Simmer down.What burns bright,Burns out. Ablaze and intolerant;Nothing survives its wrath. From places afar,It’s light invites,Those escaping morbid winters. Frost and darkness,Take many lives,And those who still survive,Travel to any emerging light. They arrive,And accept heat and shelter,Heap praise over fires,Burning bright,In the middle of unforgiving nights. In its comfort,They rest.Lay down their guard;They close […]
It was the 4th of May,No the 5th,And the sun was bright;The grass was green;A Sinatra song was playing,In the radio. She rolled in,In a car with lights.First they came out,And then she followed. The day was still bright,The grass was still green,And Frank was still singing,But she was different. Mellow words,Almost spoken in whispers. […]
I’ve lost count.Drop!There one more,Adds to what dropped before. Knock!Someone opens the door,And another story is told.My shoulder,They hold.Listen, speak And repeat once more. Day break!Empty room,Only to realise,Its afternoon. Bed cover clutched,Eyes shut,Day wasted! Sleep then eat,Bus Stop;Workplace;Show face;And dusk again. Random words,ScriptEmpty thoughts,Pain, Pain, Pain,Stained shirts,And there they,Drop again! Picture by Levi Xu […]
Waking up on the back seat,Of a saturn car,Knowing, I had some dreams left in me;Believing this road is where,I was meant to be;And singing a song,That was playing long before,I was born;Country roads,With folds,Were bringing to my destiny. Memories were being made,And left to be remembered,By those who will remember them,Long after I am […]
The summer couldn’t have announced a more unholy arrival. Ablaze crops had turned to dust. The little that spring brought was wasted under the blistering heat. Only the rats survived. They fed on the little that remained and then ate some more. A little town, that was dry and thirsty, stood in the periphery of […]
It starts,As a simple indulgence,And before you know it,We are drinking the night away. In such moments of ecstasy,Time has no meaning,It passes without registering,A single tick. Blurred yet vivid,Awake yet amongst dreams,Inhibitions only for those,Left bored with empty glasses. In such nights as I drink,To lose sense of time,Dream with my eyes open,And lose […]
Thunder growled at a soft little town. The streets; its people; were at the mercy of bleak ebony skies. Horses and street hounds made themselves heard. But, their sounds were without an audience. Still more thunder and still more rain. A stallion, built to last such nights made its way down an empty street. Not […]
I could feel the wind,Caressing each strand of hair,Gingerly attached to a scalp,That was raining down beads of sweat,That made their way,Through my facial grooves,Only just missing wide open eyes,And only just glancing the edges,Of a broad smile. I was riding.Green and pristine,On my left,And undisturbed waters,To my right. A night,Luminated by street lights,Had welcomed […]
“Speak!”And nothing was said in return. The streets, cars, and bikes;Little Children and the adults,That came with them;Birds and stray dogs;No honks, no chatter;Not even a solitary bark. All happened and not a sound. “Speak!”The first time,Spoken with anger.Now with fear. A few taps on the head,Then bent down,And an ear made contact with the […]
There was once a caravan on the other side of the river. Surrounded by trees and puddles and sheltered under the raging sun. Smoke came out its chimney and continued to fill the sky until whatever was being cooked inside had filled dinner plates. It had arrived in the beginning of summer. It had not […]
A man found hisFootmarks disappearing Under dunes of sand,Scorched by desert heatAs he walked to find his creator. In an oasis,With dangling coconutsAnd tepid ponds,God was found. Each limb sparkled.Even the solitary star,Burnt in a fading backdrop,To an illuminant being. One arm caressed,A creature,Who was in equal doses,Queer and celestial. The other arm held high,Palm stretched […]
Switches go on,And fluorescence fills rooms,Night time is here. Tickets bought,Trains and buses boarded,Cigarettes lit,And its time,For a journey, back home. Empty stomachs await,Freshly cooked meals,Tired bodies seek,Soft sheets and even softer pillows. Kisses exchanged,Pleasantries follow.It’s the end of a day. But why is it still dark,Despite fluorescent lights?Why do feet,Seek no journey?Why is an […]
They fold,Wither and drop dead;Having lost colour;Leaves fall,And it’s the end of summer. But trees stand,Firm and sturdy.North winds and storms;Scorching heat,While on barren lands,And yet they are given,A chance to stand. Buried and away from plain sight,Stretching past obstaclesInto underground trenches,To find solitary streams of water;Or to bury their foundations deep enough,To hold what […]
A slight drizzle,Announcing the arrival of the clouds,As a full moon sky is besieged with darkness. Streets boarded for festivities,Song and dance,Colour and light,All a part of this beautiful night.Feet move and stop and then,Move and stop again. Light radiating from a smile,That stretches from ear to ear;I walk along these celebrating streets.Hands waving and […]
Eyes open to darkness emitted,Through crevasses formed between curtains.The mighty star,Playing second fiddle,To unforgiving clouds. A night worth of rest,Not enough,For a body consumed by weakness,Wakes to a bleak dark morning. Throat dry but all else wetAnd suddenly a dose of regret.The body must persevere through a day,Where one perspires,Even as the temperature drops. Perhaps […]
Nostrils reaching for the skies,Piercing the waves,That swallowed them whole. Gasps and deep breaths,Only until the next wave followsThe one before,And swallows.While beneath the surface of icy waters,First feet try to flap fiercely,And tired hands waddle helplessly,Then another momentary respite. Solitary moments above salty oceans,To breathe,And then once againBe one again with the seas. The […]
Today man puts pen to paper,And before that ink to parchment;Even before, walls and caves Acted as his or her canvas.Soon only taps on screensWill register, thoughts and ideas,Retain who we were, Who we are and,who we aspired to be. Ever lost a diary, That captured a slice of life itself,To renovating houses, calamities,Or just […]
A raft on the surface of serenity,Pristine be its journey,Leaving little room for levity. Palms, going overboard,Reaching for the sea;As the breeze stokes,Waters too far to crest into waves. Blue meets the eye,Be it the ocean below,Or the skies above;Synchronized, to the point,Where they are left undifferentiated. Such sights inspire many a rhyme,Sapphire muses in […]
Forgive me, father, But I have not sinned. As the ebony skies, Simmer over sheepish towns, Not hosting moons or stars, I have let the most vivid thoughts Consume me. They show me death, Where my own hands are red. I bear arms. I let the screams of victims, Fill ear vessels, Who hear only […]