Wake Up...

Wake up sovereign, stop this plunder,
Don't let them tear your land asunder.

For leaders elected in your name,

Vote is free, the nation fair game,

Not for you, they're chopping it to loot,

You will remain right under their boot.

Wake up sovereign, stop this plunder,

Don't let them tear your land asunder.

Once they led inspired by ideals,

Today they con driven by deals;

Once from yoke they set you free,

Today they pillage their own tree.

Wake up sovereign, stop this plunder,

Don't let them tear your land asunder.

Brother from brother they separate, 
False promises of a golden fate;

Over morsels they make them fight,
Such their hunger for the big bite.

Wake up sovereign, stop this plunder,

Don't let them tear your land asunder.

Nanak, your God is not their ship,

Pirates they are on a power trip;

Jihad, dharm-yudh, church and temple,

Weapons with which they India trample.

Wake up Govind, stop this plunder,

Don't let them tear your land asunder.

It

And now

You are a body.

It is lying there

On a floor

You never did.

It.

Hands that

Never dared touch

Hit chest

And kiss

To push life in.

Death has already kissed.

Friends weep

As do foes.

Is it for you?

Or their loss?

Even a tear

Of unexpected joy.

You feel nothing

You do not know;

You have

Since long gone home.

It is lying there.

It.

Lunch

As a tasty morsel I munch

at lunch

in a roadside dhaba,

a gentle tap makes me turn.

An empty plate

I see and a child beggar

to her mouth pointing. Anger

swells. Away! I shoo her;

Can’t she wait?

Can't she see?

I'm eating and very hungry?

A pang of regret

hits as the next bite

finds my mouth.

At her helpless plight,

was it, I lost my cool?

What if she is hungry too?

As pensive mouthfuls I chew,

again that soft blow.

Sensing softness, daring rage,

fearlessly she shows

me, again, her empty plate

I ask her to wait

and she does, patiently,

watching me

as I gulp in silent guilt.

Of vicious kidnappers and

poor, poor parents

images I try to squelch;

my own plate I empty find.

A coin and a belch

emerge. I toss the one I can

into the plate in her hand.

A good deed, I pat me,

full of food and vanity.

I shrug and walk; money

was what she was really after.
Tapping another

she must now be,

I say, and look back to see

that cynical picture.

She still is there shaming me,

tear in eye, plate empty,

my coin shining brightly...

Give me all

Give me not just your love,

I want your respect too

Give me not just you silence,

I want your words too

Give me not just your heart,

I want your head too

Give me not just your body,

I want your soul too

Not for me just a bit or two,

I want the whole of you....

Come back; can you dare?

When I see you in my dreams,

My heart for you loudly screams:

Please come back to me my own,

Like this I can't go on for long.

When hastily in fear you left me last,

I thought as always you'd be back fast,

But to see me you declined every time,

Just left me alone down and crying.

Ever since I've been waiting to hear,

Your voice whispering into my ear:

I do love you and you are mine,

Can you not wait for the right time?

Weeks and months have come and gone,

And yet I wait here hoping alone,

A gentle breeze will bring you along;

Don't you know it's been so long?

Sometimes I fear I am hoping in vain,

For when I go down our memory lane,

I wonder if you really did care;

If you did, come back. Can you dare?

Toothless Diplomacy

Coercive diplomacy sans military might

Can never generate intended fright,

A toothless mouth

Can only shout,
What use a threat if you cannot bite?

Knowledge

The more you know,
The less you know,
You know.

Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy is designed

To enable

Extraordinary individuals

To deliver

Ordinary results

Far And Near

Though we are physically far and apart

I am in you and you beat in my heart

Our whispers of love we can clearly hear

But not the words of those who are near

A Wound Too Deep

There is nothing left of me my friend

But a battered and shattered heart that bleeds

Many a wound it had borne with strength

But this last one was just too deep

Come To Me

Come drop into my arms,

Shedding all your fears,
Cry much as you want,

I'll wipe away the tears,

Drink them off your cheek,

Eye and trembling lip,
Hold you as you slip

Into deep, blissful sleep.

Looking And Being

Many you will find in each nook

Who look better than they are;

Who are better than they look

Spot you will only few and afar

Let Me In

You don't want me to ever go

Yet you haven't ever let me in

For years I've stood at your door

This is punishment for which sin?

Big Man Small Man

A small man makes look big,

The small things he loudly does;

A big man makes look small,

The big things he quietly achieves.

Woman Called Is She

I sit wondering in the sun

Who created this puzzling one

With infinite poise charm and grace

And many strange and wondrous ways

Woman called is she...

Pleasure she brings in her fold

Joy that lasts but not long

And gives way to pain and song

To sing to who is now a stone

Unmoved, untouched, silent and cold

Woman called is she...

Dazzling eyes and tender skin

Hide the cruel brain within

Always at work, silently, unseen

Without remorse to wreck and kill

Many a man of strength and will

Woman called is she...

Like a queen she sits and sees

A stallion come a cripple go

Writhing in pain and misery

Pitying the one who waits to go

To the queen of his fantasy

Woman called is she...

With a smile she sees him die

With a shrug she moves away

To charm another fool that way

No regrets, not a sigh

Why care for those die?

Woman called is she...

