In a world of glowering tungsten
The lone, broken bulb
Couldn’t remember
Who broke it…
Everything was a brightness
A sheen so pervasive
Hiding crimes
And fails
With twinkles
Not even shadows
Could be dark here
And the broken bulb stood
Useless; faceless,
Like riches among the
Fortunate
A face that’s long and lean
And speckled with
A fresh stubble
Eyes and cheeks gaunt
Like the craters on a
Lonely planet
The long torso, bottomed
By an endless length
Of muscle drawn taut
The inscrutably deep mind
With words that were
Never said
Allow me the lowering
Of those blinkers
And let me be seen
I’d like to come closer
And know for sure
You are no illusion
I still walk alone
But now there’s a shadow
Beside mine
I think it’s you, but
There’s no need to
Turn around
I’ve reached a cliff
With a final decision
To make:
To take a step forward
And feel the air
Compress my existence
Or,
To sit down at
The very edge and see
The world for both
Of us;
Live my life knowing
Your shadow
Is a delusional burden
I carry willingly
A canvas in blue chiffon,
My saree bore marks
In the ink blue
Of ancient hands; the
Aquamarine of the Arabian Sea;
And, the cerulean of
High skies.
Blackly shimmering, my hair
Conflicted the pasty pale
Of the jasmine strand
I coiled through, without pins
Like my mother,
Incensing the air with
A woman’s promise
Around the now empty house
I lit wicks buried in fragrant wax
And doused tungsten within glass.
I refused the comfort of
Moving air, and let the sweat
And jasmine commingle
Like chaos before peace
But you let the Sun out;
Helped it find a way around
The dark ropes of night
I bound it with…
The half moon I used to
Pin it down, lay forgotten
Behind bottomless clouds.
My Wilting jasmine wailed,
‘You hadn’t come, then’
The wicks lay wasted
Smoking like pyres
Where each fantasy
Burnt unrealised.
In this polluted silence,
I stood blue like death.
Oh simple things…
Where have you gone?
Morning blues, washed out
By lunch
Sky in dark, dressed up
For a night that’s
Young
Little words, bigger worlds
Hands in a hold
And lives in many folds
Steps going forwards
Or, backwards
Those who owned their sleep
Could never care
Pleasures taken for granted
Love never missed
Good times that seem ordinary
Bad things that happen
To others
Lies in place of promises
And no one that hurt
Too much
Oh simple things…
Come back will you?
I’ve learnt my lessons
I’ve burst all my balloons
Lonely’s getting ordinary
Tracks aren’t that obvious
Words seem to demand meaning
Deeds remain unheeded
And I don’t know how
I wandered into
Here
Take me back, to where you are
Oh simple things,
And I’ve missed you how
Come back for me,
Make me simple again
And
Keep me close
Show not your fall from
The rigours of your conveyor belt life
Hang on with your pinky finger
Nevermind the rest of your
Precarious perch.
The keys clattered away
While I put my ears to the bolted door.
In moments I’d possess a secret.
