Thursday, 25 February 2016

Consuming…


Consuming…

From and around,
The flower of my belly,
A night ascends, too arid,
And butterflies feast on the fireflies;

I yearn to melt,
Under you—
Your feverish gaze,
And turn into a Night-Jasmine garland.

That you can churn,
In your chafed, rustic palms,
Exuding, a fragrance flume,
Some wild, pollen plumes, running amok;

And then, anointing your body,
Smearing it on forehead,
Should dance… wilderness…
…………on the flushed face of the Earth. 

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

I could have been...


I could have been,

A Grecian Urn,
Servile in gratitude,
Another receptacle,
To stow away memories,
In ashes stacked…

Or, an Earthen Pot, 
Summer's apprentice, 
Sweating and,
Doling out sweet water
In cupped hands...

I could have been yours,
And evermore. 
Whacked and cracked open—
To appreciate my innards—
If I were not.

Pity! 
Such less seen of so much bared.

Sunday, 14 February 2016

Poems

~ कौड़ी,
कौड़ी,
चढ़ गई,
तिनका,
तिनका,
मैं उढ़ गई,
(काहे सब में बांट कर,
तु कमली ... खुद में,
इतनी अकेली पड़ गई?)
रेज़ा,
रेज़ा,
झढ़ गई,

माटी,
माटी,
मैं गढ़ गई ...  ~

~ जाने कहाँ छुप जाती थी, जब कभी भी खु़द को ढूंढने निकलती थी। और यह सिलसिला बस मुसलसल रवां रहा। शायद चलने के साथ-साथ, यह ग़ायब हो जाने का हुनर जान लिया था, और क्या बख़ूबी इस्तिमाल में भी लिया।
मुस्तक़िल खोजने के बावजूद, कहीं मिल नहीं पाई खु़द से। वजूद कहाँ है, है भी के नहीं। ख़ेर... इधर कुछ दो चार महीने से दिख जाती हूँ। तुम्हारी पढ़ने की मेज़ से सटी जो कुर्सी है ना, उस पर। कभी-कभी जब तुम खाना खाने बैठते हो दोस्तों के साथ, दूर से तुम्हे देखती हुई।
जानते हो, कल जब तुम खेल कर लौटे थे, और अपनी पसीने में भीगी कमीज़ बिस्तर पर फ़ेक... गुस्लख़ाने में घुस गए थे। तुम्हारी कमीज़ मैंने ही छुपाई थी। पर तुम्हे परेशान ना देख सकी ज्यादा देर। तकिये के नीच सेे मिल गई थी ना?
मेरी यह आदत जानकर, किसी रोज़ तुम पूछ तो ना बैठोगे, कि कब तक यूं ही मोजूद रहूंगी... इर्द गिर्द तुम्हारे... तुम में... शायद घबरा कर हज़ार साल बोल दूँ मैं। पर सोचती हूँ, हज़ार साल कुछ कम तो नहीं। ख़ेर...
तुम्हारी मुहब्बत में,
सिर्फ तुम्हारी ~

~ हवाले सारे, निरे ज़ुबानी निकले,
नहीं ताल्लुक़ ये रूहानी निकले,
चढ़ती ना मेहंदी कोरी हथेली पर,
कहाँ महबूब मेरे रूमानी निकले। ~

~ Joie de vivre,
Because you are.

खुशपाश हूँ, खुशग़वार हूँ,
क्योंकि तुम हो।~

~ Mine,
A night divine,
For every trip & prance,
On the tongue of your dance,
Moon sneaks into my cerulean wine;

A kiss, a glance, embosomed; I’m in trance. ~

~ If I am of words;

And like a seraphic belle,
Poetry should be mine,

Then this ascetic lunacy,
Ought to become my spine.


