Roots (June 2014)

Lilting, she smoothes the furrows,

Time, undemanding

A caress from a different world

A world ageless and peerless

Shadows yawn ahead

Light made irrelevant

Water and land become one

The creases of her mind ironed out

Stillness all around

Silent breath of the mangroves

While all the while

Life teeming silently at her feet

Graveyards of the urban mind

Strewn with reckless remains

Of chaos and useless wrecks

And shells of human beings

And from those watery graves

She rises once again

Reinvents and rejuvenates

A new dawn in her supple heart

What must be rebuilt

Needs destruction first

Change and a new order

Will subsume the old

And she of the eternal

Giver of life, filter of the sun

Survivor and warrior,

Conqueror of time and age

She, the old, shall vanquish the new

She shall destroy her whole

And resurrect meaning

And purpose and being

With the lilting mesmeric flow

Comes a new dawn

This too is mine, she knows

All of this, every life here

Every root

Every hardy leaf

Every dancing shadow

Every grain of sand

Every drop of water

Every blue

Every brown

Every gray

Every green

Every red

Every yellow

Every wind

Every shore

Every silence

All mine…

And in that moment

She is born again. 

Numbness (March 2013)

When did the numbness settle in

Did it creep in or was it always there? 

Did it nudge itself into a wedge

A small crevice that no one knew was there

Until it burrowed in

And wormed through

And wormed through

And nudged

And poked

And prodded

And dug

And dug

And dug

Until there was a hole 

In my black soul.

Goodbye peace. 

The Match

Pierce

Search

Probe

Challenge

Look

Uneasy

Look

Away

Soften

Crinkle

Hesitate

Smile

Waver

Unwilling

Urge

Doubt

Relent

Want

Watch

Wait

A match is struck...

Unencumbered Waltz

I lean on your thoughts 

Your magic all-encompassing 

Yearning, now second nature
For a future out of reach.  

Afraid and alone
But with your hand in mine
As we reach out
Across time, across space.  

Our waltz is unencumbered
By society's frills
You and I...
Just you and I.

In a universe created
In an embrace manufactured
In a wild illusion
Of melancholy and soaring joy.  

Our lives are intertwined
Inextricably conjoined
We walk as one
Sing as one.  

But the traitor yearns
Loves more every day
Until it will burst
And be still evermore.  

You are mine
And as the wind whispers by
As the light of dusk settles
As night yawns ahead  

Solitude and silence
Shall be my fate
As I love you
With fervour and pain  

With insanity breached
With the love of a billion lifetimes
And hope that that love
Will find an echo for me. 

Rebellion (October 2013)

The haze is meant to confound
It is the nature of the beast
Battle it, oh do try and watch
Its relentlessness increase.

Is this the end of time?
Questions that killed better men
Hound me, make me reckless
And I search for purpose once again.

The heart is fickle
It baulks when confronted by the mind
Questions age-old, yet unanswered
Who am I? What am I? Why am I?

My words are empty
My silences in vain
You echo my thoughts
But with deep disdain.

Enough, I cry, I can't take any more
Oh! But you will, it says,
Because you are strong
And supple and fickle of heart.

The world shall not wear me down
I sing no song impure
Higher meanings and intents aside
The tangible beckons with allure.

I stand up for justice
The costs incalculable
I cannot redeem myself
But my heart knows... it always knows.

Which tree is mine, which wing works
And where North lies
I am meant to stretch and preen and soar
However cloudy the skies.

And battle the winds and debris
And ruffle a few feathers
And come out of it all scathed
But wiser and weathered.

My love be poured unstintingly
Into my cause, no matter what it be
And may I sleep in peace at night
Knowing I was just and free.

Brickbats will rain, pushes and pulls
Will be heaped on me galore
But never let it be said she was unjust
Nor wavered evermore.

But where do I go, what path do I tread
What road to take so blind
Sticks nor stones will break my bones
And nor should words unkind.

Directionless, without destiny I embark
Only knowing that I must go
Down that road
Much less travelled before.

Poet? Visionary? Saint?
Neither of these am I
Truth be told, the certainty is
The norm I must defy.

It will come, it must come
Wherever I may be
To justify my existence
Is just to be fair and free.

Rocky Road (October 2012)

A decade of emptiness
Seemingly insurmountable pain
And suddenly... a crossroads.

I breathed in deep
And stilled my mind
Willed my body.

Courage is a deserter
I shackled it, squirming, within me
And put one bold foot ahead.

And so life comes to a pass
Where confusion reigns
Where doubts are like pebbles.

And I want to...
I need to...
What?

My love continues to hum
The mind tries to adjust
To a life lesser lived.

Do we have second chances?
I would love some more
And cry a little less.

My journey has begun
Faith has been set in motion
It is upto me to gallop.

And I shy away from permanent bonds
Preferring fluidity to lucidity
Afraid of... what?

Life can shatter in the blink of an eye
I know only too well
It is only love that keeps us sane.

So off I go wandering again
On my eternal quest
A hand shielding me from the sun.

Follow me, love me,
Swallow me whole
I am love incarnate.

Worship me, revile me
I am bit of you too
Rebel, poet, conformist.

Battle On (October 2012)

Hope, he says, with conviction
And I listen in silence
My heart beats elsewhere
In the palms of my people so deep.

They will always ridicule
They will always throw stones
They will bring carnage and wreck our souls
But they are me and I am them.

The lanterns burn high
And the wave threatens to swallow
But I stand firm
Unrelenting, unforgiving, a renegade.

I question unwaveringly
No flicker of doubt
My oldest enemy and my best friend
My constant companion in my journey.

But I shake my shoulders
And square them
I puff my chest out
And stand strong.

No one can trample me
Because I refuse
And no one will go where I go
Because the stones are many.

And the blood flows true
But I will go alone
And I will battle on
Them... my own, my very own.

And I sit in silence
With the wind in my hair
Laughter in my eyes
Love in my murmurs.

And I know that no matter what
With no knowledge of my destination
With no idea where to turn
No inkling as to where I am going

No matter the stones
No matter the generosities
No matter the indifference
I will strive on.

I will run and stumble
I will pick myself up
And I will run some more
Until the ends of the earth. 

Magic? (May 2012)

My magic floats on my fingertips
Crackling, straining to be free
But I give it tighter rein
As I search for my haven.

Red bleeds all around me
A courageous thorn in vain
Love, like us, must return
To the ashes that we make of it.

My heart yet skips a beat
And yearns for your sublime love
How long will my magic be
Tethered, fettered and close?

What does time do?
How does it erode and fritter away
And chip away at invisible chinks
Like a deep draught of a favourite wine.

We go where we come from
And in us is a bit of everyone
When it's my time, will I remember
To haul my love along?

Or will it too, like my magic
Remain fettered and unsung
And unexploited...

Will no one see my love?
Will no one respond?
Is my haven still-born?