Da Vinci’s and Van Goghs
Endlessly paint away
And wisemen run off
finding new pathways
Workers take their place
Filling their empty holes
trying to keep pace
consecrating daily roles

And heads earn a name
So do crazy hearts
forging new worlds
Walking unbeaten paths
But the workers are ones
Tending spoken lanes
Fending broken swathes
Mending what is made

Yes there are a handful
among teaming crowds
Who live lives dreadful
But enjoy reverent bows
But remember workers too
their toiled & soiled hands
Their sweat & graves unmarked
From unheard unknown lands

I’ve been a royal fool
Not once and not twice
Crossing unruly borders
Against all advice

So, I built this wall
To keep hurt away
To hold strength within
To live another day

But look at you! Damn!
How you storm in
Without much words
You make me give in

My ego’s gone to trash
This wall is crashing down
Weeping tears of relief
And joy all around

But do I still have fears
Am I just too proud?
Do I have the courage
To say it out loud?

Yes, I’m making hay
While your sun shines
And live another day
Gathering doting signs

And when you do leave
I’ll work my way anew
And build that wall again
Give credit where its due

Together when all in
How hours slip away
But the clock’s ticking
Sayin he’s not going to stay

Too much time to brood
Too much time to chatter
Working up needs so skewed
That often just don’t matter

Too much time to yearn
Too much time to mourn
Piling instances to learn
That slowly move to scorn

Too much time to read
Too much time to write
Inching to paying no heed
To a gently changing tide

Too much time to dream
Too much time to waste
Nothing is what it seems
But look what just surfaced!

With you, oh stranger,
I find quiet comfort
in the rawness of candour
sans bias or slurs.
So don’t ever turn
into a friend or a foe
Just stay a stranger
so we thrive and grow
without the corruption
of wants or of desires
that kinships bring
making us fools or liars.

Why such a grind is what you may ask
Why be so rueful over simple easy tasks?
Why wait for the winds for them to take a turn
When she’s equipped to sail through and learn!

“Now here’s the catch, listen to this story
There’s always chaos before there’s glory
There’s not much feat when wheels just turn
If you want some worth you need a good churn.

You see, when we’re born, life’s fresh like milk
Pure and untouched, no matter our ilk
Sweet and nourishing but just water and fat
It’s the same for a commoner or an aristocrat

We are told to drink this life and survive
Some drink as served, get added to the tribe
Come rain or sunshine, they keep the wheels turning
But a few ladies n lads begin doubting and burning

These are the ones who let the milk curdle
Setting themselves for adventure and hurdles
Fluid before, letting life turn pungent and sour
And then a thickening core with each passing hour

This is the moment, when shit hits the fan
Do you throw away the curd, & quit while you can
Emotions helped you curdled, and you came thus far
But do you close your mind or leave it ajar?

Can you beat yourself and whisk the set curd
Can you endure the strikes to have the last word?
And if you do, you’ve lived through the spat
You’ve waited enough, to see the whey and the fat

Now here’s the thing, to ponder, remember
some drink up the whey and they surrender
Some go for the fat, to keep their lights burning
break new paths, while the wheels keep turning”

Now will she survive the whisk and the churn
Would she waste away or would she instead learn
To drink up the whey or feast on the meaty fat
Only time will tell, coz that’s no easy chat.

These shadows
he casts
each time we meet,
I lose a piece of me
Take a piece of him
Unwillingly.
And I’m left
With piling shadows
Intriguing in the day
Darker at night,
Of time spent
Way after dusk
Seldom in light.

What really
are these shadows?
An outcrop
an exchange?
Or just impressions
Unreal deranged?
Am I indeed
Thinking right?
Is it me deluding
Losing sight?

Be as it may
N as it seems
His shadows
Cross my line
of uneasy dreams.
They are straight
piercing and are fast
Made-up but unambiguous
And here to last.

With fear inside,
but ears to the ground
He pursued his thing
without making a sound

The more he faltered,
he took no defeat
It (potion) seeped in more,
Adding stockpiles of feat.

Prompting, prodding
every inch of his way
Gathering steam
through night and day

& through the years,
he’s reached up here
With sickening effort,
now many endear

His young self speaks,
“this journey’s still on,
The urge still kicking
it can’t be gone”

And the poet’s a fool,
maybe only partly right
coz she’s known him less,
and that is alright

Coy and taciturn
Strong in the head
A repute he’s earned
That many may dread

Not a great talker,
And may seem brawn
But his gaze is sharp,
She wouldn’t get it wrong.

His wishes are horses,
and on them he rides
The dreams he has,
she may dare confide

That he wouldn’t stop seeking,
and his story’s half done
When others catch a breath,
his dark horses will run.

Leave no door open
Not a single one,
So it’s finally done

Be ruthless and cold
Don’t dare look back
Leave no trace or track

Have no mercy
When you leave
Spare no room to grieve

Sear all memories
Then burn all bridges
Sever hopes of any wishes

This is how
I want you to go
So your existence I’d never know

But if you do stay,
Do with a full heart

And I know nothing lasts
with changing hands of time
I know that I can learn much
from madmen, wise, aging or divine
I surely know it’s painful
To unburden piling grime
And yet I choose somehow
to do nothing but lay supine

Only when I’m calm
Am I good to think
To look at what seems real
And for the lies to sink
Only once the head’s clear
The mind’s ready to drink
And flush away the muck
Fill what’s needed to the brink

All the idling and torpor
Occupying a stately seat
Props its dreary head
growing at each defeat
I see myself feign more
letting it further accrete
feeding on imagined pain
Fructifying all deceit

It’s better to be needed
Than to need
Better to be wrong
Than be wronged
So I close my eyes
To remind myself
That yes someday
I’d forget his songs..