Posts

The City of Infinite Shadows

-
Image
Come closer now and let me tell you true, I am Mumbai, though Bombay lives here too. I’ve worn many names and survived them all, Born by the sea where no walls ever fall. Before the sun has opened up its eyes, I hear my screaming local trains arise. They carry thousands through the morning grey, Packed with the dreams of another long day. My roaring roads begin to wake and groan, With buses, trucks, and footsteps made of stone. I have no silence in the morning light, And so I have forgotten sleep at night. Look at my towers rising tall and grand, Where corporate giants rule across the land. But look beneath the shadow that they cast, Where tin-roof homes are built to hold and last. Inside those rooms the rain comes dripping through, Yet children play as if the world were new. I carry both the wealthy and the poor, And hold their contrasting lives at my door. Do not ask why I let such contrast stand, I am a city, not a judging hand. I see the woman scrubbing floor by floor, The child wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Shy Little Heart

-
Image
My lips grow still when you are near, My eyes look down, my heart beats clear. I have a thousand words to say, Yet shyness takes them all away. I cannot speak, I cannot smile, I only steal your glance awhile. But when you disappear from sight, My thoughts come alive in the quiet night. My heart begins a tender song, A melody that all along Was hiding deep inside of me, A song of love meant just for thee. And when I drift into my sleep, Your gentle dream comes sailing deep. You come like a lamp of gold, Through dreamland's skies, serene and bold. You take my hand and lead me far, Beyond the moon, beyond each star, Into a world where dreams come true- A little heaven made for two. So though my lips may never say The words my heart repeats each day, Perhaps my eyes will tell you true: This shy little heart belongs to you.
Post a Comment
Read more

You, The Season of My World

-
Image
Moon-faced girl, how did the crimson dawn Spread all its warmth across your quiet cheeks? I never knew how beauty’s face was drawn Until I heard the way your presence speaks. Who taught your lips to bloom in shades of red, Or gathered stars to gather in your gaze? I thought the sky showed where deep love was led, Until your eyes illuminated my days. You stand upon the terrace of the skies, Adorned in dusk, weaving a scarf of light. When dark hair falls, the evening cloud flies, And wandering winds grow gentle in the night. Your touch arrives like rain upon dry land, A sudden cool that wakes the hidden earth; It stirs dormant places with a tender hand And grants forgotten feelings a rebirth. When you are bright, my inner fields grow green; When you are sad, gray skies begin to fall. Your quiet silence hushes every scene, And in your absence, autumn takes it all. The trees grow mute, the sky forgets its shade, And every bloom folds tightly from the cold. Yet when you come, the world is r...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Lotus Leaf Letter

-
Image
  Who was it that wrote a letter of love Upon a lotus leaf, tender and bright? Who could she be, this gentle soul, Hidden forever beyond my sight? *** Upon a soft and velvet lotus leaf, Unfolding in the misty emerald lake, I etch the silent whispers of my grief, And tender vows no mortal world can break. *** Is she the moon with a soft, quiet smile, That gilds the surface of the sleeping wave? Or dawn’s first beam that sets the woods ablaze- The unseen poetess whom I seek and crave? *** With fingernails that trace the gentle veining, I weave a love song written in morning dew; A lonely heart’s quiet plea, forever uncomplaining, Sent in love’s secret tongue to one unknown, yet true. *** In every sweet dream, I catch a brief glance Of that playful heart who steals my sleep- A lovely poetess with love on her lips, And tender kisses she swore to keep. *** She steals my restless hours with playful eyes, A shadow dancing just beyond my view, While beneath the fragrant canopy of skies, My...
Post a Comment
Read more

Moonlight Silence

-
Image
 Only the silver moon stayed wide awake, it spilled its liquid light across the room, resting on every leaf and quiet flower, and gilding every corner filled with gloom. *** I must have dreamed for just a fleeting while, for softly came the moon to touch my frame, slipping across the ledge in silver grace, and left before I woke to speak its name. *** The midnight breeze stepped in without a sound, and brushed the sheer curtains like a secret hand, carrying sweet perfumes of unknown flowers that bloom somewhere across a distant land. *** I thought you came; I held my quiet breath, and listened for your footsteps on the floor, watching the darkness for a familiar shape, the sudden, gentle shadow at my door. *** I yearned to feel your warmth beside me here, to lose the winter heavy in my chest, but all the room remained a hollow hall, where only empty shadows came to rest. *** It searched the quiet spaces of my heart, where tender memories lie gathered deep, and still you did not com...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Spectrum and the Frame

-
Image
  Fourlinegraphia: We gave you red when you bled into life, then taught you to hide it, to bow in the dark. The blood that bore children, the blood of the wife, we named it a shadow, a stain, and a mark. We built walls around temples and kitchens and doors, and called it tradition, and called it divine. She: I took back the red that was rightfully mine- the pulse in my veins, the raw warmth of the bone. I washed off the shame that was never my own. Fourlinegraphia: We gave you white when he slipped from your side, as if grief were a dress you were destined to wear. We draped you in silence, we stripped you of pride, and measured your sorrow by what you must bear. She: I folded the white into wide, open space, not a shroud for a ghost, but a place to begin. I stepped past the mourning they drew on my face, and let the fresh light of the morning come in. Fourlinegraphia: We painted you green for the children you grew, celebrated the mother, forgot who you were. We gave you gold for a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Whose Path Am I Walking?

-
Image
I do not fear dying without my consent-  it is living on this earth that fills my heart with dread. On the road ahead,what hurdles lie in wait for me? They say, “Keep moving forward”but forward to where? Who decided this destination? Whom did I ask to be born? Whom did I request for this body? Why does this very breath enter and leave my chest without my permission? Why am I made to walk without my consent? Outside doors I never opened, who wrote my name?On paths I never chose, who drew my footprints? “You must live,” they say-by whose law? “You must endure,” they say-by whose fate? “You must succeed,” they say-by whose yardstick? If I fall, many call out, “Get up!” But when I asked, “Why are we running?” the entire world fell silent. Oh world that claims ownership of my dreams, why do you put a price tag on my fears? Around me stand invisible walls in the name of family,  in the name of society,in the name of fear, in the name of a sweet lie called “For your own good.” To eve...
Post a Comment
Read more