Lullaby

When evening came
At the end of the day,
My Granny sang to the moon:
O moon! Come across the river soon,
Come trippingly riding the ripping waves,
Bring my little one, O moon!
A little rice cooked in milk
In a golden bowl and feed
My little one gutooq, gutooq and gutooq.

The moon never came.
On another day again.
When evening came
My Granny sang to the moon again
And begged the moon again,
To bring the golden bowl,
Filled with rice cooked in milk.

The moon never came.

The sky went moonless,
The stars appeared in strength,
And shone very bright, but
The moon never came.

My Granny never ceased to sing,
She sang again and again.
Until one day my Granny
Didn't sing, but went in flames
To meet the moon high in the sky,
And never back again
Living me alone to cry for the moon
Every evening at the end of the day
And cry for my Granny too.

You & I

You

I affirm this life:

It is mine,

This evening,

My own.

A stone;

Smooth and round,

Alone.

I

A stone, round, smooth and alone,

Splits the surface,

Enters the depth, waking

Deep desires.

Waves after waves after waves;

Memories of long buried days revive,

Swirl to the surface.

Eddies descend to the centre,

Past and present and future are one.

Surely, the promised rebirth is at hand

Surely, the Destiny's will shall be done.

Let's reaffirm then you and I

The glory of rebirth,

In a song, not alone,

But as one,

Amen.

Earthquake

It took an earthquake
To put you to sleep,
And woke me up to the truth;
Everyone is born
With their own earthquake,
With or without a tidal wave,
Intimately private and untransferable,
Death.

Others may feel the tremors
Of your earthquake
Strongly or weakly,
Or none at all.

You alone,
Absolutely alone are
Born to bear
The brunt of its mighty push
Purged of life on your funeral pyre.

This poem was first published on a popular online blog for poetry, Dead Snakes, in April 2015.

Without any Plan

You and I met young,

Wandering on the face of the earth,

Just by chance, without any plan.

At a place unknown

To both, 

At a time fixed by stars,

Not by us on the earth,

In mere play we met

Without any plan.

We stayed together,

Just by chance

For long, long years

Without any plan.

Then one day in time

You died

Just by chance?

Without any plan?

Why?

This poem was first published on a popular online blog for poetry, Dead Snakes, in April 2015.

Almost Always

Almost always

On the verge of leaving

She never did,

She laid herself down beside me

To be herself, and live her life with me.

Almost always.

Until one day,

Quite early really,

When the stars were out and away,

The world was silent as a tomb,

And I was sound asleep,

She left

And laid herself down to live,

Her life without me.

I lost her for good, it seemed

And doomed to search her for ever.

But God! I find her everywhere!

She comes to me, fully alive, even after death

Night after night, day after day

Almost always.

This poem was first published on a popular online blog for poetry, Dead Snakes, in April 2015.