Mirage

In a silent spot on the crowded train
I scream out your name
only to hear your echo
in my ears

With eyes shut tight
And ears holding up might
to suck out the light

The nameless faces pause for a second
And then go back to their ordinary lives
And take with them
the mirage that you were here...

The silent solitude and the empty bliss
together usurp any remnants of restraint
to let me see you with closed eyes
or envision with eyes open that you're here 

Opium indifference

with a slit of light

the cloud puff became clear

the inching of your breath

and the lisps in your swears

the sky had descended

replacing the blue with black

the scraped skin in your fingers

and the midnight in your backpack

cuddled in the ruins of your coiled hair

were the restrains of the night

that we had previously laid bare

the dark spots on the walls

had witnessed with sleepy blur

the opium on your tongue

and the quiet soothing of pain

the vibrations had softened to slow

as indifference began to grow

in the shell of slumberous lair

I finally felt the spring in my chair

a few feet higher than ground

my feet nowhere to be found

like feathers suspended in mid-air

a new breed had mushroomed within

taller than my wares

I was indifferent to prying glares...

I was free at last,

but the price was too much to pay

living in the night

thinking of it to be day..

जाने क्यूँ

सब कुछ पीछे छोड़

हम चले आये थे 

जाने तुम क्यूँ वापस चले आये 

जाने क्यूँ हमने तुम्हे आने दिया

घाव तो अभी भरे नहीं थे 

सपनों से अभी हम डरे नहीं थे

मौत से आगे बढे नहीं थे

ज़ख्मों में क्यूँ तुम्हे शामिल किया

ख़ामोशी से अभी भी नाता कहाँ हैं 

मन की सड़कों पे खाली यादें जमा हैं

बढ़ते तो सिर्फ कागज़ पे दिन है 

जाने क्यूँ बाकी अब तक यहाँ हैं

मिल कर भी मिल जो जाए तो क्या 

न मिल के जो खोया वो अब भी लापता है 

जाने क्यूँ अब भी तेरे सपनों में शामिल

हैं मेरे सपने जो कभी हमारे न बन पाए

मन्मर्ज़ियाँ जो बयान न कर पाएं
जो छुप जाएँ तो तुम बिन कहाँ जाएँ
जाने क्यूँ ढूंढें बस वोही जो न पाएं 
जाने क्यूँ

This Town

A new wind has set in the sails,

my stride it seems hangs

in wait

the old world charm now denounced

I feel like a stranger in this

known town

From familiar faces

to known names

I see but scores

running in circles encaged,

enraged, and somewhere bereft

of the concrete

this town abounds...

A few new roads in old directions

heading straight to

known abjections

with more and more passengers

inhabiting it for the day...

Through the good and mean bends

and all the in-between trends,

lying in wait of some miracle

wishing you were here...

The open windows and ticking clocks

and all the empty seats

at the bus stops

Where have all the journeymen gone,

perhaps they found their new grounds

This town, is like any other town

slowly breathing while others frown

Once the cynosure of batting eyelids,

now fast merging with the

leveled grounds

The relics of the those old fools

the place we grew up,

our everyday schools

the doors ajar,

their fields no longer clay

barren and frosted in time,

living on for another day...

The wee small hours

of the morning,

that's the time you miss the most,

the milkman's arrival, the butter toast

and the morning dew on your shoes...

What insipid belongings can you possibly take,

everything, everyone's already gone...

along with the lasting seasons of treasure 

and the keys to those childhood songs

With everyone gunning for a change,

memories seem regressive at times,

where do you go looking for things,

you never knew you were to find...

Hope is for those waiting to see

this old town as their new family

Oh, visitor, come knock at any door anytime,

all these streets have waited the longest time

and before you turn around in haste,

do remember,

this uprooted town lives in your wake...