~ A Painting … ~

~ A Painting … ~

Blunt and raw … casted in —

Molten ambrosial colors,

Strokes of earthen orange,

Blended in deep love,

Stirred by obsession,

Softened fascination,

Besotted expressions,

Acerbic fervent rains,

Numb eruptions … a fresh carnal volcano …

With the hot melted, piquant magma, hither —

Let me paint the canvas … of thine imagination …

Brushing my desires,

On the palette of thy parted, smitten lips,

Drawing a pattern — a salacious lure,

Squiggling fingers, contouring thy navel,

Silhouetting thy nape,

Sketching a pristine design —

Heated, yet so lulled … on thy moist skin …

Let’s ignite the surrounding,

Sever the nebulous bonds,

Set the serene sky aflame,

Placid trees, too, shalt succumb,

To thy muffled whispers … to damp moans …

Silent cries … stealthy ties ……

And, when our lips shalt unfasten,

Cooling down the Volcano,

Watering the chasm, thus, so beholden —

Poised lava … turning dull grey …

Heated sky, smoked and astray,

With blurred teary eyes,

And fuzzy senses, passionate still,

Shalt shower us —

With hued daubs … to stay … forever …

Baring us … as a Painting … in a subtle tone ……

~ Chalen ab? ~

~ Chalen ab? ~

Ki, seh-paher(evening) ke rukhsar(cheek) pe,

Geeli chaandni si, mali hai,

Mere inn aasmanon main,

Dekh, shaam ho chali hai ..

Dhundlake(twilight) ki eenton(bricks) se yun,

Khawab O awaaz dhali hai,

Mehdood(restrained) hui is deewar talak,

Ye hi peh’chan, ho chali hai ..

Simat jaun, faqat tujh main,

Aisi khawaish, kyon pali hai?

Tere choone pe hi gul(flower) si khilun,

Saans, parde’daar(veiled), ho chali hai ..

Chal ab chalen, yahan se door,

Muhabbat kab na khali hai ?

Neenden muthiyon se nikaal,

Lillah, thaki raat ho chali hai ..

Raftar(speed) apne qadmon ko de,

Adaawat(enmity) kab yun tali hai?

Daud us sabz e koh(green of mountain) ke itraf(direction),

Pyaas, aabshaar(waterfall) ho chali hai ..

Dayaar(area) e jangal main, ghar,

Girah(knot), wahin taab(heat) se gali hai,

Jism, kisi paed ki tehni pe, latka … ki ab humari,

‘Rooh’, barhena(naked) O bay-zaar(bored) ho chali hai …

~ Uss Paar … ~

~ Uss Paar … ~

Jharokhe ke,

Mere bar’amade(verandah) main,

Kursi ke saath se meh’room, ma’yoos,

Goya be-etbaar(unbeliever) e marasim(connection),

Uss mayz pe,

Ek kaanch ki piyaali,

Tasalli zada,

Rangon se labalab,

Nisbat(relation) banaye rakhti hai …

Sukhan(poetry) ki shaaguf’tagi(bloom),

Alfaazon ki saadgi O shokhi,

Paak Raqqasa ka sunhera nasheman(abode) .. woh piyaali …

Anjuman(gathering) kamsin qissahon ki .. woh yak piyaali …

Khwateen(woman) ki chanakti hansi,

Taab-daar(sparkling) falak(sky),

Jahanon ka hissa karti, inaayt ufaq(horizon) ki,

Paher do paher ki bekasi(restlessness),

Bekhud’gi tarannum(melody) e sabz(greenery) ki,

Zauq(taste) e qulqul e Qulzum(sea),

Faiz(grace) e Khurshid(Sun),

Jhoolte bazoo e noor e Mah(Moonlight) main,

Guncha e Abr(cloud) bhi,

Zayr-zabar(argue) karti, narangi maghrabi-hawa(zephyr),

Aur uss ki ungliyon se lipt’te gaisu,

Mere khush-roo mehboob ke …

Par, yahi nanhi si piyaali,

Mere hathon main,

Jharokhe ke ‘Iss Paar’,

Khaali manzar de jati hai … fareeb e nazar(illusion) maano koi …

Main jhat se piyaali ussi jagah rakh deti hoon,

Saare rang, khud-ba-khud, pehle ke maanind,

Yak’ba’yak, zahiri shaad(blessed) wajood pa lete hain,

Jaise, humesha se wahin they … aur, wahin rahenge …

Issiliye, ‘garche kabhi, mujhe dhoondne niklo tum,

To’, bata deti hoon … main ‘Iss Paar’, nahin milungi!