An infidel to laid leeway,

Ye shalt see me swagger,
Past this staid, sober world,

For I—am—a—Sannyasini ,
In my own right! ~

~ ना उतरो सीलन, दिल की खुश्क़ दीवारों में मेरी,
मुझ पर से ना झढ़ जाए, यह तवक्क़ो की पपड़ी। ‪#‎कमली
तवक्क़ो - Expectation / उम्मीद ~

~ थी ख़बर, पर कैसे मुनकिर हो जाती श़ब के उस फरेब से,
मैं शाम थी, था मुक़र्रर मेरा रोज़ -रोज़ यूं ही गुज़र जाना। ‪#‎कमली

*** मुनकिर – Disbeliever ~

~ जिंदगी ने मुझसे,
या मैंने जिंदगी से,
कुछ सुलह सी कर ली है।
रोज़-रोज़ की किच-किच,
नोक-झोंक, झगडे फसाद,
को दर-किनार कर,
वो चाय गरम करती है,
बार-बार,
अौर मेरी नज़र,
कोनों में अख़बार के,
मसरूफियत... ढूंड ही लेती है। ~

~ इश्क़ शैदाई... कैसी मलंग हुई मैं,
फलक पे उसके, कटी पतंग हुई मैं,
मुझसा वो बोले, उसकी फिर हो लूं,
ग़ुबार सी कमली, उसके संग हुई मैं। ~

~ Be'inteha ishq ki, aur na meri, hadd thi,
Aur na doobne ki, teri wo' ek jo zidd thi,

Le doobi humain...

Tanha main, kitne barson, doobti rahi,
Thanda chulha, ba'khuda, phookti rahi,


Geele they lamhe...

Tund mijaazi mein teri, chaand gal gaya,
Ye ishq bhi aatish giir tha, saath jal gaya,


Sitaare num hain...

Tu mujh mein, aur main tujh mein,
Aur ishq benayaazi, kuch kam hain...



Ab, kuch kam hain.~

~ सताता था जो, उससे तर्क ताल्लुक़ कर,
नींदों के सिक्के, रोज़ शब, हम गवाने लगे। ~ 

~ Sticky,
Dark,
Muck & slime,
As yet another honor,
On your elbow and palm;
Cover me into that.

Grab me,
From my waist,
And rub off,
All of yourself,
Onto me, into me;
Make me complete.
Ah, me! Intrepid and replete!


... एक ही मिट्टी से हम दोनों ... ~

~ Your words contour your face.
I am a writer;
I'd only read face! ~

~ कभी छू कर भी,
वो कितना छूता है। #कमली

Whilst like air,
Love becomes,
Willowy & palpable...
...... when Plectrum—
Held loosely,
In his long, lissome,
Deft fingers—
Plucks the strings,
On the Lute,
Of supple Silence.

He touches me,
I touch him,
And yet our skins remain Unwed. ~

~ Kehna gulfishaan se, ki barg-e-gul abhi taba'ah hai,
Ye shirkat apni, gulistaan ki, kisi aur roz ki rakh len.
Petals have withered, to the sprinkler of joys let this be known,
For the unpaid visit to the rose-garden, be delayed until unknown! ~

~ नहीं सी, मैं हो जाती हूँ,
यूँ ... तुम में खो जाती हूँ। #कमली

I never was.
Would never be.

An illusion I am,
That plays on your mind.

Like a fascination,
And yours truly!

Outside you, I do not exist,
Simply... not meant to be. ~

~ How else,
Am I supposed,
To redeem,
My soul...
Than to love myself,
Through you,
In you,
When I am gone.

... और तुम कहते हो,
मुझे खुद से मोहब्बत नहीं ... ~

~ Caked soil,
Slanting as slopes;
Weeping white conifers,
At the heart of it,
One drooping silver fir;
And like a midnight magical midget,
Blue antelope descending from them.

Walking on a narrow road,
Winding through...
I've wanted to find,
A land, an escape as such,
For really long...

How strange and quaint is it,
The way, these souls connect!
And transcend...


मैं अब यहाँ ... हूँ ही नहीं ... ~

~ नीली चादर,
गहरी, मखमली सी,
खोकल सीपीयां, किनारों पर, टाकती रही ...
चाँद का आंसू,
सोया था, तलेटी में,
मैं पहले क्यों कभी... एेसे... डूबी ही नहीं ... ~


~ मैं तुझसी हूँ ... मैं तुझमे ही हूँ,
अगर तुझसी नहीं, नहीं तुझमे कहीं। ~

~ Wo'... ek khalaa hai,
Jahan ab'r tehelte hain...

