Yesterday my heart died

Yesterday my heart died

In a trice a spell was broken

Dreams, like broken shards of glass

Threw back images –

Bright as sunflowers; Dark as death

Good bye, good bye.

 Not a star in my sky;

But the dark hides my tears,

 I’ll walk with my pain,

 I know I’m slain,

 This living's breathing mere.

Revolving round the unseen sun

 Emblems of duty appear,

 And in the mist a figure unkissed

Pieces of heart, blood smeared.

Regret

Often times I came to say

Just how much you meant to me,

Worlds stepped in to claim my mind

And I move away.

Tomorrow is another day

Ample time to have my say.

All at once Time pouncds in

To snatch at you, marauding through

Life’s corridor- and you were no more.

Broken hearted I stand,

Ruing now the wasted hours,

The times I turned back words of love

And neglected our perfimed bower.

Tread Softly Love

Tread softly Love tread softly

For my dreams lay at your feet

In your haste do not deface

The sweetness that lives in these.

Harshness of sands they cannot stand

Nor force of seductive breeze

Gently, gently nurture them

Make them your own, and they’ll breathe.

Hold them close ,and hold them safe

They are yours forever to keep,

In your eyes they'll see sunrise

With your sighs they'll surely freeze.

Adieu to Life

With reluctance in heart but firmness in head

My dreams of love this day I shred,

Into that void let winter come

To hold this life to ransom,

A price I’ll pay, the loss I’ll bear,

Keeping warmth out I’ll live-without air,

And when it’s time for me to go

Peace will descend, gentle and slow.

Adieu, Adieu to a life I craved

Now gone all awry,  leading to grave.

My Prayer to the Lord of Darkness

On stormy nights I see thy face
My Lord of Darkness;
In winter chill I feel thy grace
My Lord of Darkness.

Kind the hands thatc rush my life
They guide me to your Lotus Feet,
Quicksands of Time that suck my breath
But lead me to your Holy seat.

Dim your face where sunbeams fall
Sweet melodies serve to drown your call,
My soul in stupor there resides
Unaware of your glory bright.

Walk me not down primrose ways
For a life of strife I humbly pray,
Therein you stand in vibrant light
And I feel your presence every day.

Not I

You say you heard me cry?

No, not really, it was not I

It was a lost soul,

Wandering alone

And wandering wide

Waiting, waiting for a tide.

You think you saw me smile?

No, you’re out by a mile.

It was a merry heart

A cup filled to the brim

Intoxicated with joy

Pure pleasure, unalloyed.

You fear you saw me frown?

No, for I am a clown

With a cheerful face

And two twinkling eyes

Suns hiding darkened skies.

you caught my whispers, you feel?

Perhaps it was a passing breeze,

Or the swoosh of wheels

In an instant gone

Empty path left forlorn. 

Two Lives

A life of smiles, of work, of play,
A life lived hour by hour, day by day,
This life for all the world to see
To judge, to claim, perhaps envy;
A calm facade, as cool as streams,
Bright summer days suffused with sunbeam.

Within that dwells a lonely flame,
Flickering, uncertain of domain,
Pulsing with fear moments come- and go
Now close to death, now aglow
A see saw ride, once up, once down,
A hidden face, like a circus clown.

Yesterday

Yesterday my heart died

In a trice a spell was broken

Dreams, like broken shards of glass

Threw back images –

Bright as sunflowers; Dark as death

Good bye, good bye.

 Not a star in my sky;

But the dark hides my tears,

 I’ll walk with my pain,

 I know I’m slain,

 This living's breathing mere.

Revolving round the unseen sun

 Emblems of duty appear,

 And in the mist a figure unkissed

Pieces of heart, blood smeared.

Let Me Grow Old

Let me grow old in peace-

Bask in rays of a setting sun

Lean back to rest, day’s work done:

From afar watch worlds grow,

Listen to new melodies flow

Not strive to reach elusive ends

Nor yearn for more; with nature blend.

A lone star I’ll shine in firmament

No one to lead; none to tend.

Lear’s madness no more my curse,

Rising no more Sphinx-like from ash

Sit and dream of another world.

Where paths run straight, winds don’t hurl,

And brooks never lose their swirl.

In gathering twilight fall asleep

Sink silently into the deep.

Glad to relinquish life’s course

Triumph o’er all crushing force.

The way to live

Sir, did you call on me tonight?

I really was unaware

And in that gloom to linger

I did not dare.

The road there, as you know

Is laid with snares.

