समय का फलना

दो सूखे पेड़
और लटकती टहनियों के बीच
एक बात सहमी सी
सूनी है

जकड़ है
इन बातों में
क्यों कर कोई
कहीं बुलाता है

अजीब वीरानी है यहाँ 
जिससे पूछता हूँ
वही गिरे पत्तों में
हकिम की दवा ढूंढता फिरता है

अब औरों की
गुंजाइश नहीं
तार तार सा लगता है
समय का फलना यहाँ

एक पर्याय ढूंढता हूँ
अपनों का, अपनों मैं
सभी तो हैं
पर आकाश में तारे टिमटिमाते क्यों हैं 

करवटें

बड़े सुकून से सोते हैं
रात में परिन्दे यहाँ
एक मैं हूँ
जो पंख फैलाये जाता हूँ

हज़ार नमाज़ों में
सजदा करता फिरता हूँ मैं
एक अज़ान सी सुनाई देती है
कहीं दूर चारागर लिए हुए

वक़्त ने मुझे बदरंग किया
रात दिन नवाजते  हुए
वरना कमी नहीं थी
स्याह भरी रंगों की वहाँ

अभी भी सालती है
करवटें बदलना उनका
अनकहे पहलूओं में
क्या दर्द छुपा रखा है 

अतृप्त

काटो तो खून नहीं, और
काटो तो नहीं दर्द

यह क्या विरक़्ती है -
जिन्दगी, नाख़ून सी
बढ़ती जाती है

बीमार हूँ -

रक्तहीन सा
कोई बहा ले जाता है  -

अतृप्त
इस जहां से, अब

विछुब्ध हूँ 

कटी पर जब कटती है
बेजान जमीं  पर गिर जाती है

THE DANCE OF SHIVA

I orchestrate my vision 

by the turnkey of my third eye, and

All lures into a galactic submerge 

Taking magical trance -

One birth in all uniformity

Playing a part, one half clown

the other half the dance of Shiva 

Kyon shabdon se pirote ho

Kyon shabdon se pirote ho 

Apne aap ko

Kabhi chup rah Kar bhi 

Ada pharmaya karo 

Mana ki nadiyon ka taal

Patwaar se hai

Kabhi samudar ka khara paani bhi

Pi liya karo 

Unki nemat me

sahda hai din aur raat

Kabhi awaargi me bhi

Aasman ko jhulsaya Karo 

Mere kismat me bandis e bahaar hai

Jindagi ki zid liye

Kabhi murde ko bhi apna maan Kar 

Mutthi bhar Mitti daal diya Karo 

PREGNANT MEMORIES

In foregoing relationship

(eons old)

to win you here -

on Earth

I fought many battles

Time and again

with blood and breath

But was rollercoasted 

with upturned rides 

Many skies afar -

Twinkling stars, 

Bulging planets 

Pregnant memories, and

All

BLOOM AND EXPAND

Understanding of this world 

is very strange

Once to bloom, and next

to wither away 

Better tuck me 

into ignorance, and

Let me revel 

The unbecoming 

I have sent emissaries

to different places into the world

Not to repeat of this Earth, but

To bloom and expand 

Receeding away 

AN OCEAN OF PAIN

How will I hurt you, that

Which I have bargained -

tears

by the softness of my heart

Heavily you come 

Blinding me by your Westerly winds

Clinging me -

with the dust of your dusky hue 

I have take a lamp 

of your dark eyes, that twinkle

My nights, with

Semi transparent looks 

How can I be not yours -

that from deep down

You crowbar a nail 

Lifting me out of my pain 

How will I settle 

My heart's due, that

When I look at your fraility

You mirror an ocean of pain 

HUMILITY

Your humility made 

an unknown me -

No further I look outward

my inner look holds me back 

in cognitive forebearance, that 

It was yours will 

that made me come here 

Otherwise, I too would have joined 

the vastness, raining

Blessings on all 

GLOBULAR MESS

Underlying emptiness

Caress the solitude 

to burst forth, and

Fathom the fire -

in strange beauty

like a rumbling volcano on

On itself 

from the core within

Shooting sky high

the thoughts 

in globular mess

MY DRESS

Just you see 

the shrinkage 

taking hem of my thoughts

It happens

On every longer dress 

Edging at its behest

No life stretches beyond

Other than

How you acted your past

Its ruling 

terms with every lived space here

Towards affinity to the ground

An ensemble, play

Cosmic orchestra

As a whole 

Just you see

My dress

How it looks sans my thoughts 

GAZE ME VACUOUS

Gaze me vacuous

from the strands of

Your marinated vastness

All here elude and delude

Pendulum to space and time

"Namaste Uncle Ji..."

It came from my depth, and

to deep it settled down -

A thought

That

I kept on gasping the meaning 

out of my wheezing heart, that

He is no more, now 

to attend to my voice

My invariable greeting to my friend's father

as and when I used to meet him saying: 'Namaste Uncle Ji. How are you doing in health',

Praising him with respectful eyes and folded hands.

Today

Only this hospital morning 

at wee hours 

He breath his last.

"Namaste Uncle Ji..." 

Tears flowing 

THE TRUE PAIN

What will
Thousand voices, echo
about the depth
The respite of which
have soaked unfathomably
the true pain
by
million drops of tears

ALL THY NEEDS

It is all
Here
into your eyes

Scissors cut -
Tailored
to drape.

An opium or nectar -
Suitor
to all thy needs

आदमी से डरता हूँ

छन छन कर आती है
यादों का यह कारवां, और
कपस सी
कुहूक उठती है
दिलों का गुबार यहाँ

न जाने चैन कहाँ पायेगी -
न जाने किस दिल में
समाएगी
शान्त कब्र सी
शब्दों के पार

हज़ार आवाज़ों में
दिल  की आह ढूंढता हूँ
परदानशीन हूँ मैं
फरिश्ते से ज्यादा
आदमी से डरता हूँ, मैं