lamhe

guzar jate hain inhe aaj thaam lijiye

ye aus k lamhe hain, na jane dijiye

shab na ho chand na seher na aaftab

pighalti hui roshni hai, samet lijiye

naye khel dekhiye chashme badal badal

maile mausam ka hakim, kya kijiye

aankho k samandar ki lehron ki saazish

dil chahe din, chahe to raat kijiye

khwaish ki lau jo hui jati hai madham

chaand se kuch taare aaj, baant lijiye

ye khala nahi 'Mirage' mehfil-e-sukoon hai

har saans par ek naya jaam pijiye.

On the gallows of wishful thinking
i redeem my sordid moments and wail
i swing suspended in clouds of wrath
and take a swig of hope to fail
the rites of life in the holy fire
the incantation fickle and frail
as i paint afresh my earth
with blood dried and colored pale

Yun hi...

meri kalam, teri kalam,
kya fark hai zubaano me;
wo ashq kya, lahu nahi,
wo syahi nahi jo lafzon me;
wo seher kya, wo shaam kya,
kya fark hai paimaano me;
wo jaam kya jo na ho zeher,
jo na jal uthe maikhano me;
kya aaj kya hai kal kahan,
is pal se usko rashq hai;
mai aaj hun yakin nahi,
jo hai wo shayad aks hai.

one last effort

Tears, that half stop in my eyes
Shreds I snatch and scratch all around
My face I hide behind the veil
As I listen to the haunted sound

Tonight again the color altered
The light split in seven sounds
As my day dressed as groom
Married my night in seven bounds

Scratches became scars yet show
And bleed enough for them to hound
Those trickles I still hold in my eyes
Trickles that will fertile the ground

No no I must hide, burst open myself
Parts torn and sewn for parts to pound
And hang over the seven skies
Split in light and split in sound

TANDAV

A long lost vision
I had and had
that came and vanished
came back and went
when the clouds hung low
in the violet swings
the surf surged through sky
as the moon wept
stars dropped dead
the earth heaved
In the dark of the night
the oceans had melt
leaves flew off
to the distant lands
to grow on trees
the blossoms crept

and I towed and towed
with the broken vases
and spilled soiled words
drooping to pick
picking to droop
the wilted petals from
the desolate paradise
floating on the dry tears
weaving cheap chimeras
seamed with fine gossamers
hanging loose from the
forgotten tales of the lost memories
humming the haunted tones
that reverberate in rotten corners

as I collect silent sounds from
broken tables and soggy bread
mangled cutlery, mildewed bed
moth eaten clothes wrapped tight
on frozen skeletons pearly white
I hear the cuckoo clock cry
broken time bleeds to try
one last effort to match the step
to set in motion the dance of life.

Desire...

through the fissures I guide
the humble breaths in
in inside of me
to the dry most core
of my parched self
sucking in some fresh death
laden with the moist tears
and strands of a few succulent dreams
flesh white with life
eyes oozing blood
till death holds on
I shall not give up.

The rising smoke from the burnt milk
Wafting circling wafting up
Scum on the stove Smells of hunger
Wafting circling wafting up
The charred pan desire stained,
Stare hard at the red red flesh,
The blackened milk holds me back,
Bound and tied in a hunger mesh,
And
Oh the child wails and wails
And oh the child wails so loud
What shall be fed
To the wailing child
For the child who wails
Child has to be fed
The burnt dry blood
The burnt dry milk
For the endless hunger
The red black milk
The black red blood.