Crimson Sky

Let the directions be directionless tonight
And, the drunk breeze wild…
Death came to her in my arms
And, the crimson sky didn’t care that night

So, what if the tears are safely tucked away?
And, solace seems nowhere in sight…
I await the other side…
While the sky keeps burning my eyes

Your last, cold kiss…
The bloodless eyes…
And, the urn was all that was left that night…
But, there is still fire in the sky and I’m alright

The cost you paid for my life was too high…
I live, lost in the pages of your diary
While I watch the fire in the sky and think
I lost you in my arms and the crimson sky never cared…

Coffee

A lonely cup of cooling coffee
And, a half burnt cigarette dangling from burnt lips
The sultry summer catching its breath…
With the first shower of the season

But, he doesn’t notice…
The beauty…or, the mocking glances.
He has met his rain…
And, he keeps drowning

The dreamer struggles to break free
Weaving a hundred stories…
And…halting… hesitating…
He, drinks from her lips…

He fights to bury his obsession…
His addiction of her scent…of her presence…of her skin
While, he floats in her music and smoke
Sitting in a lonely staircase…

There were a hundred anomalies
An un-understood past, a scary present and an uncertain future
Yet, he craves every moment…zealous to gain her attention
Yet, insecure that maybe for her, he is a huge mistake.

Slowly, the magic passes…
And, reality catches him unawares…
And, he finds himself shunned to the sidelines
With excuses and false hopes

He watches helpless…
While his rain stops raining
And, the smoke clears…
While the music seems far, far away

He doesn’t believe reality…
Hating and loving her…
Angry yet disbelieving her actions…
While fighting to find his lost soul…

And, he finds himself back…
Sipping a cup of coffee, watching rain…
Looking for her invigoration in acrid smoke of cheap cigarettes…
Broken stairways…clouds…and…pain

The Actor

The gentle sway of an actor’s brow
The sweat, the tears…and the fierce pride
The subtle hints and twitches
And, a change of mask…for faces often lie

The beauty of every role,
And changing lives like a costume
The romanticism and ugliness…
And, the pain behind the mask…for faces often lie

The desire to reach out
Be bigger than what the stage can be
The whisper carried over like a scream
And, the naturally prepared expressions of the mask…

Oh! The madness, the heroism of it all
The vanity of being the best…
The knowledge of inspired creation…
And, knowing life is but a performance.

Passion and the thunderous applause,
The lines running like blood through his veins
He is the actor and the world’s his stage
He is a mask yet a beautiful face…

A few hundred souls

Who cares for a few hundred ordinary souls…
Let them die in the rain…
Or, drown in the salt of their own tears…
While we worry about pride

Who knows…who lives or dies?
Who cares and who decides??
Oh, let them die in the gutters or blow up in a bomb
What is the matter with a few hundred ordinary souls…

Teeming ants, blocking every highway
Extermination is the solution anyway…
So, don’t bother let them be ignored…
It’s just a few hundred ordinary souls.

The rape of human dignity
And the friendly gun,
And, hate….
And, we all condemn it sipping coffee with cakes

It’s pointless to point out
In a land of billions
We will be insulted and torn apart… Yet, we will watch..
As, it’s not just a few hundred…all our souls are dead anyway.

Violence and Valentines

On a day leading to violets and valentines
On a night waiting for dawn to celebrate love…
And, a peaceful city celebrating life
Shattered due to violence and vendetta

The tremulous rose is silenced
As, I watch the rain in her eyes…
And, we all are aghast
While love seems to be full of lies

Time again for blames…
Time again for blood to be mopped up from the streets
Time again maybe to rise up…
To be beaten down again??

The scars of undeserved deaths
The blinding pain of open wounds…
While we wait for rain to embrace us
And, stand up demanding a change

The pen seems an unworthy weapon
But, the feeble words are all I have
While the anger boils in a billion minds…
And, my country is ravaged again…

Yet, tomorrow is a new day of an emerging country
The promise of a young nation
A promise of love…And a resolve…
To fly no matter what the odds…

Dawn

I hear a faraway melancholy ajaan
While sitting alone at a lonely night’s dawn…
Hearing, the quaint out of tune melody
And, the peace of a centuries old song…

An un-understood beauty beckons…
While the solitary sailor looks on…
The lighthouse beacon sweeps by again…
Yet, the rocks seem to summon…

She wanders in another land….
While I seek the out of tune melody
And, I succumb all over again…
To a rustic tune that moved mountains…

I have lost many…
To the calling of darkness
I have lost myself in your song…
And you will find me when the lights go off

She will kill to win
While I fight to surrender
And, I wait while the lonely ajaan cleanses me
And, music rushes through my veins…

The threshold of tomorrow
Unfolds with un-foretold beauty
And, I watch spellbound…
While far, far away…She sleeps in peace

Fog

The silent evening…
Stealthily arrives in the dark domain
Of a foggy winter’s dawn
While, life blunders on…

The blinding pain…
Of losing after having found again
Of seeing it all slip away
Down the same road of old rain

And, yet the maddening hope
Lingers on in the musty cellars
Of the torn down mansion
Full of old cares…

She says it’s all there…
Behind, the smoke somewhere
Yet, she throws me away
Revolted at the sight of my rotting wounds

And, my vain vigil continues…
Staring at the silent phone
Burning down another night
Waiting, to be understood.