seafaring

the sun is forever remote.

clouds ramble only in the night. 

a moon intones a story 

of a sea.

the biography of a metaphor


the silence finds solace 

in the trembling of leaves. 

a song sleepwalks,

traverses a heart. 

corners of the sky 

are dogeared. 

he breaks the strings. 

they etch star trails. 

a fugue ruffles. 

the trembling (of the heart) 

seeks refuge 

in the silence of the leaves. 

he sleepwalks a song. 

they crumble the sky.

love (seldom) dreams of a moon. 

the comets whisper the secret. 

a fugue explodes. 

autrefois

a sun surreptitiously flickered into a charcoaled sky

the thunders parch the wrinkled ocean

he digs out another dimension to his silence

.

in this land

where the words are fireflies,

verses the glimmering suns,

and an askew moon

with a Gaussian blur,

and the world tilts nonchalantly, 

my heart, askance, asks -

where are you going?

"sojourn! "

the hesitant kiss, almost Kafkaesque - 

"who has plucked the moon off the sky?"

he sails away to another dream. 

"semicolons"

he plunders his poesy

a raindrop tumbles on the wall

(who has startled my caesurae?)

.

Ibteda!

wo mausam laut aaye hain,

wo rang laut aaye hain

hawaon me tazkirein hain,

wo humdum laut aaye hain..

khawaabon ke parinde hain,

aankhon ke aasman hain.

maazi ke samandar se

wo nakhuda laut aaye hain

wo barq se girte the,

sazde teri mushtaaq ke.

wo mussarat ki kaliyan hai

wo abr laut aaye hain

wo chuppi ke qafas the,

wo dam todti kahaniyan..

ek khoyi huyi ghazal ke

wo misre laut aaye hain

wo mausam laut aaye hain,

wo rang laut aaye hain

hawaon me tazkirein hain,

wo humnafas laut aaye hain..

"anchorage"

you buoy,

i sink.

you buoy;

i sink.

you buoy.

i sink.

tumult of a silent sky

the contrapuntist has fled his tenor

a lonely metaphor is adrift ..

"shab-e-furqat"

kabhi ufaaq pe khilte hain

teri chahaton ke maah,

kabhi tere deeda-e-shamsh-e-chasm milte hain.

ye jism karta hai aarzoo-e-qurbat teri,

ye qalb seene me dhadkta hai

hawaon pe tere tazkire sun ke..

jirah karte rehte hain raat bhar

syaah abr mere aasman pe,

girte rehte hain anfaas tere,

mere hothon pe gauhar-e-shafaq ban ke.

..

wohi azal ke arsh hain,

wohi bebaak si kaliyan.

wo tere lafz-o-harf hain,

aur mere dil-e-muztar ke kisse..

kabhi ufaaq pe milenge,

teri chahaton ke maah,

kabhi tere seher-o-shamsh-e-chasm milenge.

ufaaq = horizon; maah = moon; chasm = eyes; shamsh = sun; deeda = sight; qurbat = closeness; qalb = heart; tazkire = mention; jirah = arguments, altercation; syaah = dark, black; abr = cloud; anfaas = breath; gauhar = pearl; shafaq = twilight; azal = eternity; arsh = seventh heaven; harf = alphabet; muztar = restlessness; seher = dawn, morning

"desafinado"

the china, once more, shattered into

a thousand pieces.

"there is hope - infinite hope.

but not for us."

Kafka, Love, don't hound

my symphonies, please.

a probable moon,

superfluity of stars.

an oblique ocean,

the silent tidings.

banality of words,

on the sheet of night.

i sing to you a paean

devoid of any light.

Your beguiling eyes

secrete hushed euphemisms.

The winds chase away

the moon-dog.

I shirk my pentameter,

edacious,

pen vers libre.