Everybody's around,
My friends, my family
That teacher from Kindergarten,
Bullies from fifth grade,
That girl I crushed over
Talking, how great I always was
Praising all the good I did
I don't know how,
But all of a sudden
they all love me a lot now
And here I am,
Right in the middle of all this
Yet isolated
like I always have been
They say I can't speak anymore
I don't know why,
I've been dead for long
but I was talking
They just never knew
I wish this coffin
had a hole I could speak through
Just so I could make them realise,
How wrong they are,
How wrong they always have been

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If I were to tell you
I still recall the day I first saw you,
How I was dazzled by the way you looked
Or the way you smiled as you entered the classroom,
Would you you believe me?

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कितना गर्व था मुझे खुद पर,
कि तुम्हारा बचपन मेरे इर्द-गिर्द ही बीता है।
अब बस दूर से तुमको देखती रहती हूं,
इस दुनिया से अकेले लड़ते, हार कर बिखरते।
तुम्हारी मां नहीं मै तो क्या हुआ?
बराबर ममता से तुमको पाला तो मैंने भी है।
माना नहीं कर सकती पूरी हर एक ज़रूरत तुम्हारी,
ना कमी किसी की अब मै भर सकती हूं।
पर अब जब तुम्हारी मां तुम्हारे पास नहीं,
तो तुम्हारे आंसू पोंछने का भी मुझे हक क्यों नहीं?

-

My little one always had a passion for tumbling
Even before he took his first steps,
He'd topple off his crib so often
And instead of crying, the boy giggled
The crinkles by his dreamy eyes,
The dimples on his soft chubby cheeks,
His cute little teeth flashing through his grin,
Would make my wife's day and melt my heart too
We always felt so proud of our baby boy
Even when he grew up, he would fall every now and then,
Or would just run into another table around the corner
But now, the boy would never laugh
Maybe because the other kids laughed a bit too much
Sometimes, my wife and I would giggle a bit too
But he always hated it and we never understood why
Until today, when he jumped off that building
and none of us can laugh anymore

-

It's strange how,
The first thing you forget
about a person is their voice
You remember the conversations,
How they used to say what they said,
You still know what they'd say right now
if they were here with you
And yet, you can't recall how they used to sound

-

If the world really ends,
Which it probably will soon,
Humans will be the only species
responsible for their own extinction

-

While everybody was busy dancing,
He just sat and watched them from a distance.
Just like the exhausted flames of a bonfire
that is tired of spreading light around.

-

Running Away
(An abstract, long-form poem)

-

Maybe, all this time,
You've just been lying to yourself
Maybe, you would have been happy with your life if you ever really wanted to

-

याद है वो बचपन में,
कैसे माँ से झगड़ते थे कि गुजिया साथ भरोगे।
अब बस एक फोन आ जाता है तुम्हारा,
इस होली भी घर सूना बनाने को।

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