The flyover

 

The intended route gets altered

Much like an unexpected switch

Of the wonted childhood track 

Mounted atop the path of today

The flyover of my little town

A mark of  sprouting urban glory

Changes the platform to deboard 

As life chugs from my outside world

The cherished roads of yesteryear

Once appeared dangerous to cross 

Now they are constricted lanes

Encroached by mushroomed stalls

Now they are dug deep below 

The overspeeding flyover  of day

It bypasses the places of many stories

The famous hawker snack on the signal

That caused chaos in the evening 

The proud shops decked in festive

Those gossips in the local markets

Where the neighbours share delicacy 

It takes a massive u-turn to visit

The cherished bustle of the past

When you turn into the town

Even after you cross your place

Where the flyover ends eventually 

Drops you facing the obsolete yard.

Bareilly 

09.25 hrs

2331

7.1.26

The twilight steps

 

The dissolved foot prints

Dissolved in the brine of time

The trace of gait is gone

Once the golden orb decides

After his dazzling spell to drown

The twilight hour retards the steps

Moistened by the silent specks 

That glittered in the sparkling noon

The smoky skies leave some spots

Full of intermittent silvery twinkle 

The spots where the dark fails to fade

And the faint replica of the sun

That reonates in his own right

With a dream of an impending dawn

If only we could hold our waves

Amidst the  looming twilight steps.

Bareilly 

00.21 hrs

7.1.26

2330

 कुछ यूँ उठे मायूसी में आख़िर हौँसले 

कि दिखने लगे बेपर्दा रूह के ऊँचे साये 

तुम्हारी गहरी नज़रों के आईने में अक्सर

तराशते हुए ख़ुद को, हम ने ख़ुद को पाए 

तो क्या कि किवाड़ है क़ैद कब से

और ख़ुद को हम वहीँ छोड़ के आये

अब आज़ाद हैँ परिंदे जन्नत तलक

पर ज़मीन अपना आसमान कहाँ से लाये.

The prudence

 

Profound agility when embedded 

Within the enticing succulence 

Keen to alight on any nest or twig

That finds the way to a beckoning furrow

And the vows of a hatching nascent life 

The freshness of an impatient puerility

Then the penance of an enlightened yogi

When sown in the dusty promise of a tomorrow 

Crouching to prey upon the imminent time

Camouflaged in the begrimed bed

Then the culmination of the efforts 

Is the birth of a spectacular dawn. 

Rishikesh 

1.1.26

23.31 hrs 

2329

The signal

 

The weakening signals

That break the voice 

Once which was clear

When the I within me

Was wrapped with nothing 

Then the layers I earned

Dispersed the seeds of soul

In search of better clime

Lost in the layers my clumps 

Twirled into significant shapes

Recognized by the outer world

That remains usually amorphous 

The silence of the thudding beats

That rippled between ears once

To create tides within the mind

Now it gets no relief to sprout

One stroke or the other always

Continues to smudge the canvas

For white is not a perceived color

The unison of the spectrum 

Is often mistaken as left out 

The signal dies in an effort

To prove the echoing commotion 

That there is no silence within

While the lost signal severs

The connect of the inner world

When my breath dangles 

It often twitches the blinds

For a small peep outside 

These blindfolding layers

If you still wait eagerly

For a knock from within

The signal to open the core

When there is no difference 

Between what lies out or within.

Rishikesh 

2328

01.52 hrs

27.12.25

The narcissist mast

 

Galloping strong atop frothy waves

Spurred often in many lunar nights

Scraping the land bound misty clouds

Lofty ! The Mast with a heedless flutter

One who often decides the route to shore

Is the brightest speck from the horizon

Slides sometime adrift into a placid realm

Sure of his poise amidst gushing waters

Tilts to bask in the glory of his stoutness

And stretches to extend his view in the waters

Instead of a small peep within the vessel

Gasps then in deepest waters as nadir

When his frenzy leads to a capsized ship.

Ludhiana

18.12.25

2327

22.10 hrs

The advancing waves

 

The waves come gushing onto shore

Silently they recede with the footmarks

The castles,  etched names and succinct prayers

These all the waves carry when they tip toe

Only to confound the succeeding ones

When their charge is entangled in the distraction 

The advancing waves that remain focused 

They ride the advancing chariots by overlapping 

The futile treasures of the fickle shore 

Then they vault over the preceding ones

And cross the unfettered domains in the sand.

Agonda, goa

2326

09.21 hrs

11.11.25