Come then, let us not fight

You must know it is not right,

we are two halves of a whole

why do you turn away

to bring miseries untold?

Together let us dance and play

Or, in a word, let us be gay,

For our time is short, in a trice

Night will come to demand price.

I look elsewhere when you call, you say?

How does it matter, tell me, pray?

This here and this now enjoy

In other spheres your mind don’t deploy.

That is the secret to good life

To health, to wealth, to o’ercoming strife

Anatomy of Love

Love is a fizzy drink
gushing out as cork is popped,
Love is a wanton child
unruly, always in the dock,
Love is pizzas stale
hard, cold, of no avail,
Love is a broken reed
torn off roots, no place to recede
Love is adouble edged sword
cutting both ways, out or in,
Love is heady ale
that few refuse to drink;
Love is a mighty roar
drowning out the world,
Love is a wimo, a bore
and tedium untold;
Love rules supreme, or ruins life,
Love is soft as feather, and sharp as knife.

In Memory of a Friend

It was but yesterday that we walked hand in hand
together we laughed and played, and sang,
in the wink of an eye the years passed
like scattered seed we grew apart,
trees of life flourished, with fruits and flowers
yet in our hearts those boyhood days stayed ours.

Then why did you break that tie, and go?
How did you forget? how could you be cruel so?
Were you sad that I did not write?
Or did youy go because time was ripe?
Whate'er the cause,your passing I mourn,
and in the dark I sit, and cry alone.

The Wrong Path Taken

No, that's not the roght path to take,
walkking down that way's a mistake,
tho' alluring its scents, heavenly the hues,
that path hides miserable blues;
false its claims of sunny clime
into unwaru lanes it leads the line
and in a trice a trap is sprung
lifelong imprisonment it brings alog.
And then - be silent, scream or shout
or bang tyour head, or cry aloud
no takers now, you are a minion
with the past as mocking companion.

Walk away, walk away, away from broken dreams
walk away from those frozen streams.
LOnce more let your spirit fly and you'll soar high
follow that sawy and walk away.

Destiny

At many a juncture

I say-"This is my destination,

Destiny brought me here,

Happy or sad, elated or frustrated

This is where I stay."

And Destiny smiles.

In a while Winds change direction

The path diverges

And a voice whispers

Move away, move away.

And the chase goes on.

Hunter turned hunted-

Farther still farther I go

Deep the thickets grow,

A foe turned friend

Death ends the row.

My House of Cards

A vast stretch of vacant land

Not virgin, but discarded,

Left to its sorry fate, uncared;

My little hutment I built on it,

With joy and care and abundant faith

Nurtured and tended as mine

To hold, to love, to own, to cherish:

Weeding the field a painstaking task

Brick by brick, step by step

My niche I secured

And in that heavenly space

My life gained richness

Of rich chocolate melting in mouth:

And then came breezes

Harsh and howling

Angry claws ripping

My walls and roof;

Inch by inch gaining ground

The Giant encroached-

First my fences

Then the rooms they claimed

My love space reduced

My home compromised

Nibbling at the edges

Like diligent mice

Working on tasty cheese

As I backed up step by wary step:

And then a deluge

A mighty pounding

That left me stranded

On open ground once more

Not a leaf to hide my broken soul.

My Dreams Fell Apart

My dreams fell apart
like a shower of petals
at your feet
on a rose scented path

Unkind the steps
crushing their life,
they felt
crimson sorrow of defeat.

My dreams fell apart
like squandering rain
in search of hearth
from heaven they came.

Rivers and oceans
swallowed their life,
in a trice
they bid goodbyes.

Impossible Dream

Night after night I sleep in your arms,
snug and content in our body warmth,
my eyelids drooping at the touch of your lips
while dreams come sailing- pleasing and swift.

A dream, a dream, an impossible dream!

Day after day you come home to me,
evenings we spend merry as bees
in laughter, in talk, and silence shared
eyes locked as secerets compare.

A dream, a dream, an impossible dream.

Eerie dark no longer our threat
safe and secure close to your chest,
limbs entiwined, herats beating in rhyme,
drifting to sleep in solubrious clime.

A dream, a dream, an impossible dream.

Shorn of sorrows, cleansed from pain
directing life to happier lanes,
burdens set down, no longer in quest
together we live, twin birds in our nest.

A dream, a dream, an impossible dream.

Burnt Love

Every day I speak with you

a few minutes at a time-

mundane matters mostly,

nothing to change lives or touch souls;

two practiced dancers,

we twist and twirl, effortless,

to set music, never out of step;

we fence with words

nimble and agile our moves,

yet jusy beyond reach,

safe, in our courtyards-

and within, 

Love simmers and dries;

like a spicy sauce

left too long on a stove,

forgotten and burnt.