Zinda rehne,
Aur na zinda rehne ke beech,

Mujhe wahan baithna hai,
Paer lat'ka ke,
Uss shagaaf mein...

*Khalaa - Vacuum
*Ab'r - Clouds
*Shagaaf - Cleft / fissure / crack ~

~ Raaste mere, tum mein jaakar, ghum hain kahin;
Gar jo na karoon tumse, phir dil araasta kya hai? ~

~ Breathing shallow; 
Locked,
In nude affection,
For a cynosure;
I wish to fly away,
But my wings...

I bartered them off,
For a wuthering home,
That fancies me, forevermore. ~

~ My old bard,
Besotted, with his fez and farce,
Emulating a lyrebird,
Crouches,
On his favorite divan,
And harps on...

I,
A warped yarn, with intermittent lies,
Dances away,
To the tune of,
Wreathed glories,
Born of perpetual follies.

This velvety, fuchsia fire that I burn-in,
Is mine only, to see… ~

~ Pry my writhing heart open, and
Into it let night bleed, unto death,
Only to earn a gaze from my 'love'
Whom I breathe, in each breath. ~

~ Paa kar tujhe, maine... phir aise khoya tha...
Vasl ki shab mein ghula, hijr-e-yaar goya tha! ~

~ Let us fey,
And fake a felicitous death;
So as to wake up again,
From our death-beds.


Our graves should behold then,
A kosher rendezvous,
Begotten of,
Sheer clairvoyance. ~

~ Zulfon mein,
Makdi ke jaal sa,
Chaandni atkaate dekha hai…

Kashti ban, afsaanon ki,
Paaniyon se ankhon ke,
Gehri raat churaate dekha hai…

Khushk honthon ke,
Murjhaaye kinaaron pe,
Gul Nargis… khilaate dekha hai…

Waqt… ko maine,
Aisi be’shumaar— kitni hi,

Kahaaniyan banaate dekha hai. ~

~ Tell,
Chaucer,
That pilgrims died long back,
Whilst the slovenly world,
Got misshapen,
Into a drab saucer,
And in its shallowness,
Till date, I bloat and float,
As he sleeps,
Wrapped infinitely into his wit,
In the damp dark depths of,
Westminster Abbey.


And still I float,
Not able to drown and die! ~

~ Love is trite;
Too soon,
The seams would tighten,
Around my waist,
Pierce into my skin,
And I may not breathe.

Come, before that happens,
To help me ferret out,
A novel nakedness,
For both of us—
As a fall uncrushed,
A season untouched. ~

~ I breathe you in,
And write you out...

But incessant is this agony,
Of separation,
Of distance,
As is between the two pillows,
On the same bed.

Why, in countless toss & turns,
Nowhere I find relief…

Inky blue my lips,
Cheeks, bosom, legs and arms,
I writhe on the white sheets,
And febrile poems,
Fatherless, get born. ~

~ That... which is veiled...
However enticing,
Unveils only to itself;
Rest is deception,
Flipping facades;
Worn like yet another,
Belligerent veil;
This fight of unveiling,
Shall go unto forever,
Or until Sun sagely conceals,
Moon's asymmetric scars.

Of veils here, and of veils there,
Of bawling curiosities in their wake;
'Tis dark moony art indeed,
Too deep, innate, basal and old… ~

~ I am your lover, the lover of all your facets!

Muhasib ho, Mujtahid ho... ke Majnoon ho;
Main Layla, main Layla, Qays ki main Layla…

Muhasib - Accountant
Mujtahid - Certified interpreter of religious laws
Majnoon - Possessed (mad in love)
Qays - Original name of Majnoon
~

~ Rooh hoon, nahin ibtida, main intehaa-e-ishq hoon;
Theheroon tujh mein... ke tujhse guzar jaaoon… ~

~ Hum'bistar hue wo,
Hum'khayaal nahin…


Ghair sii do ankhen,
Aur koi sawaal nahin! ~