When I stretched my arms,
To wrap you around
I found myself falling to the ground,
Looking through the glass door
Ran to hold you
But you already left the shore,
As if I cared for you
No, that was my love that holds,
I knew you could leave
So I opened the door for myself.

-

What if they saw!

The over-stitched bruises,
How the eye wipes the tears on its own
The throat engulfs its words
Keeping all pricking notes to itself,
The sage within you wants to explore all the flaws of the outside,
The scented aroma of yours came from the rejected sweat.
The non-judgemental expressions are crying to show them in the mirror.
Screams the loudest voice to tell everyone to stop,
The detachment that has lots of painful goodbyes.
Each and every day that repeat the order of moving, moving away
making a new self for each one.
Ending alone every evening
blinking at the drowning light to spark a plug beside.
The philosopher surrounded by words
has a hidden child,
holding a torn, crushed paper, handwritten letter of its like,
The child crosses its fingers running to evening to find someone to save,
What if they find that I am different from what I am.
What if I scare them and make their shelter burn,
What if I shouted and they fall.
What if I become my self and
the saint in me curse their world.

-

तू क्या जानता है मेरा हाल
तुझे तो अक्सर मैं अपने जुबान पर बसआती हूं,
आंखों में तेरी यादों का सैलाब लेकर
उन चंद लम्हों से मैं अपना वक्त गुजरती हूं।

तू क्या जानता है हाल मेरा
तेरी आंखों में मैं खुद को खोजती हूं,
तेरा वह मुड़ मुड़ के देखना
उन सांसों में मैं खुद को ढूंढती हूं।

तू क्या जानता है हाल मेरा
तेरी बातें मैं खुद से ही करती हूं,
गुनगुना कर कोई गीत
तुझे उसमें समेटती हूं।

तू क्या जानता है हाल मेरा
तेरी बातें अक्सर मैं तुझसे ही करती हूं।

-

Let the wind, bind the sky
to the weaving night,
The wintry day fractures
the moon into fragments,
A new phase is emerging
in hues of sepia,
This is the final eclipse of the sky
Gazing at the arcane saints.

-

ख़त कितने भी लिख लो
बात दिल की दिल में ही रह जाती है,
कितने भी अल्फ़ाज़ इकठ्ठा कर लो
पन्ने ख़ाली रह जाते हैं।

-

पहली मुलाकात
कुछ ऐसी हो
जिसमें ना तुझसे मिलने की ख़बर हो
ना तुझे जानने की तमन्ना।

तुझे देखते ही,
तू बस अपना सा लग जाए
मैं तेरी नजरों से तुझे पढ़ लूं
तू मुझे मेरी बातों से समझ जाए।

-

Walking with whom you craved for,
No fear of being unheard
pacified emotions that float in flow.
Walking in the house of pleasure
The echoing laughter
Speaking without a word.
The pace of every step
leading to the pavement,
under the night sky giving the stars thousands of reasons to shine bright.
In the hustling it's just you who has surrounded me,
No more eyes I need around me,
Every tread along the way is leading me to fate.
Walking with him,
whom you saw once walking alone in his own head.

-

अब फिर क्या लिखूं उसके इंतजार में
हमेशा शब्द कम पड़ जाते हैं इज़हार में,
कहना तो उनसे बहुत कुछ है
मगर शब्द लड़खड़ा जाते हैं हर एक अखबार में।

-

The thoughts have the darkest side
of being recognised or being overlooked by our own eyes.

-

Beyond my goodbyes
I want them to stay,
They ask me to be forever
and left me on rainy days,
Under the thundering sky
I overlooked my shivering lays,
Complaining to them about not being around
Yet understood their absence,
However, I am waiting for a hello
That I will exchange.

-