Memories

Memories, tugging at heartstrings:
Some sweet flavoured,
dipped in honeyed warmth;
others bitter, filled with
hollow grief:
memories of a life time now lost
memories that have culled a cost,
Reliving in microcosmic time
days and years of a long lost prime.

In their shadowI live my present days
Where'er I run, they follow me
they stay;
Memories that grip with bands of steel
My urge for freedom from me steal.

Yearning for My Love

There’s a void in my heart where you used to be

It lives closer than my shadow, it won’t leave me free

At times it is bright sunlight filtered through my pain,

At times it is a poison that courses through my veins.

Always there’s a yearning I fail to withstand

Bitter-sweet its pangs I hardly comprehend.

Pulling at my heart strings, tormenting my mind

Memories are pleasures, although they confine.

There’s a void in my heart where you used to be

Spreading along my lifeline, beyond I cannot see.

The Desert

Plodding through sucking sands
Braving storms of dust,
Blinded by a blazing Sun
I've come to my Oasis.

Here shades are cool
Here leaves are green
Here pleasing breezes run
And my aching soul finds rest.

Yet my desert is a wily beast
That will not be appeased.
It crouches low, it growls, it snarls
And strikes again at ease.

It over runs my peaceful lair
It over turns my rest,
Marching in with trampling feet
My oasis it upsets.

My Broken Lute

Then in a trice my lute broke

and the music flowed out

like blood draining from mortal wound;

I felt no pain, my dumb heart beat in rhythm,

my numb brain recycled old songs

playing out a dead charade

while deep, deep sleep descended

on the blankness of my soul.

Will I awake? or will I sleep on?

Will I walk in this ever lasting daze?

A page torn from the tale of life

let me but float at wind's command

till another storm carries me

to my Second Coming.

He does not touch my heart any more

He does not touch my heart any more.
Sunshine were those days when he was mine
I flowered in many ways, when he was mine,
But the sun went down, and in the gloom
Those flowers whither, no fresh ones bloom
for he does not touch my heart again.

My days are blighted nights today
Howe'er I try sunlight will not stay,
Neon lights dispel the dark
but in them there's no warmth, they are too stark
to give me life, to keep me tied to shores
for now he does not touch my heart any more.

Search

What do I seek?
Is it the mountain peaks
that beckon from afar?
Yet when I reach
the lonely summit
white coldness I find ajar.

What do I seek?
Is it the endless blue
that gently undulate?
Yet when I swim
swirling waters
engulf, hopes to dissipate.

What do I seek?
Is it the glaring lights
that kill Kolkata's nights?
Yet when I walk
the day-night streets
darken the chambers of heart.

And in that gloom
all search ends.
My heart looks out no more
Is this peace?
Or is this a grave
that I have reached?

Invincible Spirit

You angry waves, you hungry waves
that assault her helpless nudity
lustful teeth bared, hands clawing
at her pristine innocence:
A Mother raped, her womb filled
with unwanted seeds, planted
in unwilling land.

Vain, oh vain your attempts
to tame the un-tameable,
This shame not hers, but yours,
Again and again her body you break
her spirit shines luminous, her triumph estates.

Tarnished Love

No Love, kiss me no more;
for I am sick to the core.
Our love loses luster
Like the waning Moon
and our time to depart
has come too soon.
And why should we love
with soft words and sighs
while the world around us
shatters and dies?
Blood, gore, anger freely flows,
 a river of destruction
invades our land
of false seductions.
Let us then go our separate ways
to live out our lives,as best we may.
To breathe and walk and sleep alone
Till time comes to enter our tomb.

Prayer of the damned

To your will make me bow, My Lord.

Long have I locked in battle-

mind against heart,

My wounds bleed in silent streams

my visage scarred and disfigured

with pride and anger,

I yearn for your bower of love.

Dissolve this ice, shatter these stones

to release torrents, to induce a deluge

that sweeps out my past.

The Hare and I

One day I was going to a fair
and on the way I met a Hare,
He shook my hand and bowed to me
and was civil to a great degree,
Hand in hand we walked a while
when all on a sudden he turned hostile,
Like a lion he growled and roared
and my earnest pleas ignored,
Bit by bit his visage changed
and then he went out of my range;
So now again I walk alone
and my heart in grief lies prone.