~ I love MY land? ~

~ I love MY land? ~

“Dude … Independence Day is so fun,

I got one day off, sweets a day before,

Bought a tiny lovely, tri-color Brooch,

And also a good quality, wrist Band,”

Donning white Kurta,

Kolhapuri Chappal ,

With a few weedy flags,

And firecrackers stacked,

In his brawny hands, he bragged …

“When I roared … ‘Vande-matram’,

Those hotties there oohed and jagged,

I have impressed, many and a few,

By DPs colored saffron, white, green.”

Another day, from the same year —

A skeletal child, begging for alms,

“These crapper rats deserve to rot.”

In a train, a girl being molested,

“Bitch she is, look at her dress,

Let the dogs savor the scant rest.”

Seize fire violated, soldiers dead,

“Change the channel, I’m direly bored,

Watch how good have Brazil scored.”

A newly married burnt dead for dowry,

“An empty dried well perfectly capped.”

And the days pass, listening him testify,

“Give a darn to what is beyond ones barn!”

Then, THE day arrives for him, again —

“Dude … it’s our Independence Day, today,

And I forgot … can’t remember … at all,

Where is my ‘Patriotic’ Brooch and Band,

How the hell will I celebrate this tall day?

Don’t you know … ‘I so love MY land?’ ”

~ … Yes, as I wait … ~

~ … Yes, as I wait … ~

Rice paddies waiting for some more rain,

Hulling is in fate of spikelets, but when?

Wheat berries longing for sanguinity, too,

Lad desires a red-headed belle, to woo ..

Clouds tugging on sun, to get a tad fluffy,

A wench wrapping in, for eyes so grubby,

Tossed buns sighing for one baked patty,

Thirst thirsting for a keg of chilled Natty,

Candle wick, tout, teases the blue flame,

Oil lamp one, glass-veiled, a coy dame ..

Braided, clipped, wired … Oh, they wait,

Wait for the eve’ breeze, to kindle, to mate …

Floats with every soul,

A feather light knoll … of a lingering wait …

Saddled up, but not taken for a home ride,  

Heart gallops so, with every flapping tide …

“Indeed” …

Igniting, taking a drag from my fresh weed,

“Wait is torturous, brings anguish”, I’d coo,

On this side of the abyss, as I’d wait for you,

For a sinned but timeless, virtuous confluence,

Thus … for forever … an ‘indulgence’ ………

~ Layers … ~

~ Layers … ~

Encompass me,

Not as one such cozy camouflaging jacket,

But elementarily — an ‘Unturned Key’ ..

As they do —

Envelope little pink freshness,

Or sometime, just nothingness ..

Dainty, flimsy, my core,

Fragile as that of a neat egg,

Of next to my neighborhood hen,

Spewed out, foul yet afresh ..

Yonder — I wallow, delighted,

In its ‘Profane Mundanity’, as of suburbs ..

Thereby … Layer by layer,

Defile my essence,

Peel my substance,

My shell —

Trueness that I had woven, tight —

Knitting it around my soul, my chi …

Skin me, ruthlessly,

With thy serrated fingers,

Thy nails, brusquely,

Piercing, even beforehand …

Shed that brittleness,

Of trifling I do garb —

In thine eyes ..

Bearing down the scab, smugly,

Astutely scaling my picket,

Sousing the crust it held, for years, in place,

Uncase the nakedness, unrivaled beyond any eon,

To find, and thus learn —

Not what thee did much presume, anticipated,

But what I held subliminally — to proffer,

Maybe, some unripe but honed, nothingness,

Ah … Just a darling … Relic … ‘Naught’!

~ .. Ki … ~

Picture Credit: Sanjay Pandita

~ .. Ki … ~

*

Muqammal se bahane, zidd thi, tujh se door jaane ki,

Kyon badhti gayin becheniyan, tere hi paas aane ki ?

**

Qadam dar qadam, jo tujh se ‘gar yun raabta kiye,

Ek justuju rakhi, parwaz e takhayul'(flight of imagination) milaane ki ..

***

Mannat ke shajar pe, bandhe mutmaeen(satisfied) dhaage kayi,

Mustafeed(avail) na hone payi, koshish thi tujh ko paane ki ..

****

Na hui rangrezz, phir bhi rung daala lafz, tahammul(endurance),

Tarkeeb rahi, yak tarfa, tasveer e nisbat(relation) rungaane ki ..

