Un-Remembering

I
Wait under the feeble light of that pulsating yellow bulb
Tracing the cracks running on the distempered wall, dampened by last rains,
now rotting and peeling
Like a snake molting its skin.
Sitting on a bed that fits perfectly between the wall and a window I
Grab the thick heavy curtain that mamma made from all the waste cloth,
I wonder if she wanted to avoid the world from looking in or keep herself from looking out.
The darkness outside is distilled and calm
And if I was preacher I would have broken into a sermon by now asking the lord to slow me down or to keep me still
but I am no preacher, and it is difficult to be still with an empty stomach.
So I mix my sighs with the silence
Hoping to conjure a charm or two
But magic is not for people like us
And sighing never mends a broken life.

The Moment

And I saw you
Standing there
Under the slanting sunrays of late afternoon
That's too feeble to be bright, too strong to be dark and just perfect to be enjoyed.
I saw you there, just for a moment;
Standing like an effortless stroke of a painter who is too obsessed to paint what only he can see.
Oh how I longed to tell you
That your skin
... Glistens under March's golden sunlight
Like meadows on the mountains, just before the autumn sets in,
That those falling hair on the side of your face remind me of the ease with which the night climbs onto the hills - softly, tenderly, like lovers approaching each other for the first time.
I saw a sparkle, in that quiescent smile of yours, held loosely by those half curled softly bitten lips making me wonder what mischievous tricks you are hiding...
But, may be I wonder too much,
Maybe you were not hiding any tricks,
Maybe you were happy... just happy,
And in that fleeting moment,
Under the slanting sunrays of late afternoon,
Without saying a word,
I passed.

I.

Ah! My sweet darling babe,
Searching for pennies
In torn pockets
So you can buy some wishes from the fountain;
But has no one told you,
You can’t wish to find love;
You’ll have to let love find you.