Save the Last Dance

The dawn slowly arrives…
Slowly with bhairav
Majestic in its dignity
Slow yet graceful in poise…

The early riser greets the Ganges…
While the strains of ajaan…
Waft in from the distance…
While most of the rest sleep on…

I lie awake looking for words…
Searching the soul of the morning breeze…
Looking for someone to share this with…
Nervous…Afraid…Happy…Hopeful…

The wizard plays his tabla…
And, the guitar joins him…
While the flute gently caresses
And, the piano takes it all in…

And, I stand silent…
Watching you dance…
Beautiful…far away…but it matters not…
For I know, you will save the last dance for me.

Other side of Hope

I am back to you my sunset…
At, another beginning’s end
The coffee is cold again…
The unlit cigarette lies forgotten on my lips

The sand has finally slipped through my fingers…
Once again it’s empty inside
Yet, the long night looks on…
And, winter hides it all with her misty blanket

It’s time once again…
Time for rain…
It’s time to continue my wait…
For you, my eternal stranger

The dawn will be bereft of your presence
And, I will seek your hand…
While, I stare at the busy road
From my lonely verandah

As, the evening bird rests its wings
And, the weary traveler takes the last train home…
Here I am…back to you…
My stranger…my rain…my sunset…cold coffee and cigarettes

So that you remember me

My words have lost themselves…
In the vagaries of my existence

I write these lines for you, my love
For you, who I haven’t yet met

And, I am quiet…
As, evening falls heavily

The winter fog embraces me.
And, I want to find the unknown address again…

I let the violin’s melancholy note wash over me
As, I walk…and keep walking…

Even, the sands of time have shifted…
And, my footprints are to be found no more…

I try to make my way…
Where there is no path to be followed…

I seek what is long gone…
Hoping for answers to forgotten questions…

And, tonight I have lost you…
For, my words have lost themselves.

But, I write these lines for you…
So that you remember me

The Last Journey

She lay sleeping
Calm in her final destination…
The expression frozen in time
The life lost in memories…

And, as all arrived…
Tears…Pain…Sorrow…
I hear the lamentations of a lonely swan…
And, a life that could have been...

And, as she embarks on her final journey
On a cheap bed carried by four willing shoulders…
And as, the repetitive chant stabs the chilly silence
It’s already rituals and a forgotten life…

The dark winter night…
Slowly envelops the weary Ganges
Flowing through the ages…
Eternity etched in hungry tides…

And, she lends us a bit of her cold self…
To cool the smouldering ashes
To give a life spent in compromises, burnt in rituals...
An eternity of peace…