गुस्ताखियों के शहर में माफी सी
अधूरे पन में भी जिसको मैं काफी सी
बस ऐसा मेरा मीत हो
राधा कृष्ण सी प्रीत हो।

-

Please sleep. The light of your phone screen is hurting my eyes.
I live alone.

-

जिंदगी के आगे ऐसे जिद पर अड़ी हूं।
बाढ़ की दस्तक हो, नींव रखने चली हूं॥
गिरी हूं सौ बार फिर भी, आज मैं खड़ी हूं।
रेत के घरोंदे बना, समुंदरों से लड़ी हूं॥
जीने की जिद है जिंदगी, मैं भी जिद्दी बड़ी हूं।

-

I break into spirals
Gyrating into the absymal.
Eyes, nose, lips eddying
And ebbing into whirlpools
My face
A giant gaping blackhole
Consumes my expressions
Leaving no trace.

I break into spirals
Fingertips streched
To touch toes
Toes stretching
To touch fingertips
Like a corkscrew
Spinning in infinite frenzy
Coiling and uncoiling
Simultaneously
Breaking and beginning

I break into spirals
But from where you are standing
You see a circle.
And the better for it
Do not come near
I'm not in control..

-

I can't stop you
Too well known stranger,
In the middle of the street,
In a crowded bazar
Or in an empty silent library
And demand your minutes
To draw up common experiences
Exchange sympathies
Or proclaim my views on new ice cream flavors.
I can't walk to you
Nor talk to you.
And you won't walk to me
Neither talk to me.
That's Why I write
and you read
To ease the pain of silences
To pave way for half baked romances
That's Why letters were invented
And into poetry mutated..

-

जबसे दोस्त, यार, प्यार सब जिंदगी समेटने में मशगूल से हो गए।
कुछ बदनाम सी महफ़िलों में हम कुछ ‌मशहूर से हो गए॥

किस्सों कि आदत है हमें, ज़ुबां अब भी किस्से कहती है।
अपनों की हसीं मगर अब गैरों की आंखों से बहती है॥

हम तो कहानीकार रहे अकेले रहे तो क्या ग़म है
ज़ुबां ओ क़लम पहले घिसती थी, ज़ुबां ओ क़लम अब भी घिसती है॥

पहले चांद बांटना पड़ता था, तारे आधे हो गए थे।
दिन रात का अब ना बंधन है, दिन रात चांदनी रिसती है॥

-

Everyone wants love,
until it starts to hurt.
Curled up on the floor,
your heart ready to burst.
I never knew there were so many corners in my house
Until I had to tuck my tears safely away
Divide however you may
Nights are somehow longer than days
Love kept me awake
Love keeps me awake
Happily tired eyes, replaced
With tear streaks
Flowing from spiralling memory holes
Years upon years turning into dust
Endings should be made explicit
Before the beginnings, painted in letters so bold
So nobody clutches a breaking heart in shaking hands
No held breath mute sobs
Nobody has to begin again..

-

"Why are the lessons life teaches so hard?
Why does it hurt so much?"
"So that it might hurt less the next time."
"But does it?.... Hurt less the next time?"
"....No..."

-

Growing up feels like listening to music while scrolling through instagram posts.
Mostly in the background, continuing, felt but not focused upon.
And like sometimes what's on your screen, in your heart and blaring through your earphones align together perfectly,
Coinciding in a sort of emotional eclipse,
A throbbing unity, a sharp intake of breath, a momentary touch of realisation..?
Those became my flag marked memories..
Markers I can use to navigate my way back
Untill the song fades away, blurring into familiar but hazy hum....

-

What do you do
Of memories' residue.
His shirt, chocolate wrappers
Single earring, meaninglessness chatters
Yellowing pages, corners earmarked
How do you Stop it hurting?
How do you fix a broken heart?

Do you learn to live
Or live to learn?
Do you untread the paths you tread
Or tread new paths untread?
They say the fire dies.
But embers emerge scorch and glow
What seems dead on the surface,
Might keep hurting below.
Is there any end to endings?
Would they ever be done..
A full stop, stops only a sentence.
Who's to say a new paragraph may still begin..

-