निकले वो कूचे से मांगने कोई मन्नत

उनका दीदार हुआ तो ये जहान बना जन्नत

 

वो आये हमारी तलब में मस्जिद के पीछे

अल्लाह जाने आज कैसे एलाने ईद हो गई

The open limits

 

There is a sky within cage

And the sky is caged outside

When the horizon comes to shore

It brings the specks with myriad hues

Those that are life filled vessels from afar

There is no abyss to limit the plunge

Yet we hold ourselves back a bit behind

For the awkwardness of the plunge

Into the realms of the open limits.

 

Delhi

2110

23.27 hrs

27.12.23

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fire

 

The torch of the sun

Creates a centre stage

Even in the margins

Where we find ourselves

It sparks the sight at dawn

Whereas in our blindness

We grope and stagger enroute

Towards the criss-cross of time

Here the noon makes no difference.

When the hour comes finally

To unpack the gifts of the day

We hold on to the wrapped past

That we have failed to disburden

Even as we trudge with the load

Amidst the cue of barren breeze

That spreads like a song from twigs

Now the hour of the torch

The burnt epitaph on pyre

Charred remains of us like anyone else

The night of the time we had .

 

Delhi

02.40 hrs

26.12.23

2109

 

 

 

 

 

 

तेरे संग बिताये पल कल

हर मर्तबा ही मेरे आज बनें

तुझसे हुई हर गुफ्तगू ही

मेरी शायरी के भरे अलफ़ाज़ बनें

The glance

 

 

The restless sea rages tonight

For it waited day long in wait

Of the silver clad shiny moon

Now the moon has appeared

And cast a glance on silent sparkle

That fills the infinite drops of his eye

He has abandoned the golden garb

That reflected the opulence of day

To embrace the contented silver

That unites him with the shine

The veil of the beloved tonight

Woven with interspersed twinkle

And a million exploding dreams

The criss cross constellations in sky

That mean nothing and value a lot

A leap in the sky to touch her ornament

The silver web she casts on his world

Entangles the fish and the birds

His heart beat and his thoughts

Then he falls back to his treasured bed

And stretches again towards her visage

The conjured night yawns in dark

The receding waves from the beach

Where sand dunes were built in the dusk

Where the mongers discarded unsold catch

Where the sails were left to clean and bask

Where the shacks had stacked their hedges

Where the tied vessles slept in their shed

The residual water quietly slips in the sea

Sits with his bubble for the dark hour of night.

 

Delhi

2108

24.12.23

19.02 hrs

 

 

 

 

 

The doe at dusk

 

 

Lies in her lap the sun burnt shine

Charred to tar by when it’s dusk

Then her silvery shine lights up

Latent all the time like deep jungle musk

Her pulchritudinous awareness glows

Agile and innocent like a doe in wild

Poised in beauty like a Yogi on peak

Playful in a moment like a little child .

The hues of life swarm her utterly

She is lost in her flowing fountain

The youth gushes even in her silence

As if thawed glacier from a mountain.

Caught up  in the bustling  life of day

She lights up the sky every night

The doe at dusk casts her magic

With her starlit soothing silver sight.

 

Delhi

2107

24.12.23

12.50 hrs

 

 

 

 

 

The climb

 

Anxious towards the light

Is the puffed up breath

One step at a time

Slowly with a tremble

Of the doubting foot

Like a brown creeper

Climbing with a hold

Shaking on the crutches

Of the surrendered mind

The dispersed fruit beholds

This stretch of the shoot

While the hand slips out

Mistaken by a branded glove

The final foot on the terrace

Then the smile in the sun

And the swing amidst rays

The generations pollinate

And the floral joy overflows.

Delhi

23.25 hrs

2106

23.12.23

 

ख़ाक में न जाने कब छन चुका है वो

जिससे रूबरू होने की फुर्सत न थी

कभी आईने के सांचे में ढले मैं को

खुद की शिनाख्त करने की फुर्सत न थी

 

मैदाने जंग से हम शायरी कर क्या लौटे

बौखलाया दुश्मन मुकरर करता रहा

गमे दिल की बात को गौर से सुनकर

मुसलसल बिन वार ही वो मरता रहा

The hold on wall

 

 

Slithering amidst slime

The struggle is to stand

But there is nothing to hold

The yawning façade of wall

That flaps it’s spotless whiteness

And is perched with perfection

While the floor pulls down

It hurts everytime we fall

And it hurts more when

Everytime we fail to bounce

Regardless of our strife

The wall continues to tower

Upon the attempts on the ground

 

Delhi

2105

Delhi

17.54 hrs