart 
clings on and weeps
wistful tears
for those  wasted dreams 


188