Mere saath chala woh Chand

Moon and its wing

पुराने गाने सुनते

रस्ता चला

पेड़, खेत, नादिया

पीछे छोड़ चला

साथ चली बस हवा

कुछ गुनगुनाती

अच्छे सफ़र की

देती दुआ

और चला वो चाँद

हर कदम मेरे साथ

बादलों से गुज़रता,

कुछ मुस्कुराता

जानता है वो, शायद

मेरे मन की बात

I experienced Sin

I experienced
the sin
Pure and septic
gagged upto the brim

Through the sieves
of Desires
In the hell
of scorching fires

It flowed
through the veins
Burning the neural path
Furrowing deep ruts in the brain

Botched patches
of dried blood
Making random patterns
of the habitual flood

For there was
nothing to gain
Just to experience
The inscrutable pain

Yet it prevailed
Vanquishing the sane
In the duel for reason
A fight in vain

Clouded lights
Forming blinded shadows
Crawling the grimy floor
as the spectre arose

Larger than the eye
it could no longer see
Entangled in the long tethers
festered the illusion of free

The divine voices called
Well meaning, yet irate
Drowning hands clawed the precipice
just in time before too late

In the sweat
I came washed
With trampled skin
Deeply rashed

No clothes could stick
The new naked dawn
Exposed to the dewy rays
the demon was gone

I found the divine
Beyond the din
Blissfully aware
I had experienced the sin

An obscure corner in my garden

PC: pixels

There is a corner
a forgotten one
in the obscure part
of my garden

it lies separated
from the rest of the lawn
by a scatter of shrubs
growing unchecked
unseen, unrestricted

There
in that corner
nothing is in order
manicured or controlled

There
grows whatever wants to grow
where
weed is not separated
from grass

where flowers
and bushes
have no separate
pecking order

where hedges
have no shape
where trees
are not pruned

where
sun and shade
play
hide and seek

There
I haven’t been since long
There
hidden away
is a boy
with an unkempt hair

And then she had grown

Aditi the wise
And then
She had grown

Her tiny feet
Went beyond the cradle 
Kicking away the warm rug
I gently placed it back
And then
She had grown

Her little hands 
Waved back
She entered the schools gate
I waited a bit longer
And then 
She had grown

Her eloquent voice
Recited the poem nice
She bowed as they clapped 
I clapped the loudest
And then
She had grown

Her twinkling eyes
Searched for us
She glowed in glory
There in the crowd
My eyes welled with pride
And then
She had grown

Its her birthday
I whisper wishes to the sky
There far away 
she looks up and smiles
And then
She had grown