Still

I'm going back to the corner

where I first saw you

deep with my heart

it seems all brand new

There are some memories by the door

of that lasting sweet smell

when you'd walk in unannounced

and somewhere in those notes I still dwell

The strings are floating in the air

the music though is new

it's the season of our togetherness

why then so far are you

I'm sitting by the phone

just waiting for a sound

hoping you'd call and wake me up

turn the clock around

The distance doesn't have me fooled

I'm more in love with you

farther from your affection

but closer to what's our due

You know as well as me

I'm not here by will

without you in this abyss

I'm just living as a decrepit

They offer me a glass of wine

to take a sip and sulk

than write and whine

how do I tell them who you are

Will they ever know what you mean

do I have the words to make them see

I'm struggling to ask questions

for its been long since I longed to see

I've wandered off before

the travails have been fun

but this road that I'm on

I've been here too long

I long for an embrace

from nobody else but you

the day goes by quietly

but the night screams at me asking of you

I've moved into groups

they have caged by tears with their rants

but where do I hide the empty spaces

with these broken battered hands

The pictures have melted me beyond tears

my eyes now rest, closed

the only sight to move them

is of you being here...

I'm not moving
for you might come looking for me here
the distance is too much to arouse hope
but within my heart it grows  

ज़िन्दगी 

आ चल बांट लें
ज़िन्दगी ये पूरी 

थोड़ी तुम्हारी,
बाकी अधूरी

गुमसुम सी बातें,
रातों की बातें

वोह बातें जो
कभी न हो पाएं पूरी 

कुछ मेरी तरह
कुछ तुम्हारी
सी बातें 

शरमाई सी
कुछ मुस्कुराहटें

सिमटी से उनमें
हमारी ये रातें

ले चल वो यादें,
कुछ मिटटी वो भूरी 

माथे पे रख कर,
मांगी जिनसे दुआ थी

सिमटे कहाँ हैं,
बादल बन उड़े जो

तेरे केसुओं में लिपटे
मेरे लफ्ज़ अधूरे

दामन में सिमटे
तेरी आहट में बैठे
अरमान जो निकले
साँसों सें उड़ कर 

ले चल वहां 
जहाँ रास्ते नये हो 

मंजिल तुम्हारी
मेरी तुमसे ही पूरी

चल दे जा कुछ यादें
अब रातें हैं काली
आँखें है खाली
सपने से बढ़ गयी है दूरी 

ज़िन्दगी तो बहुत है
है कम तो बस सांसें 
सबसे बड़ी है
बस यह जीने की मजबूरी

Fleeting

Meeting and greeting

often in haste

a bittersweet symphony

for the longing to remain chaste

Of desire, you can speak at will

in denial there is eternity

wanting to stomp every decree

before it becomes an overkill

When I close my eyes
the lights go off

but in  the background
the noise refuses to dim

just like the moments you saved
when you stopped to look

are the ones 
that did you in

life moves fast, so fast at times

I hold myself to steal some time

nestling under the moist look on your face

I turn my back to what we leave behind

there are moments
when I become pure
hide my profanities
and become my very cure

but these moment are rare
rare as your sight
like so many things you are to me
a fleeting glimpse of my might

a rose that neither withers
nor loses its sheen
I run away from reality 
when it begins to drift away from the seams

No, I'm not dying or drifting away
but the epic ending is far from sight
even as these passages
become clearer by the day

a final journey into my being reveals
the very details only you managed to steal
the frosted glances deep in your soul
that I best remember as my living days

Sure

We love from distance

because we're sure,

we love despite resistance

because we couldn't be anything

or anyone anymore

The care is lasting,

our love is a storm

There ain't a nightmare,

we can't take head-on,

we've been reckoned this way...

From the sultry nights

to the dizzying heights

keep me sane from the maddening flight

that is you and I...

We love from our might,

a form or shape peculiar to world's gaze,

smirking at the horizon,

making merry in this haze

You and I have a story to tell,

and we'll tell it right,

swinging back and forth in measured paces,

oblivious to any fright,

we'll get there alright...

