Lost in the din

The empty path is
Erupting with people
Everyone seems to
Have somewhere where
They belong

Somewhere where

They are going to

The sun erupts
From the treetops
Fills the rooftops with light
The branches

Begin stirring with life

The koel breaks her voice
Against the sky
Even the crow joins in
In the chorus
With a croak
They keep singing, cawing

In unison

Little birds chime in

With their chirps and tweets

Longing for the dream
They dreamt last night
To manifest
In the bursts of flower sprays
That come awake
In the morning dew

Only to confront
The emptiness
Of the bright blind sun
Vacillating to and fro

And day turns to night
The path is bereft
Of people

But the koel still

Searches insistently

For an answer
From the emptiness

The emptiness replies
With silence

The koel is trapped
In her voice
She knows her fate
She will never
Find the answer
To her song
Yet she sings
Piercing the sky
With her cry

The crow croaks

And blinks

And night becomes day
The street begins to fill again
With hurrying people
Everyone seems to have
Somewhere to go

Where they belong
With their bags and briefcases
Clutched in their hands
The garbage bins
Begin to overflow
With the refuse
Of the hurrying people
Honking cars
And trundling buses
Grind through
The mazes
Of shouting hawkers
And scampering 

Wafts of dust

Mingled with dried leaves

The koel's voice
Is lost in the din

The crow croaks

And blinks 

Her bleeding heart

With hesitant, tremulous timing
The flower bud pried open
Her tender petals, one by one
To reveal her bleeding heart
To her beloved
The golden sun
Riding high in her golden sky

Only to discover
Her sky engulfed in blackness
Her golden sun
Was lost in the clouds
Of an eclipse
Too powerful for her
Tender petals
To pry open

Her tender petals
Shrivelled and crumpled
One by one
Into dry dust
Her bleeding heart
Turned to ashes

Fragrance of flowers

Just when I began to think
It was the end
Fragrance of flowers
Wafting in

Between you and me, There cannot be adieu

Between you and me there cannot be adieu
How can there be closings, endings, finales
When there has been no beginning?
Leave taking (if that is what you want it to be)
Can happen only after a greeting.
Between you and me
Our what has been, what could have been,
What would have been
Have not been born yet.
So my darling, how can there be an adieu
Between you and me?

Instead, my love, in this river of time
That flows so endlessly, so relentlessly,
Let us have our momentous fraction
Momentary though it may be
(If that is what you want it to be)
Let us have our moment of heartbeat
Throbbing together
Though I want forever
Let's at least have our 365 days
Entwined together
Before we hit the pause
(If that is what you want it to be)

Without our moment, our fraction of time
In this river of time, my canvas has no voice
Will remain blank. My hand will remain frozen.
How can there be memories, life stories
Fresh colours, fresh tints
When without you
My days are blank?

Instead, my darling, let us both
Catch that sun drop, that sliver of moon
That beckons us
Tight in our fists.
Let us hold each other tight
In each others arms
And not let each other
Slip out of our grasp.
Let us have our yesterdays
Discovering each other
Let us create our todays
Holding, loving each other
Let us have our tomorrows
Until time drifts into forever.

Let us tether our two boats together
And together float in this flow of time
At least for a while (if that be your wish).
Pause at a ghat and watch a sunset together.
Let us together paint
Our purple skies, our moons of yesteryears
And together sing our lusty songs of life.
Let us first create our landscapes
On which we plant our footprints
Before they are blown away
By the sands of adieu
(If that is what you want it to be).

Look, my love, look at the river
Golden in the sunshine, silver in the moonlight
As old as time. It flows on.
But empty, bereft of our boats,
Tethered together, floating, tossing
On its undulating surges and ebbs.
Listen, my love, listen to the music of the waters
Beckoning to us. Untie yourself.
And join me there.
There are many ghats for us to visit.
Traveller, let us journey together
And seek our destination together.

Let us have our moments of new beginnings, together.
Our moments of continuations.
Our moments of new suns, new moons, new skies.
And together ford our path through this river
Which flows on, as old as time.
Let us be each other's
Companions, Soul mates, Lovers.
Come my love, let us tell each other
Our stories, share our sorrows, joys.
Let us together soothe our hurts,
Savour our jubilations
On this great wondrous journey of life.
Between you and me, my love,
There cannot be adieu.

Richard Feynman’s Love Letter to His Wife Sixteen Months After Her Death

http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/08/richard-feynmans-love-letter-to-his-wife-sixteen-months-after-her-death/

broken wings

the mud-fingers shape the flight-bird --

clod-heavy, they mould

the dance of the gossamer wings


the revolutions whirl recklessly

in the churn of wheels –

a lost bird breaks and bleeds


tender years metamorphose to

hardened scab --

it’s time for the reckoning


time is coalescing, beckoning,

calling for the exacting of the refunding

of the despoiling of

a yearning cry


the potter’s hands, impotent artificers,

his spinning wheel by his side, motionless,

cannot repair broken strings

So far away

So far away, it seems,
Where you have gone
It seems I have to travel
This lifetime
To extend myself from
Beyond me, my births
Stretch my memory
Collapsed in this snapshot
Moment
To thread my heart
To yours