When you loved me

When you loved me and held me in your arms
the world was mine to command
at my wish flowers bloomed
and stars shone bright every night:
When you loved me and kissed my lips deep
all my dreams in my heart would leap
every day was new for me
and my life flowed carefree:
When you loved me and held my hand
what breezes said I could understand
I laughed and cried with such delight
and as it flowed, my heart would glow..  

My Plea

Give me back my lost world
my hours of happiness,
Give me back my laughter
my days of togetherness.
Far have strayed from our harbour
now waves surround your ship,
My little boat has no strength
Alas, it can't compete.
Whirling round in eddies
tossed from side to side
its hull an d keel broken
no longer fit to sail.

And Then I'll be Your Own

Make me the last thought every night
And the first thought each morn;
Make me the one who comes to mind
when things go fine
And the one you long for
When they go wrong;
Make me the one your eyes search
when you enter a room,
or when you walk down a road
you know I've walked on;
Make me the air that you breathe
and the food you live on;
Make me the soul of your life
And then I'll be your own.

Death of a Heart

Piece by piece a heart dies
an unsaid word, a thoughtless act
each a nail in its coffin
hammered in with averted glances.
And from the grave rise
voiceless cries of unavailing pain,
sucking out sap drop by drop
to leave an empty shell.
In a phantom world lives on
a deluded soul,
not dead, not alive
to sojourn on fringes sans respite.

The Lone Star

When all stars depart, you still shine
 in vain effort to dispel the dark
with your faint light.As day evolves
 to drown you in brightness
do you feel pain/ or do you
 but gain a time of rest and peace?
In empty space your worlds live apart
yet bound by strange threads.
Unseen that bond, unknown,
hidden in depths you have sworn
to keep secret. Day and night
come round in eternal cycles
to join you in wedlock.
Live on Lone Star
an eternal bride
waiting for an elusive conjugal life.

Insignificant

And then there is the question of trust-and betrayal

Who says what, and when

Who was involved and who denied

In a nutshell, question of life.

For I walk in shadows

Live on the seedy side of the street

With no refinement, or jewelry

To hide my nude self

While on the highway

Flashy cars carry proud owners

And envy, with its disfigured face

Creeps into innards; to gnaw at my roots

No respite, no rescue at hand

In the pouring rain I stand

Drenched, shelters razed

Shores afar, skies out of reach

I walk on, a faceless face in peak hour crowds

One single note in a melody

A lone raindrop vying for attention

In a downpour 

Beyond Darkness

Oh twinkling stars that shine afar

What use your heat, your light?

They do not ignite our earth bound lives;

Cold your comforts, shorn of life.

Darkness of nights surrounds you

to fill our souls with misery untold;

Then, as days unfold,we move

beyond that grimness

to a land of gold, within our hearts,

From there no light departs in fear

nor surrenders to an unknown dark,

ever smiling, our stars shine.

To Aloneness

Ever since that fateful day when you
went back on your promise,
Ever since I heard you say you'd return
to your former world,
Ever since you broke my heart
into a thousand shreds of glass,
Ever since you walked by me
without a glance as you passed,
My life has lost its colours and shades
and i dwell in a house that was never made.:
and in that house I live with ghosts
of a past that was mine, almost;
With them I laugh, with them i cry,
but away they flit whene'er I try
to hold them close, when I propose
they come alive, to fill my life.
Alas! My living days are done
a twilight ere death my life has stung
And in this eve i seek your leave
to sink with mu sinking sun.

Window Shopping

I go window shopping every day
an array of goods
tantalizingly displayed
catch my eyes-
this I covet, that yearn for
but in a trice turn away:
"Not for me", I tell my self
"They are but baubles",
a wounded vanity sneers
while heart cries
bitter tears in dismay.
My treasure chest,
hidden in a chamber,
I ignore; dragging it out
to take a peek is such a bore
one day I'll take the trouble,
not today; and my window shopping
eats up time as engrossed I stand,
like the lilt of a tune it runs in mind
a scratched CD stuck in a groove
neither forward, nor rewind.

Revelation

I am an Eagle on a mountain top
majestic in my loneliness;
I am a Sun that shines aloft
beyond world's pettiness;
I am the Stars, I am the Moon,
I am a thousand flowers in bloom,
I am Sunrise, I am Sunset,
I am a desire that will not rest;
I am  raindrop shed from the sky
A breeze that whispers as it passes by;
You poor Souls that know me not
think you have a better lot,
My path I forge, my dreams I live,
ne'er bow in fear to Nature's blitz;
Not vanquished, though I stand alone,
In my heart I build my throne.

