A Prayer for You

you asked me
to pray for you

and so I looked
into myself
to notice
a soft, steady trickle
of clear water
like a mountain spring

growing,
changing,
listening
all the while
to the trees,
the sky,
the birdsong,
the pebbles,
the crickets,
and the clarion call
of a faraway ocean

and then flowing out,
awakened
to the silence
resting deep
within
words,
this world,
this womb,
the arrival
of a new you
and me
I cannot see,
and a voice
that can finally speak.
a prayer for you.

Wall of Words

and you throw words
in the way
of my seeing,
so I can first
touch and feel
the walls of your heart,
so I can grope
and stumble
and fall in
through the black tunnels
of a love
that does not seek light
but only wants to live,
and feel
unapologetically
alive!

My Prayer

and I pray
that my words sing
the many songs
of still water
flowing
to die
while it lives
a thousand lives.

Listening

and I listened to you,
so your words formed the container
to hold my silence.

Fill In The Blanks

talk to me, tell me all,
so I can listen to the silence
held behind your tightly woven words.

I don't want to fill in the blanks.
I want to hear your precious story,
not fill yours with mine.

दिल की बात

लव्ज्ञ कितने
पर होठो तक
आती नही,
दिल के
उस झरोके मे
लटकती है,
जाते भी नही,
सिर्फ एक एह्सास है
गुलाब की खुशबू की तरह,
जो हवा से बिखरा हुआ
पहुचता है,
और रुक जाता है
उस गहरे सन्नाटे पर,
जहॉ तुम और मै नही होते,
सिर्फ एक एहसास होता है,
दिल का ये राज्ञ
पहचानने का,
दिल की बात
दिल से सुनने का

On Words

some words
have a mysterious
exquisite softness
that lands on hearts
like a feather
wandering
and kissing
the far-away ground;
while some words
are like stone,
heavy
with jagged edges,
denting
the distant ground
which suddenly
seems nearer
with the glaring fall.

and I told myself
don't speak of love,
for in that faint parting of lips
and empty gaze outside,
you will lose
a precious moment
with your beloved.

Madness

the world has a name
for everything
that is nameless
and formless;
a wild shot
piercing darkness,
to make sense
of the dark.

but darkness is not dark,
like wetness is not water.

and yet, madness
is the name given
to a wild
untamed heart,
drunk with
its own spirit,
so full of itself,
and an intense love
for all of life.

Tongue Tied

voices
come and go,
impersonal
echoes
from distant
mountain tops;
words -
like shooting stars
zip across
a ribbed void,
burnt up
apparitions,
an abandoned child
searches
and wonders
with bated breath;
dreams of catching
fireflies
melt into
nothingness;
no lingering
goodbyes,
just one swift
nonchalant stroke,
a disappearance,
that stabs
an already broken heart
longing to sing
a different song
today.

Thoughts and Words

sometimes
thoughts
and words
stick
in my head
like drops of glue;

sometimes
they dart
across
like starlings
from an
unsettled tree;

sometimes
they slip into
a dark void
like pennies
falling
to their
soundless end;

sometimes
they melt
like popsicles
rolling along
a sleepy
warm tongue;

oh! how I wish
I could catch them,
and hold them
for just a moment,
a little longer,
so I could listen
to what they
have to say;

but they
come and go
like happy travellers
exploring
a shifting landscape,
where
to rest a while
is a trespass
on silence's shore.

Expression

Fragrance
cannot be hidden
for long.
The wind
gives it wings
to fly.

Love and Light
flow out through
the tiniest crack
in the hardest shell.
Presence and fragrance
make the rose a rose.

Like the pianist
becomes the music,
and the stars
become the light,
fragrance becomes the rose,
as words become the heart.

Fragrant words
are the song
of a dancing heart,
that cannot help
sing its love-song
out to the world.

The Bridge

words linger
in the deathly hollow -
unborn children
of a hopeful tomorrow,
they drop down
a bottomless chute,
dying as they fall, and
rest into silence.
you cannot come
with me
to those forgotten places
where I walk alone;
you cannot hold
my trembling hand;
the bridge
can only take
the weight of one -
the bridge that hangs
over a growing gorge -
between mind and heart;
a bridge that I have to build
and walk alone.

Like A Game of Squash

arguments -
words and emotions
bounce back and forth
from a wall of love
in Life's court;
there are
no winners,
no losers here,
only a game of squash -
to be enjoyed
and played
in the heat
of the moment.

All is Well, in the Well of Love

you reach a point
when words
thrown at you
like acid -
pungent,
and seething,
to singe
your warm heart,
turns into water
that nourishes a lily -
love grows slowly
and surely,
in every place,
even when there is
no sight of hope.
All is well,
in the well of love.