Your cup sits empty on our bed-tea tray,
Propped up on the pillow, how do I face the day?

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Data-mate

All year long we celebrate,
Each day and night,
Your life and ours linked by Fate;

Unlimited love, our life’s sunshine,
Wordless, honest,
Together we laugh, growl or whine;

Live long our friend, let’s share a bone,
Today is copyrighted Data’s day,
Ne’er human and dog, just a Data-mate clone…

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Shrunk

Small we grow
As the grays set in,
Smaller our world
If the minds hemmed in;

Small the written word
As eyes mist over,
Smaller our vision
If we put ourselves to clover;

Small food portions
As we pick and choose delights,
Smaller mental peace
If we grudge and look for fights;

Small the youthful years
As we cling to vibrant memories,
Smaller the balance of Time
Let’s write, talk, meet, laugh at our life stories…

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Meera’s Ark

In Pacific waters blue set sail a clutch of Qs
Drawn by unspoken bonds, linked by youthful views;
Wearing silver crowns, finding their Ocean feet
When Meera had stirred the thought, they just had to meet;

Sixty somethings, spirits high, chattering racket,
Bundled in warmers and thermoball jackets;
Sailed on, sightings of whales and glaciers to boast
Huddled on orange evenings to cheer and toast;

The Yukon will always remember
Quixotic footsteps it had felt this September;
Meera’s Ark had once touched its shore
Memories, not gold, was their bounty forever more…

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Silence

Speak not for now all has been said
Hear not for barbs are better dead
Look not, sweet hope has lost its charm
Touch not, cold needles will swarm
Sing not, tuneless melodies decry
Lyrics bittersweet lie back and die

Silence supreme has found its home
Like dervishes triumphant ghosts roam
Echoes no more the walls will bounce
No swish, freely satiny frills flounce
Time has turned all moods still
A deep dark well, no sounds can fill…

-

Fill in my blank

Those moments that lisp and lapse
Unbridgeable chasm, gorge or synapse?
Those times that stumble and falter
A puddle, obstacle or just a stutter?
Those qualities that we lack
Patience, peace, diplomatic knack?
Those songs yet left unsung
Of dreams, reality or sorrows-wrung?
And words waiting to be coined
Meaningful, forbidden, conjoined?

In fateful anonymity sank,
Who will fill in my blank?

-

It’s (the same) History all over again

We’ve heard and read of wars being fought
From Antiquity to Contemporary, from History lessons we sought;
Critique and debate rage from the sidelines galore
On the why and the wherefore and the truth at the core;
Victor and vanquished exhausted, senselessly both bury their kin
Glee or revenge, immediate loss or gains, virtue or sin?
When killing humans becomes the bottom line
Can we call ourselves humane in defending ‘me and mine’;
Defense and Offense are but two sides of a coin
None can claim intellect or culture when in manslaughter they join;

-

Guru dakshina

How could the years have been a dead end
When I was blessed with a guru, a friend;
Distant or near your lessons held strong
Light moments brief and dark nights long;
Roads smooth and rough, your shadow lit
A treasure trove of nudges, applaud, critique a bit;
As student-friend perhaps I gave too
Enriched your life, not much to rue;
Not just on a ‘day’ but in seasons low and high
Believe you are remembered with grateful affection, never a sigh…

-

Mystic mist

Merciful mist, a light warm drape,
Swirling ghost-like its grey tinsel cape;
Shrouds restless thoughts out of control
Eyes blinded by its vapor-coal;
A cocoon caress, shifting impatiently its stance
Mimics my mind’s hypnotic sinuous dance;
Comes thick and fast unannounced
Mental ghosts are deftly trounced;
A thick blanket to hide many moods
Evil, good, love or pensive broods;
Evanescence its nature true
t’will return again when I feel blue…

-

Dark diamonds

Night skies wrapped in tinsel
A gift to my gaze
Sequined their glittering stencil
Fascinating their maze

Timeless their diamond stories
Immortal their fate
Like kohl-eyed houris
Dance eternally to a night-bound slate

The patterned star studded velvet canopy
Holds secrets untold
Evokes passion or unbridled tears ropy
Despair, trysts, or crimes bold

Night sky’s graceful mellow twinkle
Reluctantly bows to sunlight cruel
That dispels darkness with a sickle
Such is the irony of life’s gruel

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