Dear Stranger

The street’s deserted,
The lamps staring at us
As we try not to look at each other
It’s been a few years
A few years too many
Of hiding behind virtual doors
Until polite indifference
Replaced the angry fights

The wheels screech on the wet street
Breaking the uncomfortable silence of emptiness
Used to be love
Or so I thought
Perhaps this is love’s fate
Or most love anyway-
Some promises made
And most of them broken

Just a few moments more
Until I search my purse for the keys
Should I tell you tonight
That I did miss you…
At least at first?
But then there was someone else
To soothe my hurts…to heal me
To make me whole again

The door’s unlocked
And I turn…to look at you
Wondering why it’s so difficult to let go
Although there’s nothing left to hold on to
A thousand questions
Did we try hard enough?
Or did pride take over
Until all the rights became wrong?

You look back at me
And I see it in your eyes
The same doubts…the same questions
About a life that wasn’t meant to be
The same fear
Of the years yet to come…unpredictable
I know you feel the same emptiness
So perhaps it’s time to let go…to move on.
(Composed - 09thFeb2010)

A Promise

The whisper of fingers against skin,
The breath of a smile against tousled hair,
The lines in the corner of your eyes
As they hold mine;
A shiver, a tremble
And a million goose-bumps
First love, first touch
And a first of so many
I hope…I fear
And I hold on
This one will be my today…my tomorrow
And my always.

(Composed on 29 December, 2009)

Random Disenchantment

A cast-over sky without rain,
Grasshoppers in the lawn that needs to be watered,
My favourite pair of socks with a curry stain that won’t go away...
An unfinished book,
An unwritten verse,
A baby with a gap-toothed smile who isn’t mine.
Watching the numbers on the elevator screen,
An abandoned kite on a tree,
Some memories from years gone by that I still remember,
Though I’d rather forget.
Why did today
Choose to be so unfair?

Song From a Broken Heart

I walk by the ocean,
My shoes in my hand.
I look back where I was sitting,
There’s still your name in the sand.

I know it’s crazy,
I know it’s been years;
But you’re still in my laughter,
And you’re still in my tears.

I try not to remember,
But you’re ever on my mind;
I reach out for your hand,
As though you’re still just a step behind.

The rose bushes you planted,
Had flowers in the spring;
I put some by your picture,
'Seemed like the right thing.

The swing on the back porch,
Was meant for you and me;
On the empty seat beside me,
There’s no other I can see.

The holes in my world now,
Are kind of hard to fill;
The pain and the heartache…
I feel the ache still.

All I do is close my eyes,
And I can smell you in the air.
I know you didn't have a choice,
Yet nothing makes this fair!

But I’m not sorry that I had you,
A little is better than none;
You're missed in all my momemts,
Just wish you weren’t gone.

Yet if I had to do it all over again,
I’d do it all...from the start.
So don’t mind the words-
It’s just some words from a broken heart.

Different Times...Different People

Poetry… heated debates on controversial topics… the idealism of youth…love…friends…family – ever thought about how the meaning and importance of everything changes over a decade of growing up to reality? Poetry has a neat corner in your bookshelf but not so much on your nightstand next to the reading lamp, debates are best left for the guys at parliament, love does not accelerate your heart and the organs related to breathing the way it did when you were fourteen, friends-well, most of them have sifted through your life except the few who had the courage to grow with and accept your cynicism, family had no choice but to endure…so, thankfully, they are still around to knock you over your head, lifting you up from your random sprouts of madness, and you just don’t have the time of the day for idealism. Yes, that’s the story….for most of us anyway.

In a crowd of faces –
Mostly unfamiliar and yet familiar-
I see traces of the years gone by;
The smiles I do remember,
But not so much the restraint;
As if they are all shadows
Of some people I used to know…
Perhaps they're not so different
From the girl I used to be,
And the woman I have become.
Perhaps they’ve felt it all too:
The hope in a new day,
And some disappointments as the hours go by;
Some dreams that came true,
And many that didn’t;
Some truths of a decade past,
That are not so much a lie,
But not so much the truth.
And “Change” sits in a corner,
Watching us!

Is it just time?
Or is it us?

The "Comeback" blog...let's hope it's a hit(pun oh-so intended)

It’s been over a year and a half and I’ve shaken myself out from my stupor of dazed laziness and inactivity before awarding ‘moi’ the honour of dethroning the sloth. I’m still a very close second though. An update on my status is that it was ‘goodbye Austin’ for me about a year and a half ago and I’ve since planted myself(not very firmly though) in the ‘garden city’ of India, Bangalore. The year 2009 is almost at it’s end and it didn’t sound like a bad idea to resurrect my blog as beginning anew in the new year feels kind of clichéd(my blog is not my new year resolution and I hate new year resolutions anyway…they are the hardest to keep). Well, at least this one end can be my new beginning. I intend to have something to add here at least once in a week…let’s hope I will live upto my intention.

LOVE (composed - 05Mar 2001)

I remained a standing witness,
To the coronation of a new day –
The dawn –
As darkness gave way,
To the soft beams
Of the rising sun,
Lighting up the eastern skies.
I saw no contradiction,
But a peaceful harmony,
Between the unlikeness
Of shadow and light…
There was no pomp of triumph,
Or the sense of a defeat;
Instead, there was a sense of loss,
Of deprivation,
As they unentwined,
Disentangled,
As though reluctant
To let go… to break free…
Love,
I never did know
All your colours!