समुन्दर

लहरों की आड़ में, 
मोड़नी के पुकार की,
डोर खिंच कर ले जा रही है मुझे
तेरे पास

क्या इसीलिए लोग चले आतें हैं यहां?

ज़िद है या ख्वाहिश 
पता नहीं लेकिन
मेरे वापस आने की मांग
मत ठुकराना

तेरे प्यार में डूबना है |
मरना है मुझे
तेरे पास |

खैर जलने दो!

जलती मशाल और तलवार

लाएं हैं हम

खिड़की से उतर कर आओ तो सही

जलाएं हैं पहले

जलाएंगे फिर से

जलाने की जश्न में लेकर जायेंगे तुम्हे.

ज़िन्दगी के पेहलियों से

आज़ाद होने की सुनवाई दी है किसीने

युक्ति मिल गयी है इसीलिए

उद्भ्रांतों के मेले में

अंधों की जीत मनाने 

जलने दो

इस जिस्म की बाजार में

आबरुओं का शनाक्त करने

जिस्मों का कब्र ज़रूरी है

उनके ढेर बनने दो

काफिरों की मैदान में

और एक काफिर आया है

विश्वास का रंग ओढ़े

खोकले शौर्य को ललकारने

कम्बख्त सच के 

बेहलाये-झुठलाए हाथों में

आज भी ज़िन्दगी जल रही है

और थोड़ा किरच ही तो डाला है

उसमें हर्ज ही क्या है?

खैर जलने दो!

Letting you go

I’m letting you go as each day is passing by,

Adding lines of complacence, giving me strength

To feel the pangs of letting go without giving it away.

With what pain have I woven a dream 

Of thousand moments to last me a while

I carry with me each twitch of your eyes, 

I will save each wrinkle on your lips. 

A thousand memories to last a lifetime

A million erasers at work - without you

So I’m letting go, till I’m gone, till I am none

But a light to the next life...

When I will wait again, to see you at a better time

To catch a glimpse of my breath that I lent 

Unbeknownst of my sins, unperturbed of my crime

I will let you in.
©

तुम  मुझसे  कह  सको 

और  में  तुम्बे  सुन  सकू 

ये  ज़रूरत  तो  नहीं. 

रास्तें  अलग  हैं  लेकिन 

ख्वाब  भी  अलग  हो   

ये  ज़रूरत  तो  नहीं.

परेशां हु  में  

नादाँ तन्हाई  को  कैसे  दफनाओ 

तुम्हारी  परछाई  को  छूकर  

तुम्हें  भी  आग़ाज़  मिल  जाये 

ये  ज़रूरत  तो  नहीं. 
©

Let The River Flow

Scrawny river flows when its ebb falls into the sunlight

But sunlight comes from the drought-ridden raisin-dry sun

That is old and ancient; that has lived its life,

Not knowing that lives dried up when the sky turned white

On that fateful day, when the galactic dust spewn from the

Rib of the universe, while the cosmos prayed and pined.

It pined and rebelled when the sun failed to balance

When the stars failed to leap to its rescue

As the clawy arms of the blackness scratched its nails

On the walls of dust built of the colossal colloidal cosmos

Scrawny river when will you flow into the eternal crevasse

Of the deeper gorges, of the cracked surface of sensibile plane

That just wants to lay and play, sway to your ebb and flow,

Pave the careful path of passion and expression

Inaccessible to the death - ridden harbours of callous ignorance

Inadvertent in its pauses, incoherent are its pain and losses

Just wants to flow with the loud lovely massive waves

Of the cosmos, that still can follow the sun any day

And fall with the river to turn around a dying day?

Chahat

चाहत का इज़हार,
मुश्किल लगता है मुझे हमेशा 

इसीलिए मेरे  इज़हारों  के कतार में 
चाहत गुम जाती है

महफ़िल सज जाती है इज़हारे-नुमाइश की,
लेकिन अरसे बीत जातें है
दिल की बात आँखों तक नहीं उतरती.

कैद रह जाती है तो सिर्फ
कुछ दर्द और कुछ एहसास...

क्योंकि इज़हारे चाहतों को ढूंढ नहीं पाती
इसीलिए चाहत बरक़रार रहती है. 

©

Aaj phir tum yaad aaye

आज फिर तुम याद आये... बारिश में बंधी ख्वाहिश धूल चुकी है अभी काफिरों की जंगल में मुहब्बत के पीर ढूंढ लाने की फरमाइश पूरी नहीं होगी कभी. आत्माओं का मिलान, कशिश भरी बातों की गुज़ारिश से सिमट गयी है साँसें चल रही है क्योंकि तुम्हे खुश देखने की ख्वाहिश कभी डूबेगी नहीं.

©

Jhaank kar dekho zara

Jhaank kar dekho zara

Koi aa raha hai kya?

Barish hai barson ke baad ki

Baras rahi hai, taras rahi hai...

Meri jhoonki hui nazron ko

Padhne ki khwahish jo rakhte hai

Un nazron se nazrein milna mushkil hai

Par jab hazaron bundon ki awaz

Jhapent-ti hui aati hai

Garajti hai haasiyon ke aad mein

Unko tab na pukaar paane ka dard

Tut padti hai...

Barson ki pyaas yaad dilati hai

Jab meri saanson ki awaz suniayi nahi deti

Tab har ek saans ke sannaaton mein

Tum sun sakte ho…

Mein baras nahi sakti tumhaare liye

Yeh yaad karati hai.

Seeking Answer to Madness

I have seen a bit of me in you I have fought myself with you Seen the grass grow from green to blue Skies turning from blue to red I have hit the road when  The asphalt was still wet I have quietened down my murmur To keep your lips from burning red I have thrown the rain drops away When my hand was not yet full I have kept their wetness with me still So our hands could stick from falling When the walls are being painted black With shadows of covers, clothes and cosmopolitanism I have kept the black beads of the pearl to Still catch some of the lightness of the rainbow Why is it so hard then to build a house For two dark souls and with a thatched roof? Why is it so hard to just let the sunlight Catch a tiny glimpse of the raindrops? In my hand, just once? Just once? So we can sleep on a quiet hay of Rainbow and murmurs? Just a tiny bit? You must be wondering… What the hell am I talking about! And I wonder… just wonder How long are we going to wonder… Am I too bold? Am I too right? Am I too sharp to see through That these lines are not ready for this world? Am I too hard to get through? Or am I just plain intelligent enough to See that two extraordinaries are caught In one ordinary world trying to find A flick of rope with a label that will say... We are not Mad!

Soldier Seeking

Wall consuming brick and mortar 

Cementing in the last ounce left in you

Files and dot coms,

Myriad numbers to fall in line

Taking the cudgels of the cause

To feed the money grinding machine…

And let the deserted field see one more season

Of the grazing ground, fast fading into 

Cracked wrinkles of the desolate earth.

Gather around, fall in line!

Don't look down, don't look up

March to the Temple where the

War for redemption will swell up

Hut! Say Hut! Take that crutch and take it to the Temple

Where you will redeem your Medal!

Grovel in mud - Attaboy! Grovel harder!

Beg-steal-borrow. But don't let that crutch go!

You're a soldier with no redemption

Nein sorrow, nein pain - nein Fear.

You're going to be brave 

Pushed into the alter of martyrdom.

No pyre, no statues, no rewards waiting

Only an unending war of the worlds

Till you seek for redemption

Outside the Temple, 

Into the grazing wild.