Let me

Let me but love you for a day-
When evening comes
I'll fly away.

Let me but hold your hands in mine-
Feel their warmth
and then un-twine.

Let me but speak my love for you-
My whispers will say
 what you knew.

Let me but care from afar-
Look on with grief
as you pass to stars.

Let me but be a thought-
In your mind live
and die o'er wrought.

Let me be vapor in sunshine-
Unseen my heart
and leave no trail behind.

Delve Deep

Delve deep in your heart, 

Delve deep, my love,

Lest your dreams recede

Like waves;

Were they true for a day,

Just for a day,

And then they fade away?

Far in the sky

So far in the sky

Those twinkling stars shine

Bright those lights

So bright their light

A heavenly display;

Delve deep in your heart

Delve deep, my love,

lest your pearls go astray.

Homecoming

Come home, my child, come home to me,

I'll take take you in my arms;

Come home, my child, stray no more,

I'll  fill you with my warmth.

Many a day we've lost in  play

Many a day we've cried,

Come home to rest, come home to my breast

From where you were pried.

The winter chill has bid goodbye

It's time for flowers to bloom,

Silent gardens await Spring's feet

Why then do we stay alone?

Like a humming bee, like a homing bird

Come home, my love, come home,

Unending days of togetherness

Will bless our every morn.

Just Because We Love

Just because I love you
Don't make me live your dreams,
Don't pour me into vessels 
Let me flow like streams.
My heart to you I've opened,
Step in to take your place,
Plunder not its treasures
To fill your empty space.
We walk on varied pathways
Yet stay conjoined as one
We have our varied rainbows
Life's not 'bout right and wrong.

Just because you love me
Don't trample on my feet,
Unfettered leave horizons
Don't ask me to retreat.
In your heart I'll linger
As dew drop on a bloom,
Burn not with heat of measures
To put me in a gloom.
We walk on varied pathways
Yet stay conjoined as one,
Each nurturing the other
Else we are undone.

The Fierce and The Evil

Lions kill in hunger:
Cruel in hunt, spare not
their timid preys:
Ruthless, ferocious
They rule- fitting Kings
that prowl majestic
in kingdoms, brutal.

In urban jungles lurk Evil minds
that maim or kill
in sport, speaking
Language of dominance
They demean, pouncing
on the unarmed to degrade:
Victorious, they discard
broken spirits lying prone.

Silence

You and I sit face to face- in silence

between us an empty space:

Unsaid words, un uttered cries

emanate to drown, to die,

And in rage dismantled hearts

beat in discord. Songs of

long past springs no more

beguile senses,we  grow

worn and stale.

That young Love

now a dead albatross

that hangs on withered necks

mute reminder of rosy days.

Back from Nowhere

For a while I lost my way,

Like a child who's gone astray;

For a day I lived my dreams

Like a boat that flits upstream;

In a trice  broke my cage

With a smile bore world's rage.

For in my night a sun did rise,

From my breast my heart pried,

Alas! A wind of furry blew,

My hopes to ground it threw-

My sun in that mist grew pale,

Weeds wild ran across that dale,

Once more down I sank,

A cup of tears I drank.

Aha! In my garden came

A shower of dripping rain,

My blessings it taught to count,

Undaunted my hills surmount

No more in dream, nor in trance,

To own tune I now dance.

Brave Heart

My dreams die;
I do not follow them:
Not like a coward I run,
A soldier I stand, tall
Amidst death and  ruin.
Look not up on me
With sympathy-filled eyes;
I ask not for your smiles
Nor your tears I fear,
Think not that I shall fall-
For I'm a Sphinx
That from ashes rises
To live anew.
Not a demon am I,
Yet , like Raktabeeja
I spring forth
A hundred fold stronger
Every time you slay me.
And I shall live
Life after life
Ignoring all pain
Slaying challenges
Invincible warrior
I brandish my sword at life.

Pall of Gloom

Not in a grave entombed,

Yet buried deep in a pall of gloom;

A life without moorings

Second by second descending

Into  a yawning  hole

That sucks out light:

A facade of joy remains

To grimace at the world,

Like a painted face

Peeping through chinks;

Heartache no longer felt

But absorbed in blood streams-

Screaming in veins.

Silent reminder of life lived in vain.

Faith

I live in fear, I live in shame

I live a life without a name,

Dodging Fortune’s killing blows

Running hard from Hate’s flow:

But somewhere deep within my mind

There’s belief,   faith in Mankind.

