Works of RK

Photo Courstey जिन नज़रों से मै तुम्हें देखता हूँ, उन नज़रों कि कसम वो दुआएं जिनमे  तुम हर पल बस्ती हो उन सभी दुआओं की कसम जिन रातों की चांदनी तुमसे वाबस्ता है ऐसे हर रातों कि कसम जिस सुबह को तुम्हारी गुज़ारिश है उन सभी सुबहों कि कसम जिन घटाओं में शामिल तुम बे वक़्त बरसा करती हो उन सभी घटाओं कि कसम जिन खूबसूरत वादियों में हम तुम शाम ठले मिलते थे उन सभी हसीन वादियों की कसम जिन साँसों में तुम धड़कन बन कर बजती हो उन सभी साँसों कि कसम याद करना तो आया न मुझे पर अब जब भुलाना चाहुँ तो भूल भि न पाऊं रोना तो सीख लिया मैंने ज़िन्दगी  भुलाना तो तुमने सिखाया न मुझे.  You can listen to this poem HERE

I had this dream. I had this dream that I was floating on a cloud and you were with me. From the mist of wayward dreams, I could feel your fragrance engulfing me. Each time I was confused and frightened and lonely and sad, I could see you pouting at me. The sun was but a glimmer and the birds were catching wind. The dew drops seem to have turned into a translucent liquid, and they were staring at me. And when I opened my eyes. I could feel the softness of your lashes, as they lovingly brushed against mine.

The night went crazy With all the bantering throughout the night And when the candles gave up And the waiters stole a wink And the guests on other tables Slowly made their way to someplace else I knew that the best of us Had only begun.

Don't look at me that way I am not the silences you wish to seek. For deep within me rages A fiery storm that consumes, And my love I cannot buy you peace.

That time in life When in the heat of smoldering summer Wild blush of spring roses Bloom on your dimple cheeks, When dead daisies from last season Flower fragrant in your breeze. It is that time in life When life  itself Swings to fluttering rhythms Of a beautiful butterfly wing. When wild flowers burst forth A parched desert dune And hope that lay dormant From long years of arid ennui Springs and bursts forth Shoots of living green. Live on, I say For these are not moments that you lose To thoughts of yesterday Or hopes of a tomorrow That may never come.

How I hate the silly perfumed wind As it rushes to breeze you in. That stupid oyster grain As it delicately dangles Between those secret place I believe Are oh so mine! That hint of a bindi blazing fire consuming All my worlds all the time.

The setting sun down west Put up such a splendid show in red I had to hurry down to you my love In case You had for a change Given away too much of your blush!

I love to get lost And then be found again In places that I never knew existed Until I was lost And I thought I will never be discovered. I love your secret places You don't look for me there And I love it Just that way.

That shreak of surprise And delight When I first lifted you off the ground And swung you around. Your open hair fragrant Spreading a heady note Into an otherwise empty room. At that moment At that very moment in time As I looked into your doe like eyes And you looked into mine, Together We transcended time.

If you found the dawn a tad lazy today And the deep orange hues play around you For a longer while than it usually does, Remember my dear This was especially for you. For, as I watched the chariot rise I called out to the Sun for some respite. Down here lies my princess asleep Would you care to slow down For a while?

There are these places In me unknown to me. Mysterious places Rarely visited or remembered by me. That evening When you walked in with your red dress Smelling of lilies From colonel Mishra's garden And smiling like you knew me From some other lifetime, I was remembered Of a night from my teenage When I had jumped a fence To kiss a girl Who could sing like Streisand And looked like Helen. She was not for me And with time those lilies, They smelt like roses like jasmines And like other flowers, whatever you will; Until the night you walked in And I remembered how lilies smell. Much like in dreams, They smell so much like you.

My fingers tremble I am not used to this. I wish I could use my lips To pick them all. Every bit of you Smells so much like you. Even this little lock of hair As it frolics on this floor Smells of your Shampoo And is so full of you. And as I try to hold them A small draught of your wild wilderness catches a wind And they go sliding through my fingers On to the floor, again To be courted and loved and longed Until finally coiled and entwined Off they come with me Into my forever times. Also appeared in Muse India

That slight tremor at a touch And those glazed eyes measuring How much you possibly mean to me And how much of the surreal Is real Those subtle hints of ownership Of someone you believe Can't be owned. That desperation for another hug Before time intervenes And rips us apart. I now live a day at a time And count my days As one with those filled with you The rest My love I do not remember To have ever lived.

There is a futility in loving you I know that you grow in lonely places in me And will eventually Kill me. There is a futility in loving you Like moss that grows in my village well Beautiful But treacherous, you see. There is futility in loving you Like arsenic Green and lifeless Someday I shall be. There is something about you Around you And in places and things and sounds and stains and smells of you, That softly weighs on my soul. It’s like a background score From a movie Time forgot. There is futility in loving you And as I watch myself softly sink I remember how you smelt Of Victoria's Secret And other crazy things.   First published in Indian Sahitya, Feb 2017 Issue on Contemporary Indian Poetry

Come Fill my pen And flow through my little life Adding colors And forever staining What were white empty pages In waiting Endlessly For this fluid verse. Let's make love With these moments. Punctuate me So that I never run out of breath. Complete me So that there be meanings Stringed together Out of ordinary letters That etch a forever tale.

I do not love you Like the way those teenagers do. I love the fall of your velvet skirt I love the waves I love the crests I love how you look at me With that new burgundy gloss Pouting Waiting. I cannot love you Like teenagers do.

I love your play. I love it when you stand close enough for me to breath in your Gucci. I love it when you lean on me, your hair falling on my shoulders and parts of you brushing against me. There are fires that burn without and the ones that burn within. I love the way you control this combustion!

The unrelenting tides of time shall consume us slowly with its up's and down's. There will times when we find ourselves riding the waves and there will be times wherein we drown. Why do leaves fall in Autumn? You will ask me someday, and I shall say, these are springtime tears that plodded through summer until the fear of winter drove them away!! Stupid Poets!!! You will say... and then as usual, run away.

All these years...and suddenly there were a dozens of photos of you smiling. Most nights, a little before slumber invades, I think of how you might be crying yourself to sleep, shaking in throbs, muffling those sobs and drying those tears so that he does not get irritated at you. All these years and suddenly I see you smiling through so many beautiful pics. I wish I could steal some happiness from these pics and save it for a rainy day. I could then send some smiles your way, in little installments of sunlight. You look awesome when you are happy.