SEHAR

Sehar Hui Toh Suraj Ne Socha
Kya Aaj Ka Din Kuch Juda Hoga...
Roz Sulagta Hoon Khaak Tak Main,
Khaak Ka Bhi Toh Kahin Khuda Hoga...

Kab Se Seench Raha Hoon Falak Ko Aag Se
Lekin Raat Ki Raeth Wahin Padi Hai Patthar Banke,
Roshni Ke Mere Paudhon Mein Deemak Ki Tarah
Waqt Baitha Hai Zindagi Ki Keemat Banke...

Sochta Hoon Aaj Safar Na Karoon,
Sochta Hoon Aaj Bakhar Karoon,
Naukri Hi Toh Hai, Chutti Maar Loon,
Thoda Si Neend Zyada Vaar Loon...

Arsa Ho Gaya Manmaani Kiye Hue,
Falak Pe Thehre Abr Se Piye Hue,
Abr Ki Daraaron Mein Chup Chup Ke
Baarishon Ke Mausam Ka Mazaa Liye Hue...

Kab Tak Yun Hi Jalta Rahoonga Main,
Kab Tak Dhalta Rahoonga,
Jism Pe Kharoche Aa Gayi Hain Ab Toh
Hawavon Pe Rengte Rengte...

Waqt Besharm Hai Bada, Phir Bulaa Raha Hai Aaj,
Kaash Mere Kaanon Mein Moum Hota,
Ae Khuda, Ab Toh Bas Kar Ki Bahut Hua,
Mere Sehar Mein Zehar Bahut Hua.

THE SONG OF SOLITUDE

Sometimes I want my shadow around
To make up for the lack of human sound,
He talks to me about whatever I wanted
So much that I covet the haunted.

I stare at my own reflection
If only he was another person,
We could meet up and see around the town
His cheer could make up for my frown.

I deliver monologues at the table
He listens as if they were a fable,
I cannot understand what he thinks of me
It is difficult to know the phony.

I hear random noises from nowhere
The talker seems to dissolve into thin air,
Every search for him goes in vain
Is he just a puzzling figment of my brain?

I touch the ventilator’s wire mesh
It is a poor proxy for living flesh,
My shins ache and my bums need a stool
But there is no one to do the needful.

Loneliness, you eat up all my time
Go away; be not a despondent prelude,
Company, I seek you in this rhyme
Come to me and rid me of solitude.

YAARI

Teri yaari mein yaar guzaara na hua,
Alvida kehne mein dard dobaara na hua.

Ek woh khushiyon ki daali thi,
Aur hatheli khaali thi,
Shazar ka bhi magar tujhe nazaara na hua,
Afsos mera khwaab tumhaara na hua,
Teri yaari mein yaar guzaara na hua.

Door kshitij ki bulandi thi,
Maana raftar mein mere mandi thi,
Par thoda sa intezaar tujhe gawaara na hua,
Khudgarzi se tera kabhi ubaara na hua,
Teri yaari mein yaar guzaara na hua.

Jad toh tera hi vaada tha,
Ki meri tanhayi mein shaqs ek zyada tha,
Vaadon ka magar mujhe sahara na hua,
Gham ke galiyon se kabhi chutkaara na hua,
Teri yaari mein yaar guzaara na hua.

Teri yaari mein yaar guzaara na hua,
Alvida kehne mein dard dobaara na hua.

EYES

Whenever I scan your face,
I am left with a query to raise:
Is your gaze my antidote
Or is it my malaise?

My mind dissipates into delirium,
My soul inseminates with a waking,
The lust of your look lynches me so
My life begs you its taking.

Were I to die unblinking, here and now,
Sloshed with the stare of desire;
What would it be if not my rebirth
At the smouldering funeral pyre?

Will your eyes be just my seduction,
Or will they be my love for the night?
What shall my stares accomplish,
What is the apogee of my sight?

BADLI

Raaston ki aadat hai raahi ko badalna,
Har mod pe manzil ke tassawur ko badalna,
Khud ki mazaar pe chaadar chadhaney mein hai khair mera
Ki Kafir ki fitrat hai apne Elahi ko badalna.

Har lamhe ki chahat hoti hai apne mustaqbil ko badalna,
Apni rukhsaton ke badnaseeb manzar ko badalna,
Inhi koshishon mein nikal gayi jo zindagani meri
Ki ab uski hasrat hai maazi-e-buzdil ko badalna.

Kuch rishton ki mashaqqat hai meri kaynaat ko badalna,
Chehre ke peeche ke insaan ko badalna,
Shukraguzar nahin main unka lekin khush hun unse
Ki kisi ki toh aarzoo hai mere haalat ko badalna.

Badli hi agar zindagi hai toh kya zindagi hai yeh,
Main chahta hoon iss maut ke aaghaz ko badalna.


