How Cyan Was Made

How Cyan was made

Once upon a time
When time was a toddler;
When the old God had just
Finished creating summer -

He took a break and napped;
With loving care the green
And gray of solid earth
Kissed him unseen.

Then came the blue -
Almost a stampede -
They settled for only glances
They were too many, they agreed.

The red were very far
Not little sad indeed.
They sent their blessings too -
While thoroughly envied.

When He woke up he did
Guess but didn't ask,
His kids were so well
Busy in their tasks.

It was then that He noticed
A new color on white
His robe was tinged with it
- The Color of Delight.

Before He could worry
Of delaying The Man,
He claimed the bright shade,
"Why, I should call it Cyan!"

And so Cyan happened
As a dye on His white wear;
As an expression of delight,
And of Green and Blue's dare.

No miracle was scheduled for today

No miracle was scheduled for today

No miracle was scheduled for today.
Big bottles of indigos, blues and grays
Bought by me in order to paint my shapes
Had hidden from view my little vial of silver.

And then a miracle happened today-
A new shade of magenta decided to laze
Over roses peeping through my morning drapes;
And in its sloth forgot to pull the usual veil on all its glamor. 

My heaven's share

My heaven's share

I rehearsed my words,
I drilled my flair,
I worked my courage -
I did prepare.
I did not leave
No pain to spare -
In order to earn
My heaven's share.


Lo and behold!
She was there!
I held my breath,
And said a prayer.
I wanted so -
I did not stare.
I walked as far
As I could dare;


But then she smiled - 
It was so unfair !!
How can she spend
Without a care!
What is to me
My heaven's share!
And if she must, can't she give
In sizes that I can bear?

[Related piece: Heaven's Display]

The Child

The Child

A child asked me today
"Why aren't you gay?,
Why aren't you smiling?"
Such prying, I say.

I told him about my pain,
And told him of it again,
While he kept asking why,
Well after I made it plain.

I told him I hurt bad,
I even said, "BAD, BAD"
But he kept asking why,
"Yes. But, why are you sad?"

I lied - that I am ill -
He kept pestering me still;
I thought I'll scare him -
He wouldn't leave until!

So, I spun him a ghost story -
Grotesque and very gory;
It ended and he asked, "Mister,
It is just a tale, why be sorry?"

I thought to run or hide behind -
Far from such a prying mind.
Then he said, "I hope I ain't prying",
And just like that, I resigned.

He was a child, I aligned my tale -
Nothing but truth, but, no detail.
He still persisted with his "Why?" -
I hid so much to no avail.

So, I was forced to confess
Adult details of my distress -
Love, loss, heartbreak, grief -
Yet all of it without success.

Even though it was now plain,
And I had said enough to explain,
The innocent child with a smile
Kept inquiring again and again.

Finally, I decided to stay mum,
To refuse such questions dumb.
But how long could I not relent,
Or not recognize my tantrum.

I had to laugh at this comedy -
I was a child, wise was he.
Hadn't I heard? "We're players in a play" -
Why be sad, it is just a story?

And so, let it be known to be true
That I tried but could not rescue -
What a child all alone and armed
With one prying question could do.

The Tree

The Tree


A hazy tree in the fog,
peeps through the door
of another world; I wonder,
Who is it looking for?

Longing

Longing

You are so beautiful
My heart hurts
With longing.
It falls.
Stops.
Dies.
Breathes.
Lives.
Longs.
In agony.
You are so beautiful
My heart beats
A little slowly.

How Yellow was Made

How Yellow was Made

Once upon a time -
When Time itself was new -
There lived an old God,
Who was bored of boring Blue.

When He made the oceans,
'Big and Blue', he thought,
While sitting knitting skies,
He used the Blue a lot.

Now Blue was old and bored Him
Though Red and Green were good,
But He wanted something fresh -
Something cheerful while he could.

On a Green hill he sat,
And thought of petals bright,
And of breeze and of bliss,
And of the Red of twilight.

And so came to be Be
A dancing flower of Daffodil;
He created with his thoughts -
Yellow on a Green hill!

So content He was that day,
So blissful and so happy,
That dancing yellow daffodils,
Are Godly and will always be.

Blunt Instruments

Blunt instruments

A blunt instrument was used to kill Ms. Morris.

Sharp knives they tried first
Then teeth, nails, and claws.
Then, all kinds of arsenal,
Yet still breathing she was.
It was a surprise to everyone
When they saw the signs of hurt.
Why, they thought, when nothing did,
Did the blunt words work.

A blunt instrument was used to kill Ms. Morris.

A walk in the woods

A walk in the woods

Life could be lived
In the faster lanes;
Or could it just be
A walk in the woods?

Roof top summers,
Paper boat rains -
Life could be lived
Collecting childhoods.

Eldorado Fades (Eldorado IV)

Eldorado Fades

Eldorado, My love!

Stay for a while more.

Stay in my sight.

Stay, let them explore -

The green of your lands,

The yellow of your sun,

The red of your hills,

Blue skies like none.

Stay here while I die,

Come, let fall your golden locks,

My love! don't fade now,

Let me think these little thoughts.

While they slow my beating heart

And Gods claim their due

My love, let me fill it with

The golden sight of you.

Let me breathe in your air

Smile, this one last time,

As you've done for all poetry -

Pose, for this one last rhyme

Ah! I lose. I falter. I die.

But what matter it does.

My eyes shine with lyrical light

My heart with a golden buzz.