What you are to me,

no one will ever know

an infinitesimal energy,

a bundle of hope, a resting place

Oh, death will come to me slow...

all the secrets of this life I now know

Marching fervently in tepid directions,

and reaching out for the impossible life,

spreading thin the sorrows,

wafting out the realities too,

and dreaming till it's daylight

Oh, the nights hang in wait...

curling up in all directions

as you and I are kept at a distance

the wait gets unbearable at times

as reality gets too hard to take 

So you see,

I wait for you on the other side,

at the cusp of the circumference

where light illuminates those virgin grounds,

where rasping voices sing solemn blues,

and memories yield more than teardrops...

flying as we go,

right past the rainbows' hues

playing our own tracks,

as life takes cues... 

अंत

कुछ यादों से जुड़े

कुछ लम्हों में खड़े

ज़िन्दगी से कुछ खफा
कुछ तुम पे अड़े

चुप रहकर ज़रा

किया अपने गुस्सा का एलान
जब तुम्हरी ख़ामोशी ने
किया हमें परेशान

वक़्त था वो कठिन
कुछ घड़ियाँ नाफरमान
बिखरते कुछ लम्हे
और कुछ हम नादान

एक अंतर्द्वंद
जिसमे हिम बागी थे
एक कश्ती जिसके हम नावी थे

अच्छे और बुरे का अंतर
कठिन समझ पाना था
दिल में बस एक ही गूँज थी
कुछ कर दिखाना था

मन में था विश्वास
कदमों को मंजिल का आभास
रुकने में था झुकने का डर
गिर के बिखरने का डर

ढूंढे एक ठिकाना

जहाँ न सिफर न बसर

पहुँचने के लिये जहाँ

हमें तो बस चलते जाना

आदतों से आदि
खुद ही लिखते गए अपनी बर्बादी
और चुप रह कर जब न बनी बात
तो लफ़्ज़ों से भी कर दिया आगाज़

तुम से ही शुरू 
तुम से ही आबाद
मेरी ज़िन्दगी की आखरी कड़ी
और हम एक कैदी
अपनी  बंदगी से आबाद 

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...

Moments

Tick tock... tick tock

the clock moves like you

vowing never to stop

I sit back and watch sometimes

as minutes turn to hours,

hoping to find moments with you

listen to the stories

swept in time,

sing you a song

as our lyrics rhyme

to get close to you,

even from a distance

and rest within you when near

you smile at my wins

up from the sky

wipe my sins 

and sing sweet lullabys

hold my fear, set free my djinns

shine like the sun

make the earth grin

warming it with your glow

or perhaps the all pervading moon

you are visible

but to only those who know

like a night shining in your wisps

silent and hidden

from the prying eyes

you slip into my being

when I begin to feel low

take every step ahead

before I know...

अक्स 

रुक, थम जा, थोडा ठहर 
रात अभी बाकी, जवां है
गश्त पे निकले अरमां अभी हैं
यादों का पहरा जहाँ है


कुछ सिले, कमज़ोर 
तेरी आवाज़ के साए निकले 
दिल पे रखे हाथ 
जब हम घर लौट चले 


खाली खाली रास्तों पे
दूरी को बयान करते चले
भूले जो तुम अपनी सौगात 
गए दूर अकेले क़ैद करके हमारे हालात


मंजिल से मंदिर तक  
 साए जो मिले सब एकाकी थे 
कमी न वक़्त की थी न ज़िन्दगी की 
बस सडकों पे निकले बैरागी थे  


खोजते तो शायाद एक आशना 
उन अजनबियों में भी ढून्ढ लेते 
जो अपने किले हमें देख रेत कर चले थे 
मिलना मगर तुमसे इस वक़्त यहाँ था 


बुनते कुछ लम्हों को अपने ज़हन में आज 
कोरे कुछ पन्ने आशाओं के पार
ज़िन्दगी और दिलकशी मिल चली 
जहाँ दिखा तेरा अक्स निंदिया के पार