Narrow walls, violent rage

Stalk our steps at every stage

We’re cruel, we deprive

When there’s chance we take for ride

Yet somewhere deep within my mind

I have faith in Mankind.

Sun still shines upon our race

Rains come pouring to bring grace

Winter’s chill does not stay

Summer’s breeze comes to play

So somewhere deep within my mind

I keep faith in Mankind.

A Lover's Complaint

You are an addiction I'm hooked to,
A habit I cannot break,
You are a nemesis that haunts me,
A decision I fail to take
You are the bitter pill I swallow,
My death and my heartbreak,
You are a jailor that chains me,
A tormentor that burns me on a stake.
You are the smile that wihters,
The sunshine that fades,
You are the hero with clay feet,
And the solace I crave.
In you i find heaven,
In you I stand depraved,
You are my ruin eternal,
My resurrection, way laid,
You are the love that kills,
You are my ultimate fate..

Futile Tears

Tell me, Little One,  why do you cry

when I say I'll be gone awhile?

Is it in fear that I will not reply?

Or is it some unknown qualm?

I think I've told you, you are my pet

The doll I love to play with most,

A lovely toy for you I'll get

and I promise to send it speed post.

Now smile, Little One, be happy, be gay

All's right with your world, you see,

You know well these tears will not pay,

For go I will and I must.

Black Hole

A black hole in my heart,
 no words escape, nor tears,
 invisible darkness
 hiding a thousand fears;
 my eyes go blind
 as light disappears
into unknown depths.
the visible world's a sham
or may be a mirage
my brain conjures
revolving round, alone,
in endless circles,
alive, yet dead
circle that spreads, and spreads.

One Step at a Time

Walk down life’s path one step at a time

Footprints of past oh leave ‘em behind.

What’s in your hand is what you've got

Mind you my love, it’s not what you sought

Be on your toes lest regrets snare your mind

Just walk down life’s path one step at a time.

Once you had power but now you have none

In your bower the blooms are undone

Forget the sunshine, change with the clime

Take what you’re served and be in your prime.

Roller coaster of life turns round and round

When you go up, you are sure to come down

Be king today and a pauper next time

Life’s path is unending, no reason nor rhyme.

This day’s your own to sink or to shine

Come walk down life’s path one step at a time.

Heaven and Hell

A touch, a kiss, a moment of bliss,

 Heaven I create, a castle of sand;

A swelling wave, a billowing wind,

Defenseless, in broken castle I stand:

In terror, in dark, I cry, I hark,

 Hell I live in, a burning land;

Fear in my heart, it grips, I start,

Evils and Ghosts and Others,

Outward for help, inward for strength,

Weal and woe, Fate's taken a hand:

My world and thine, so long entwined,

 Heaven and Hell , now combined.

Death by choice

silence pressing down

relentless, threatening,

a crouching beast of prey

awaiting propitious moment

to jump for the kill.

that killer smile plastered to my afflicted brain

I stand, immovable, impotent

petrified into silent surrender.

and in the void between life and death

stands Time, inscrutable in its dignity

the Ringmaster in circus of life

a burning hoop of fire held out

inviting that scorching jump.

Do i dare to fight? To turn my back

to flee that open jaw?

no, let me wait for the blade to fall

to slice through- or for the wrack

to stretch my limbs taut

tearing each apart

painfully slow to the end.

Alive

When I walk by, do you see me?

Or a mirage?

Mother, sister, daughter, wife

You know,  a woman ignore; 
for her no love, nor tears; 
for her no space to play, to breathe, to live;

An object of lust, a prey

To stalk or kill at will.

My steps bound, my freedom

caged, subject to your rage

Less than beasts I live and die.

None to hear my cries

Few to feel my pain

Yet from within strength I gain

my fire burns bright and glowing

in my desperate world:

No,  I will not forsake

my true nature-

Beyond your known realms

I bloom like a lotus

Embedded in murk

Surging upwards to light. 

My Last Prayer

Let me grow old in peace!

Bask in the rays of a setting sun

Lean back to rest, my day’s work done:

From afar I’ll watch worlds grow,

Listen to new melodies flow

Not strive to reach elusive ends

Nor yearn for more; with nature blend.

A lone star I’ll shine in firmament

No one to lead; none to tend.

 Lear’s madness laid to rest,

Rising no more Sphinx-like from ash 

Sit and dream of another world.

Where paths run straight, where winds don’t hurl,

And brooks never lose their gurgle;

There I’ll lay down life’s loss

Triumph o’er crushing forces.