Himalaya

I am an alien
in a world without words
weighed down by the quiet
staring blankly into the obscure

As light breaks the cordon of vagueness
and a radiant blood bathes ice--capped summits
crowned with dangling cloud-tufts
I search for syllables

The careless breeze
the flutter of a pheasant passing overhead
the chime of a distant monastery gong
pronounces the lull

A monk opens his thoughtful eyes

A poet starts scripting his verse
under unsullied azure

The bloody idiot asks

If you had been to the grocers’
lately you must have noticed how
mutely he taps the keys of his laptop

Have you observed
the way his wrinkles get pronounced
the way his lips curve with an eagerness
to grasp the lilt and cadence of a threadbare life

At times he takes off his glasses
stares once to the left then once to the right
and then sighs and takes a deep breath
before resuming his quest

He goes on entwining his whims
while his brother a lean fellow with a leaden look
looks after worldly dealings with such robotic
accuracy that makes me doubt

Whether his younger kin is close to being
a two state device brimmed with curt ‘yes’s and ‘no’s
and who could only identify credits and debentures

Together they appear as if a pair of pigeons
one aged and bespectacled munching words for food
and the other a thinned down excuse of living
who doesn’t take his eyes off from his grains

Do you feel either of the two
can appreciate
the meaning of being alive

Latent

this dream that buds in me
billows like smoke column of joss sticks
i watch it soar and blend into the haze

dew-laden florets enthuse a silent choir
with their perfume

that’s when broken whispers weave melodies
that's how rehearsals commence
in my inattention

often a sitar starts to hum and guides
immigrant plots to reach inviting homes

yet the verve fizzes out
the heart beat softens
those sitar thrums tone down

and i revert back to ant-watching

black swans (haiku)

black swans
stretch toward the wind
winter's eve

Chiseled form

on a rare whim
you usher in a hesitant winter

he recounts the soundless
surrounds of glaciers and shows you fossils

the eventual destiny of bizarre leaves
he had unearthed

naively you play to the tune of icy winds
view the residual spring flaking off

you fabricate the sketch of a castle made of ether
before you realize the wise guest has left

and in secret he has taken with him
your cherished greens

you resemble a chiseled stone sculpture now
a grotesque décor fit for shipshape rooms

Winter

it’s much better this way
that i’ve become accustomed
to the nerveless feel
of a porcelain bowl
with its ivory white purity
its saint-like shine

as if it had never been kissed by you
since its making
and will never be
again

Prayer

I have set sail in a dinghy
under a downcast sky
under furrowed gaze of clouds

Their low deep rumbles portend
impending perils

Sinister waves build up
heedfully contrive their misdeeds
before they lash against the hull

You the Omnipresent
the one who rules over lilt and rhythm
who delivers precepts to my unlearned muse

The seed of my invincible beliefs
Guide me

Guide me through this murk
I'm loaded with thinned words
and morsels of a brittle life

You the Omnipotent
make my oar relentless