WHEN I WAS MY MOTHER’S SON
In this night of
Pain, the image of
A pair of hands on
My fuming forehead
Which houses
A mind ignorant of
Disease but
In belief of
The omnipotence of
Those hands weaving
A convalescent sleep
Lurks amongst
The many apparitions
Which split
This sleepless stupor;
The multiple hands of
The disease-dose knowledge
Fail to stitch even
a refuge of oblivion.

THE BEGGAR
A beggar
Limbless,
Armless.
The fragments
Barely clad,
The begging bowl
Tied to the loose end of
One arm,
Rolls over the
Pathway along
The Garments shops,
And stomachs out
Some cacophonous score
Which is drowned into
The clatter of stones
Raining into
His empty bowl.

FEVER
I am fevered,
I burn,
Groan,
Eyes half-shut;

Someone lurks,
I melt,
Go wet,
Revel in the cooling sensations,
I am dehydrated,
Yet my thirst sumptuously quenched;

They ask; why?
I reply; ‘you’.

It is you who sublimated into fever,
It is you who melted back,
It is you who fumed out;

You are the fever,
You are the saviour,
You are the odour,

The odour lingers on,
Till it is washed off,
After my bath in the worldly waters.

THE BLISSFUL CAPTIVITY
I have surrendered to the charm you exude,
Swiftly entered, large you stood.
No knocks, no steps, nothing such crude,
Carving a niche, yet nothing rude;

My thoughts about you pierce my sheath,
Me sliding under the imperial underneath,
My world is seized but yet full beneath,
A captive, yet adrenaline it secreteth;

Unaware; what goes out and what fumes in,
Alienated from without, I am within,
Sheltering under the imperial inn,
To revel in which, I gave in.

HOW CAN I BE ARJUNA?
War is no longer
Fought with principles;
Riding on the Krishna’s chariot of
Wisdom, revealing the
Primacy of evil over
Blood, and equipped with
Drona’s archery skills, Arjuna
Fought against the pointed
Hands and acerbic tongues,
Right in the front.
Who will steer the
Chariot of wisdom telling
The enemies from the gentle
Arms around my neck and
The sweet tongues by my
Ears and who will
Impart the skills to fend off
What comes from the side and back?