*****

Tahreer(script/draft) khud ke khawaabon ki, ab tu khud hi likha kar,

Na mazeed(extra) taaqat rahi, lafz balafz tafseer(detail) sunaane ki ..

******

Meelon lamba safar taye kar, muhabbat ghar lauti hai,

Mehsoos hoti hai ab, zaroorat, uss par haq jataane ki ..

*******

Kuredti thi main mitti, har mausam ke guzar jaane pe,

Aarzoo e haqiqi rahi, qabr e alahaidgi, yun banaane ki ..

********

Ilzaam usse de, haq talfi kare jo bayaan e tanhai se,

Faqat khawaish meri, tishnagi ko maiy se sulaane ki ..

*********

Ahmaq(fool) hain woh, jinhain maiy-khwaar(drinker) yun khalte hain,  

Maiy-khanaah ki peshkash sirf, farmayish pe dubaane ki ..

**********

Taaree hai mujh par bhi, junoon e ishq, tujh sa hi ab,

Inaayat kar, apne haath se hi, aab e hayaat pilaane ki ..

***********

Rukh e habeeb(beloved) se raqeeb(enemy) ka sa qaraar, kis pahar ‘ainy’ ?

Kya kaatib(scribe) ki marzi hai, Shamal(north) aur Janoob(south) milaane ki ?

************

~ Old Readings … ~

~ Old Readings … ~

Muslin-tongued ..

Solemnly sequined,

Softly spangling,

Braided fringe,

Of thy twisted, knotted, thespian words ..

It’d lace, silvery,

Contouring,

Pottering about,

Thy small bonny face,

For ..

A writer — that I’m …

I’d only read blue-black ink,

Since horse-and-buggy-days,

Sometime, so red and green, too,

Or … Could …

Just Braille-trace,

Someone ..

And now,

It should austerely be,

Thee! 

~The Boy ~

~The Boy ~

In the densely dull dark, next alleyway,

Who has curled chafed fingers — unwashed,

Uncombed greasy, sunburned hair ..

He, with his noiseless eyes,

Counting, tallying,

The crumbs of life, tossed unto him …

And —

His gold fishes,

Eyes open wide — gawping only …

Calling out,

Gaping,

Breathing,

Sucking in gratis air,

Boy, from untaken barren around,

Fishes, from the nude surface,

Calling out, again,

Gasping,

Filling their lungs again, with superfluous air, hungrily …

Calling out, yet again,

They want food,

To be filled, thoughtlessly,

Choking the wind-pipes, wolfing and devouring,

A little food, one morsel of anything .. something …

Hitherto … Fishes do not want these glass globes,

And their stale ashy water,

Bubbling their seemingly endless world,

But .. pond or brook, lush and leafy  …

Boy … such callow,

Wishes for a jar … an earthen urn …

To call it a home ……

Thitherto — with paradoxical desires — syncing,

They sit as one,

Waiting,

In the densely dull dark, next alleyway!

~ Ye Manzar .. ~

~ Ye Manzar .. ~

Pa gayin hoon sifat ek aaine ki, kya?

Rukh pe … sunheri parat charhaye ..

Ander se … khoob khalish liye …

Deewaaren, deemakh khaati,

Shikan numa, shikaasta wajood,

Purani mazaar si, dulhan ka,

Surmayi andheron sila pairhan,

Seelan lagi payalen,

Kamarband zung ka,

Bebasi risti choodiyan,

Karwaten leti, aadhi raat si, kunwari meri rooh …

Numaish ki …… talabgaar

Dhund idhar bhi … udhar hai par sone chaandi si …

Dhoop chunar odhe, nayi dulhan sa … aks mera …

Saat rangon main ghote lagaate, parinde wahan,

Sookhti tehniyon se bane ujaad gharonde yahan,

Sondhi khushboo liye geeli mitti, doob ki ghaans,

Mutmelii kumblaayi jadhen meri, idhar leti saans,

Baaghicha e saraab, parvaan e kaghazi parchaayin,

Khunaki e gosha e dasht, dum todta mera jism siah’i ..

Jaise hon woh, do chorr, dooriyan darmiyan liye,

Ek baras si lambi, khamida, udhadti dorr ke …

Kitna sach hai, kitna jhoot, Ye Manzar,

Kuch pata nahin …

Kyonki jo main hoon, woh gumshuda hai kahin,

Jaise pehchani jaati hoon, woh khayal hai faqat, apka …

Zamanat meri, paichid’gi e nazar e asal iss taraf, apki ….

Ji …. ek aaina hi, hui hoon main …. Shayad ……….