Nightmare-I

The shadows now fritter
In thickets of dreams,
As doubts now clutter
The sewers of self
And seeps through the strands
Of sheets of time
To haunt my skull
With signs of dread
That scream and swing
And shout and ask:

"What are the beasts that cry?
What sirens scream?
What are the chants that smother
The whispers on the stair?
What songs? How sung? How?"

Cradled and coiled I writhe,
In barbed-wire rhythms of night.

Colours of Soul

I’ve poured in verse

In black and white words

Oh dear, the colours of soul.

I’ve mixed my skies

With starlight and seas

O, watch the waves unroll!

I’ve packed in lines

My hills and vales

And studded our banks

With gardens in bloom

Where petals of heart unfold.

Welcome, my friend! I’ve opened my gates

Now dabble and smear as you can

The fountain shall soothe

And sprinkle on all

Oh dear, the colours of soul. 

Tonight

(For Robert – In Memory of Agha Shahid Ali)

I’ve woven with tears my shawl of fears

And draped our skies tonight.

Still the wind rumbles and roars from depth

My sky, it is crimson tonight!

Troubled and torn, I’ve lost even now

The music of mourning tonight.

Forgive me dear friend, for I cannot weave

The song of your choice tonight.

But your tears are strewn and spangled as stars

On the aanchal of heart tonight,

Where each it glows as rarest of pearls

And sings to my seas, the shore tonight! 

Ecstasy, in Still

Why should all curves
On stone speak art,
While those on limbs
Are joined with lust?

Words! now dance,
And sing to my tunes
The rhythms that ripple
Through beauties I gaze,
For these must glean
Their pulsating flow
In forms that thrill
With harmony of will -
Ecstasy, in still.