Nomad

I have within me,
the heart of a gypsy,
A lust for the dusty roads,
A hunger for strange faces,
Soft pleasantries don't strike me,
Comforts don't swell my soul,
Only the warm wind
on my sun stained eyes,
The tiny pieces of mirror
showcasing a broken world on my dupatta...


Perhaps I might earn a name,
For a heart that always yearns,
Delighting young children,
Vexing adults who stare at me with suspicion,
What do they know,
I only pick the rags of life,
And make shameless love to outcastes alone,
While the night lends us her guarding eyes,
Conversing silently with the stars,
Throwing all caution to the winds...


I have within me the heart of a gypsy,
Roaming in deserts, straying in the backyards of civilisation,
Keeping no trinkets as souvenirs,
Owned by no one, owning nothing,
The eternal face smiling at you
from the back of a magazine....

A Friend To All

A man who is everyone's friend,
Is an ocean dissipated,
Loyalty dispersed, like shallow rains
that scatter everywhere,
Disappearing into the earth,
almost as soon as it falls,
Leaving no mark,
No room for the lingering petrichor,
Making no impression, forming no ocean,
Lacking in depth,
A man who is everyone's friend,
Is a friend of no man,
Drowning his victims with
insincere kindnesses...

A Pocketful

I borrowed a pocketful of darkness,
And coloured your hair,
I borrowed a pocketful of light,
And lend it to your eyes,
I borrowed a pocketful of happiness,
And put it on your lips,
I borrowed a pocketful of sorrow,
And my heart was full of you...

Bittersweet

You came unannounced,
Nothing could have prepared me
for your conquest
Heart, like a primitive fragmented land,
bowed before your
sophisticated civilisational allure,
How was I to know,
Innocence could cast a
shadow of cruelty,
That after your plunder,
you'd leave back memories of deceit,
lingering,
silently, painfully,
In all the lonely corners
that witnessed your exploits,
And I, your prime accomplice-
in my own downfall,
Would disintegrate, disappear,
slowly, as you walk out...

The River Only Flows Forward

The river only flows forward,

The wind hardly turns back to see,

There is no way to unwind,

The plant that grows to be a tree

The earth never pauses to mourn

the stones that are turned to dust,

Great mountains wither

But in life forward is a must..

The rain that travels the sky

Knows all seas must dry some day

But forward is where the river goes

And it always finds a way…

My Lover Has A Girlfriend

My lover has a girlfriend

Her hair as dark as coal

He comes to me in secret

And gifts her frocks and gold

My lover has a girlfriend

Her eyes as cold as ice

He says she is his regret

But he is not averse to lies

My lover has a girlfriend

She doesn’t know I exist

Cos he always pulls the blanket

While we are at it

My lover has a girlfriend,

Supposedly smart,

But I know her man better than her

I’m the queen of his heart!

 He lies he cheats

He looks for cheap thrills

He has a tendency to stray

While I know him to the marrow of his bones

She is clueless about his days

My lover has a girlfriend

But he doesn’t knock on her door,

When in doubt or in sorrow

He comes to me like he is four!

My lover has a girlfriend,

Perhaps he loves her too,

Whomever he loves, whatever he does

None knows him better than I do

My lover has a girlfriend,

She thinks she is his rose

But what a thrill, to kiss her man

Right under her nose!

At The End of A Rainbow

We were playing with fire,

Covering ourselves with something

As thin as shadows,

Writing our names on water,

When the rainbow bloomed

In a fractured sky

Momentarily

Throwing us off balance, breathless,

And days broke into dances,

And we were two children,

With stolen mangoes, hiding in the corners of the street,

When the rainbow bloomed

And suddenly we were no longer in rags,

Cracked concrete walls oozed colours,

And we were in a Dali painting

Beautiful and short lived, across a grey sky

Lonely and cloudless, fading,

No pot of gold lay waiting

Only the broken hearted leprechaun

With the memory of a rainbow

Reflected in his tears…