Petite Damsel

You are that petite damsel

With eyes like deep pools 

Of love,laughter like a musical 

Mountain stream,

Hands like little 

Buttercups and gait like a gentle, 

Majestic tigress 

Who draws me, pulls me

Ever so gently, ever so surely 

To the milky tenderness 
Of her proud little breasts

Bliss

The cloth that rests

On your tender self

Rings bells of bliss

And happiness

So full of life

Frolic and fun

Ain't you divine,

My angelic one?

My Lamp

For long I lay buried

An average man;

Born into the world

To leave my mark,

I died young

After a brief flicker.

Living among masses

Of anonymous existence,

Life was a mundane chore;

You came along

And lit my lamp,

And I did flicker again.

The glow of hope awakes me,

To know myself anew;

With you my love

I'll move the world,

Will you light 

My lamp all through?

Going Over

There is nothing more to write
I have written all I could.
My mind refuses to think,
What is there left to brood?
A strange feeling envelops me
I'm so empty and yet so full.
Heavy eyes and tired brain
Repel even trivial matters,
I want to sleep but it doesn't come
I move through time in a daze.
I hate to work, I hate to talk
Questions I loathe to answer,
The answers are so many
And yet there's nothing to say.
Friends, peers and others
Ask me what is wrong,
I lie to say I am well
When I know, as you do too,
Without you, I am going over...

Distance

Alone for months
Thinking of you,
With only a phone
To caress and soothe
With the voice
Of distant love.
Stubborn distance
Why don't you yield
And let us be
To stroke and feel
The silence
Of close embrace?

No More

You look beautiful
No more.
Where has gone
The face I love?
Those large, innocent eyes
Now scare me
With their consummate skill
Of glowing with love
To many a man
All at once.
Deep in them
The calculator whizzes;
A smile is beamed,
The voices softens
And many fall...
I look at you
Your eyes avert
They know I know.
Your lips look swollen,
Your teeth distorted
The smile a fake
As is the voice.
One fool
Will fall no more...

Destiny Shrugged

My destiny from God I snatched
And gave it to my love;
She walked away with a shrug:
Who needed it anyway?
God and destiny laugh at me
As I stand forlorn without a path,
I've begun to dig onto the earth,
No further I can go.

Black Hole

The light of long dead stars
Crowds into my heart,
My dim flame it snuffs out
A black hole I too have become.

Heaps Of Ash

From the heap
Of my ashes
A tiny flame rises
Even as embers have died.
Don't nurse this flame
And fan it not,
For the fire shall consume
And leave behind
Two hopelessly pulverised
Heaps of ash,
Entwined
On charred ground.

Is This Love?

I bathe
In the warmth
That washes me
And drift
In the ache
Lingering in my heart.
If this be love
Let it flow
Till I'm drowned
And lost.

Words Unspoken

So many words
Remain unspoken.
So much to say
But there's a wall,
Pierced only by eyes
That see, lower
And look away,
Strained
By lips that do not move
And throat
That hasn't a voice.
And many words
Remain unspoken....

Echoes In Memory

Echoes in memory are all I carry
And a little voice which tells me,
What is not today shall be tomorrow;
What today is not tomorrow shall be

Memories and a Prayer

On this day
Of joyous celebrations,
Of the chimes of time,
Memories of tears
And happiness,
And the excitement
Of hopes and expectations.

I remember
Your singing voice,
Soothing words,
Love, care
And ministration,
Your peaks, moans
And reciprocation

And I pray
For fulfilling joy,
Auspicious chimes,
For song, bliss
And caring sharing,
For kids, chaos
And happy rearing!

Booms of Silence

The din of silence
Crashes into my 
Ears, shadows of despair
Crowd into my 
Heart; hands paralysed
By the weight of 
Distance, voice drowned
By the rattle of 
Quiet, I remain
Praying and pleading
To a stone
At rest, pelting 
Booms of silence...

Tomorrow

Two birds of joy
Perch on my tree of sorrow,
Harbingers
Of a golden tomorrow.
Again.......tomorrow.

Solitary Crow

I see the solitary crow
And take him as my lot,
For you've chosen to read me
As something I am not.

Get and Give

Till you keep looking
For what you can
Get from me,
Rather than 
What you can
Give to us,
We will remain 
Divided
By the ocean
Of mistrust and 
Buffeted
By the winds of
Destructive thought.

Stillborn Love

When I'm with you,
My love finds
A melancholic expression.
Exhilaration 
Suppressed, I wear 
A tormented look.
Voices I hear
Calling me away;
Having found you
I know I have not.
A stillborn love
I cradle;
Oh! how do 
I sing and dance?

The Blond

He wanted to love her in her vein,
But all his efforts were wasted in vain,
Forgetting their bond,
He went for the blond,
And now that 'miss' is giving him pain

Wealth and Compassion

The less you have the more you share,

The more you have the less you care.

Moonlight on wet leaves

Moonlight on wet leaves

Makes them quiver in the still night

Its mark of passionate love it leaves

And takes a hurried flight

Still and forlorn they wilt
Dry and lifeless in painful separation
Memories of love enjoyed to the hilt
Awaiting next celebration

Soul Mate

Why does it feel just right with you?
Why does it sound all deep and true?
Why does it look so bright not blue?
Why does it stick real firm like glue?

Is it because it's always been you,
Across time and space all through?
Were we never ever far and apart,
Even when life was playing its part?

Tell me my love, my mate of soul,
Is that why you make me whole?
Is that why when it's dark and trite,
In me you and in you I find our light?