Don't spare your precious tears,

Don't blur my golden view -

All life is worth my love

A sight of golden you.

Home

This piece is from the perspective of a young school going girl. Probably class 3.

Home

I don't want to go home.

Don't send me home.

Miss, please don't send me home.

Have you seen our playground?

The wide green compound?

And breathed freedom

And wrote a poem?

Have you seen our classes?

Cream tables, cherry benches?

And learned numbers

And found answers?

Let me stay some more.

I love it here, Miss.

Please don't send me home.

I'll be good I promise.

My home? Yes, I have one.

But I don't like it there.

It has walls and a roof

But no soil, no air.

And I wish to breathe easy

So I need a little air.

And I wish to feel special

But nobody wants me there.

Your school is easy still

All numbers and play.

Don't send me home

Miss, please let me stay.

Yes Miss, I understand

I cannot stay here.

And you have to close the school

And go home somewhere.

I shall go to the walls.

The only place I can.

And try and grow a little

And then sit and plan.

I shall plan a home, Miss.

And work hard and get.

I shall build a home, Miss.
With bricks of love and sweat.

Soil, air, and freedom which

I shall call my own.

I make me a promise, Miss,

I will have a home.

Pink (A Prayer)

Pink (A Prayer)

I wonder how He felt

When He designed

Pink gerberas

Intertwined.

I hope He approves

My little support

In keeping them pink

For a while more.

I hope He approves

My long vase of glass

His creatures' comfort

With a bit of class.

His royal pink

When built so bright

He must have felt

A mother's delight.

My own design

My hands have tried

I hope He allows them

Small share in His pride.

द पॉपर एंड द प्रिंस (The Pauper and the Prince)

द पॉपर एंड द प्रिंस (The Pauper and the Prince)

शोर से बच के जो चलते हैं

और शोर नापसंद करते हैं

साफ़ चादर साफ़ लिबास पहनकर

साफ़ भाषा से शर्म करते हैं -

पेट में दाना, घर में माँ,

सर पे छत जिनकी रही हो हमेशा -

जिन्हें मांगने की ज़रुरत न पड़ी हो कभी

देने में वो कंजूसी किया करते हैं।

भूखे रहकर आता है समझ पानी,

अकेले रहकर दुनिया समझ आती है।
ढाई अक्षर के लिए दर दर भटके नहीं जो

वो रोज़ खाने में नखरे किया करते हैं।

जान लगी ही नहीं दाँव पे कभी,

जब खेला सोने चांदी के लिए खेला,

जिन्होंने जीता तो घर भर ने ख़ुशी मनाई

वो जीतने पे बड़ा मान किया करते है।

कोई नुकीले पत्थर से, कोई मोम के तीरों से -
लड़ते सब हैं, चोट सबको लगती है, पर
हर चोट पे माँ की आवाज़ सुनते हों जो
वो शोर से ज़रा बच के चलते हैं।

Some Days

Some Days

Some days
The sun shines brighter.

Some days
The flowers of champa
Rise rather late
And find morning waiting.

Some days
Mother Ganges relents easier.

Some days
The God of colors
Decides to play
And the rules don't worry him.

Some days
The world plays fairer.

Some days
The lonely squirrel
Loses her last nuts
And finds a friend instead.

Some days
The sun just shines brighter.

Hope

Hope

Though unprepared they find me

And stealthily they come,

So softly they remind me

So gently they blossom -

The flowers of Hope -

Meet despair like old friends.

Leaves of champa in shades of rose

They grow at unexpected ends.

[Despair]

O Moment!

O Moment!

O Moment! Why you were?
Why you came and split the worlds
In what could, and what were?
How you caused a sun so bright?
Where you found that perfect green?
How you made the time so right?
My ears that were to hear no more -
Why you played the morning music?
- Your last pity or a cruel chore?

And if you were and couldn't not be,
Could you not take my case
With the Gods of Destiny?
Could you not ask for mercy?
Or failing that, be less perfect -
Could you cause little less misery?
Could you beg my miser fate
Scrapes of love for my sake?
Or best, could you make the future wait?

Could you make the future wait?

Yes, O Moment! could you stop?
Right there, in my memory -
Could you please, would you stop?
I wish for you to never pass.
I wish for later to have never come.
It has come to later alas.
In my memory, how perfect you were -
Farewell Moment! You are past.
But O Moment! Why you were?

First Rain

Ah! The Green!
Left behind
By the first rain
Ah! The splashes!
Peace defined
By the first rain
The sounds! The smell!
The life divine -
The first rain.

In Time

One could, you know, stand still
in time; one could know all
there is to know; If you will
just believe - in time and
space, and motion and all,
you know, one could stand
still in time.

The Barter

I counted them in the thunderous sea
Oh the infinite greens and blues
I saw them in the picturesque sea
The countless boundless span of hues
I swam around submerged fully
Counting the number of new grays
I looked above and the sun was setting
The sea made orange in a thousand ways

The sea doesn't know why it creates
A new color with its every song
The waves don't know why they sing
Do they laugh or do they long
But the countless boundless span of hues
And the sky and the sea doing their barter
Know how to a human comes a thought
Its beautiful .. the way waves play with color

Blue Canvas

Pigeons!
Ships!
Tigers!
Trees!!
Hearts!
Cupids!
Hills!
And seas!!
Flowing,
Blowing,
Glowing,
Such pomp and show!
Orange,
Yellow,
Purple,
Even Indigo!
...
The clouds are out playing today:
FANCY DRESS COMPETITION