Homesick

(Shillong: Clicked by me)

Bricks and blocks

Iron Gate

Wooden planks

Old cement smell

Damp walls

Moist windows

Worn out bed-sheets

Sunken pillows

Heavy dreams

Longing deep

For a home

Which only

Lives

In my memory

तेरे बाद... (After You...)

(Barfi & Jhilmil: Illustration by me)

कई राहें चलकर देखी हमने मगर
सुकून कही मिला ही नहीं
ख़ुद को वही छोड़ आए है शायद
जिस राह में हम बिछड़े थे आपसे


सोचते है बहुत अब, कुछ कहने या करने
से पहले, वह बेफ़िक्र
मासूम सी आज़ादी भूल आए है शायद
जिस राह में हम बिछड़े थे आपसे


रिश्तों से मन भर सा गया हैं, दिल भी अब
ख़ामोश सा रहता हैं
एतबार-ए-दिल खो आए है शायद
जिस राह में हम बिछड़े थे आपसे

Somewhere…

(Clicked by me, around 10,000 mtrs above sea level)

Somewhere between the Heaven and the Earth

Where neither exists completely

I feel the happiest

Somewhere between my Mind and my Heart

Where neither rules completely

I feel the happiest

Somewhere between my Hopes and my Fears

Where neither thrives completely

I feel the happiest

But it’s been a while,

A long while,

Since I have been Somewhere…

Indefinable Sadness

(Snapshot from the film 'The Double Life of Veronique')

Wherein lies the genesis of this strange feeling in me?

I am yet to discover

I know for certain it wasn’t sudden…

It overcame me degree by degree in gradual progression,

Till it hit me hard one afternoon

Inconsolable I was

Inexplicable it was

How it took hold of me and all that I knew my life to be

You look in my eyes

And you see

So much sadness in me

I look in them

And I draw a blank

How did I come to be so?

When I examine, I see no reason to be consumed in sadness

Life has been fair, nothing extravagant but nothing to despair

Something must be incomplete in me

Missing notes in a melody

Missing pages of a story

As I looked out through the window pane

Streets and buildings soaked in rain

I burst out crying

Uncontrollably

Heartbeats…

(Edited from snapshots of film 'Heartbeats')

Waiting for the walls to close in

Any excuse for that matter

To get close to you

And hear your heartbeats…

Lost in the curls of your hair

Drowned in your green eyes

Thoughts of my heart

Never make it to you

Desperation hits bang on

Vulnerable heart and soul

I put them on a platter

But your appetite was lost

Rejection always takes its toll

Deeper blue or brighter red

Missed by a single shade

Enrolling in a feel-good sex

Soon Summer comes calling

Hearts of Winter spring anew

New object of affection spotted

Another hide and seek begins

Knots

 (Edited & created from original image courtesy: singlemominspiration)

A thread runs through my memories

Tangled lot in recent years

Trying to rebuild the old stories

Always stopping out of fear

Too many knots in a single line

Where to begin? Where to stop?

If I undid all, I could be fine

Always running out of hope

I sit down and I contemplate

Past, present and what could be

I reach a point. I hesitate

Always losing out to me

Our actions define and re-define,

What becomes of us with Time

Soaked...

(Image courtesy: vi.sualize.us)

Standing in the rain
Soaked through and through in your thoughts
Your love kept me warm

Void…

(Supermassive Blackhole; image courtesy: didyouknow)

Woke up feeling something is missing…

Searched my heart and my soul…

No trace of anything left…

Yet there’s a void somewhere…

Maybe something died inside

Or has it been dead for long?

Leaving an emptiness within

Which only now

I feel…

Head & Heart

Head throbbing
Consistently
In tandem
With my heartbeat

Rarely does my head
goes with my heart...

Labour Of Love

What could have been

Saved in time

If only things were

Done in time

Now demands much

More effort

A lot more action and

Less of words

Waking up at the

Eleventh hour

A little before the

Milk turns sour

Does not make for

A good cream

Sleeping away life

Into a dream

Promises can never

Build a life

When broken it can

Ruin a life

Real work has only

Just begun

Earn back the trust

That’s burnt

No place in love for

‘What if?’

Love is all about

What is…

Build a bridge for

Love to cross

Think not of the

Gain or loss

Toil away earnestly in

Love’s labour

Soon things will turn in

Your favour

Patience will wait for

Love to triumph

Courage will see it through

Till the end

On the other side you will

See her smile

But for now, you need to

Work a while