English Translation: CHANGE

It is the habit of the roads to change the traveler,
To change the idea of destination at every turn,
It is in my interest to offer prayers at my own mausoleum
For it is the wont of the non-believer to change his God.

Every moment wants to change its own future,
To change the unlucky prospect of its departure,
My lifespan that was wasted in such pursuits
It now desires to change its cowardly past.

Some relations labour to change my world,
To change the person behind the face,
I am not thankful to them but I am happy with them
For at least someone aspires to change my situation.

If change is life, then what life is this,
I wish to change this beginning of death.

ILLUMINATION

Darting off the Sun God’s chariot mast
Towards an imperfect world, a spear
Of light into the glassy sphere,
Illumination is here.

The shadows are sharper, as is the shade,
The light is within and everywhere
That hazy crimson is now red, and clear
Illumination is here.

Black arrows of thought had wounded the heart,
A pain was sired to disorient and sear,
But now we shall steady the painful veer,
Illumination is here.

A thousand fires of hope were doused
By those who were distant and dear,
Yet those dreams are alive and near
Illumination is here.

The dawn wakes up to the morning dew,
Dew that is a delighted tear
Bled for this freedom from a dim, dark fear
Illumination is here.

A curse has been thrown off its gear,
And the Sun God’s racecar spreads cheer,
The stage is all set for the compeer,
Illumination is here.

LUCK FOGIC

The lines on my palms
Are never as nearly good,
In the game of fortuitous alms
She doled me less than she could.

The road was always rocky
But for me the climb too was steep,
She never let it get any easy
Till I stopped to rest and weep.

High tides seek out men to drown
As soon as I take to the sea,
She calms the violent waters down
When the sailor is not me.

Between hypothesis and happening
Lies the abyss of Luck
That one place, that one thing,
Where many like me got stuck.

The halt becomes the destination
When She wills it that way,
Success is but an illusion
That she forges for the best of her prey.

I know men are not born equal
That some are meant to be,
It hurts to not be one of them
To be condemned to mediocrity.

Lady Luck does not serve
She is served, I know
It was not that I lacked the nerve,
But was simply unsure how.

I shall not lay down however,
My arms; the fight will remain
Till the time I own Her forever
My failures shall not go in vain.

A FAREWELL

So many that there aren’t any
Rights, wrongs, absolutes.

Valediction, paid not given
Face, lost in the legions
Name, sponged from memory
Bond, sprouted on thin ice
Ripple, in the dead sea of feeling
Grief, half-born from indifference
Pain, the residue of conscience
Fate, an open palm untossed.

Greetings, goodbyes, gags,
So many that there aren’t any.

SHE

From a corner of the stairs
She sashayed across
My eye caught her unawares
Gush was read as gross.

I lingered on her
Stretching the moment
She hastened faster
And pressure searched a vent.

The perfumes held back
My nostrils smelt the trail
My sight scanned the track
I sought out the female.

When I reached her after a while
She turned around
Her face lit up a smile
And love had me found.

It did not last long
The road turned rocky beyond
And I wasn’t yet strong
To fasten up the bond.

From there I walked back
The sign-posts still stay
I had had my crack
At sorrow’s foreplay.

A THIN WHITE STRAND

A thin white strand.
A silver tide in a sea of black
A canescent proof of wizening scalp
A singular alley to past epochs
A herald of scripted pages of futurity
A dent on the psyche of existence.

A thin white strand.
A forbidden plume for willing hands
A talking point for garrulous mouths
First signs of the final lap
An Aesop of tales of a life lived
Time summarized in a single straw.

The terror of End itself personified
A thin white strand.

THE ECLIPSE

Night descends in the midst of day,
The roof of the world wears a grotesque gray,
The moon obliterates the blazing God –
The sun is under siege from a lesser bod.

This duel, the finest of them all,
The ape and the aped staring eyeball to eyeball,
The one to blink is the one to die
The flutter of an eyelid holds the fate of the sky.

Seconds smoke out light from the scene
The blighted sun loses its sheen,
Darkness feasts on the fringes of sunshine
Alas, the lights go out on this world of mine.

Then suddenly, light rips out
Day has the dark in a rout;
Shadows shy away – the eclipse is no more
The sun reappears, more resplendent than ever before.

SHARDS

Shards of glass, my life
Broken without a why,
Splinters glued towards a null
Climbing earth and crumbling sky.

Each fractal blade, sharpened
Every moment, bleeding pains
Slipping out, oozing in, through the crevices,
Void running in the veins.

My mind, numbed by thought
Multiples amounting to nought,
Want of a deed and direction
Stillness, sold and bought.

Each instant alive, a debt on desire
Shards of glass, my life.