TWILIGHT

 Hard rocky terrains house

the most magnificent flowers

bathed in setting sun 

diligently performing

 duty of the last hour. 

A shooting star of hope 

dashing across the grey skies

smidst the night gearing up 

for its shift.

 Twilight zone of each day,

when cattle graze back home,

birds fly back to nests

mortals snuggle back 

to the warmth of homes. 

Each day interspersed

with boulders of challenges

budding flowers of joy

prickly adverse comments

lovely rays of praise

greyness of loneliness 

and meteor of hugs.

 

 

PLACID

I wish to be the unperturbed orange bunch of flowers staring at the rapids sliding furiously down.

Science classes drilled lines, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

My past reactions  always same or equal, kindness for kindness, outburst for outburst.

How l wish, l could unwind and have opposite reaction always, kindness for indifference, equanimity for anger.

I try to swim against tide each day, others angry rapids still drown me in theirs.

I wish to be like the black stones unflinchingly letting the torrents pass by.

VIEW

Bald uneven white patches 

brown rocky mountains

 clothed  prickly 

a piercing green halo born 

courtesy the forced rays 

multitasking  to erase

the  black smudges.

Slithery snowy strips

knotting hills 

a solo hill range

flirting with skies above.

Icy flakes lazy to melt

nudge sun to sweat more.

a true palette of spectacle.

 

BLOSSOM

Shining embers blaze translucently

dripping halo of  golden pearls 

fur combed interwoven black

thin strands weighing down

a mesmerising luminous flower.

 

Trying poets lives interwoven here 

lines weighing on creased minds

strands of verses slipping fingers

glowing thoughts taking  form

a cinderous creation of each writer.

NOCTURNAL

Night stars bask in moon's glow

Tall dark trees illuminated from above

The lonely stretch  bereft of travellers 

Nature's light untempting for weak hearts

to explore unexplored stretches.

Fear of dark, a known story to me

as a child, scared to fetch items from

next room during power cuts.

Now a bit brave than then 

darkness my best mate 

when eyelids droop.

SPICE

 The white lashing waves

black stones of all sizes

turmeric coloured sun

chilli coloured radiance

a slice of daily existence.

Some just  view with 

pair of black eyeballs

and white retinas,

others sprinkle each moment 

with individual spices

 to suit their palate.

We are analogous

to the beach pebbles

moulded in different

sizes and shapes.

COMPLETE

The gentle sun rays caressing  the trees

the cluster of shoots catching their share

A soft warmth blankets the atmosphere

Drying my cold tears

I walk hand in hand with my mate

our naked feet stir the sleepy meadows 

a sun kissed dew drop  sneakily 

settles on our interwoven fingers

My thoughts and his exchange glances 

Another day to be with each other

in our lives midway. 

BEAUTY SLEEP

Hey, little flurry squirrel, cosily dozing

on the lap of the broken branch,

do you feel lazy to move and 

start the day?

I too feel so many a time

Your twig's and my bed's snugness

too enticing to resist.

Cold wintry mornings

a perfect recipe for deep slumber

and missing alarm snoozes.

SHAPES

The excitement of geometry class

eager compasses out of geometry box

drawing and erasing for perfection

triangle and angles, circles and rectangles.

 Nature offering free tutoring  

loosely hanging triangle on the spherical  pebbles

the arch of sunlight, angles in the rocky crevices

 perfect parallel lines and slanting lines

a magnificent geometry teacher 

if  we pause and look.

ESSENCE

 Nature's reflection of its own self

in waters below.

Content in its own achievements

the blue sky, not striving to compare with

the dewy mist underneath

the  trees satisfied to be their companion.

Humans' endless struggle, seeking constant 

endorsements of others, a lifelong addiction.

Life's journey ends in a moment 

ashes mingled in nature

with none to compare.

 

STICK OUT

Five moss painted nails 

tempted the lens to capture

endearing in its sight

a minute contrast 

to canopy and arch of shying light. 

Our eyes search always for something 

distinctive to stand out

jut like each one of us

striving to be unique

in our own special way.

DELUGE

Millions of breaths since birth,

the one habit which doesn't await setting

time or space for practice.

The breath  at times plunges

into an abyss of  amnesia 

venom spewing negativity of media

criticisms and judgemental behaviour

of loved ones sucking the air we all need.

Gasping for that one lightning to

strike and erase the  dark cynicism

the parched lungs sway wildly

each breath drenches in happiness

happy to become normal again.

 

SHUSH

Shush, I tell her, she refuses churning out one after another

her pace faster than my groggy walk in the woods

My eyes still not completely awake from slumber

She transports me across time zones, across generations

I am not interested to travel back and forth

I want to be here, in the now

Five decades passed 

and yet she rules me

I wish to be unshackled

Each second, each minute

just soak in the moment

not get entangled like the bushes above

yet thoughts do not leave me

and I walk back the trail

thoughts settled like the morning mist.

PURPOSE

Aims, goals, plans, timetables
every word of purpose rooted
in every nook of my maternal house.

Childhood broom sweeps
but they come crawling back
to my beaming parents who
navigate them to me and my sibling.

Teen years slammed many a door
at those disgusting words then
yet they found their resting cot.

Youth conquered me
and slid them farther away
Every tiny achievement then
was a new wrapper for my ego.

Evading immigrations
my goals sneaked into
my dwelling in this country.

My occasional grey sprouting
hair do not miss
their conscious stare.

On days when my moods swing me
a friendly tug of goals whispers
"It's all right, you can do it again."

My present goals are only for my eyes
Tiny pleasures, whenever achieved
A treat, I strive to earn each day.