O Shadows!

O Shadows!


O Shadows! You, who grow so long -
Why do you grow
Ever so slow?
As if shy of meeting again?

With a smile, a nod or a rhyme, a song,
Didn't I welcome
Your dear wisdom -
Once earlier and thrice before then?

Come! My lessons wait; We don't have long,
You can only stay
While on my way
I've fallen, and can't get up again.

Come! Be merry! Let's hear your song,
Be quick about it
I am late a bit -
Once you're done, I have to work, to rise then.

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.

Particularly Hurtful

Particularly Hurtful


If you knew the wounds
That I took in my wars;
If you knew the pain
The least of them caused;
If you knew that they
Still live unhealed;
If you knew that I
Carry them like babies;
And wear them like trophies. 


If you knew all this, and more,
You would think that
This little splinter of a word
That recently got wedged
Some place in my heart -
Shouldn't 
Be 
So
Particularly hurtful.

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. 

Heed

Heed

Shhhhh
Whisper
Laugh softly.
Be nice.
Do not wake
The great sorrow
Which sleeps here.

Lesson for an Entrepreneur Part VI

Lesson for an Entrepreneur Part VI

I carried my lovely treasure
With dedicated care -
My gems of unknown measure
Each one so rare!

My back moaned, fussed, balked
But still my treasure bore;
Then it broke; But I could walk
So I walked a little more.

Greed and pride are similar
In that they both make
Men push further and longer
Unthinking of the stake.

I put my treasure on my head
And begin to crawl.
I cannot help but let it be said -
It happened for good. I cannot fall.

True Colors

True Colors

The color black is a con.
It spread in her hair,
Promised, "I shall shelter you."

The color red is a liar.
It stuck on her lips,
And said, "I love you."

The color gold is the devil.
It throbbed on her skin,
Laughed, "I want you."

The only true color is ashen.
It had peeped through her eyes,
Had insisted, "I warn you."

Heaven's Display

Heaven's Display

Here it was
The special day -
I readied again
Without delay.
I looked nice,
I daresay.
Dressed in my best
Black and gray.

There she was!
Heaven's display!
So I memorized
My words to say.
And though I grew
New feet of clay,
I didn't go back.
Nor ran away.

And then she laughed!
Such innocent way!
Finding a new
Method to slay
My little heart's
Attempts to sway
My Heaven's share
A bit my way.


[Related piece My Heaven's Share]

The Letter

The Letter

When had passed a few centuries
An answer was sent to my worries -
So I ran ahead to receive my shipment.

With trembling hands I searched in fear
For a sign of favor or a hint of sneer -
In the letter from God's department.

My mind jumped to dread so quick -
I fretted "What if it is too cryptic!",
And despaired I am bad at word-play!

But such fears were really unfounded
That little letter simply said -
No miracle is scheduled for today.

The Thing

The Thing

The Thing is very big -
Bigger than a man's head.
It is so big, in fact, it is
Bigger than Sky's spread.

The Thing is very small -
Smaller than a tear unshed.
It is so small, in fact, it is
Smaller than the color Voilet.

The Thing is very sharp -
As sharp as blades that behead.
It is so sharp, in fact, it is
Sharper than words unsaid.

It doesn't fit, it doesn't yield -
The Thing that lives in my head.
It cannot stay, it wouldn't leave -
The Thing I can't get out of my head.

Armor

I feel compelled to explain the use of 'wards' in this poem. 'Wards' has multiple meanings and I mean to use two of them simultaneously: 1, something (or someone) given in care of one's charge and 2, something (or someone) who guards or at least warns it case of an attack. 


Armor

When I was a child
Once, I got a burn;

My father blowed on it,
And blowed on it,
With such concern -

That though I kept
Hurting sure,

I said I don't,
So Father won't
Be hurting more.

Now I am grown,
And when I burn,

None and No
Tries to blow
With concern.

All other wards
I miss almost.

But, of my armor,
I miss my Father
The most. 

Winter

Winter

Others mistake for chapped skin -
All the cracks that appear in me.
They think my eyes water of cold -
When all the ache shows clear in me.
While I learn to hide the cracks,
Bear the ache, and act stronger -
Winter! Winter! won't you stay
A bit longer?

Choice Things to Say

Choice things to say

I spoke to a random stranger
And I tried but failed to find
A single nice thing to say;
I was in such a bind.


Silence was an option
I could not attempt.
Out of Kindness and the other,
Easier was Contempt.


So I had to settle and I did
For choice things to say.
I snubbed and got snubbed,
Quibbling took our day.


It isn't that I really care
Or that I like to fight ,
Or spreading aimless grief
Causes me any delight. 


Rather, I got no love to share,
Yet I want to be a Christian -
All I got is bitterness - 
I only spread my little fortune. 


[Related poem: Nice things to say]

The Great Con

The Great Con

They took the winter sky
And effortlessly laid
A Sun on its edges;
So, the Cold was unmade.

They breathed a few flowers,
Pardoned innocent errors; 
They bribed the fog away,
And answered easy prayers.

In such brilliant fashion
Gods conned clueless Men
(For the sake of their game)
Into Hoping Again.

Afterthought

Afterthought


Such curious choices
This day had brought -
To love was to hurt,
To not was to not;
I chose to grieve
As an afterthought.

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]

Life and Death

Life and Death

However loyally I incline
Towards relying on a sign -
Heart, blood, pulse, breath;
I know I am waiting for Death. 

DruNk (Eldorado X)

DruNk (Eldorado X)


All the gold in the world
Grains of dust - so few!
Eldorado, my love
There is no one like you.


The only Sun, the many stars,
The season spring, the color blue -
Eldorado, my love
There is no one like you.


I just need to close my eyes
To verify it is true.
Eldorado, my love
There is no one like you.

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.

A Visit to the Hospital

A Visit to the Hospital

People ask
What happened at the Hospital 
And then complain that my answers are too banal. 

They expect
As I am poet I would have seen more,
Or at the minimum I would articulate better therefore.


They are right
Though not in the way they expect;
I did see more but I am not sure if I got it all correct.


One hall,
One corridor, seventeen patients,
Ten lights, four AC ducts, a hundred and four ailments. 

One stool, 
Three water coolers, twenty two chairs,
Five joys, half a hope, one fear, sixty nine despairs.

One cough, 
Two infant wails, twelve silent shrieks, 
Seventeen counts of grief, seventeen bearing techniques.

One poet,
Couple of dreams - just residual fragments,
Six kinds of pain, and fifteen thousand lonely moments.


This expectation
Of interesting words from this visit is quite unfair;
It isn't as if something profound could have been found  there.