A Haze

A Haze
I have felt you 
Peer at me, bleary eyed, 
In the wake of my dreams, 
And have felt you, 
Seep through the agony of my tears,
Much like the thought that comes unbidden,
Drenched, wet in the realisation of pain,
I have felt you,
Insidious, hidden in the smile
That broke forth unbridled,
Moist with memory of rain,
Fragrant with pleasure,
And I have felt you
Look askance and look away,
Quick, in the beat of an heartbeat,
That slippery gaze,
Soaked, in a query, a foggy haze,
Oh, I have felt you,
In many many ways...
-Vinny
4/12/15

See Saw

See Saw 
Your moods swing, he said,
I know not why, I know not whence,
But, I often catch myself mulling the nadir,
From the edge of the crest!
For one follows the other,
Just as sure as night follows the day.
Ah ! She said ,
But do you not see,
That butterflies flutter insanely when the spiral downwards be,
And the cresting wave frames my ringlets just right, with florescent delights,
That one can catch the sighs suspended midway,
When one reaches out a giggly hand mid flight !
My dear ,the see saw you see,
is just a game i play with glee...
-Vinny
1/12/15

Gestalt

Gestalt 
I am keeping count, he said, 
Of the colours you use and imbue, 
A one and a two and a three, 
The green, as green as that tree, 
The florid pinks and the deep deep violet and the lavender new,
Fuchsia, lime and the White,
So true!
The brilliant reds, the muddy yellows and all hues of blue,
But why? She said, the count of the one the two and the three?
To discern, he said, which one is the real thee,
Ah ! But they all little extensions of me be,
You see, together they sew up the whole, that's me ...
-Vinny
2/12/15

Enchantment

Phir usee bewafa pe marte' hain,
Phir wahi jindagi hamaree hai... 😀

Enchantment
I lose myself in our conversations, he said, 
Like the tiny bubbles that rise,
Effervescent from a drink,
My senses seem drunk to the brim,
What is this magic you spin ?!
Me? she said, My wand was stolen a while ago,
And my memory knows no more, the sequence of things,
You mistake the patina for the real thing.
No , he said, I still see the imprint,
Primordial lessons of the little things,
The soft touch that thrills the heartbeat,
The whisper that in their harmony, sings,
The tress that twines, as if a string,
You need no wand, you enchanting being!
That is just your imaginations' fecundity, she said,
I do no such thing,
May be it's you who weaves, these magical spells you perceive,
Maybe they are a function of your being!
Or perhaps I am a palimpsest,
One can never quite rub out an imprint,
perhaps that is a wondrous thing,
Or Perhaps your potions, exhume,
She who once was a bewitching nymph!
-Vinny
3/12/15

The Wait

The wait
There's such romance here, he said,
See those undulating dunes, riding the winds?
Life is made up of these things, the wind,the ride, the wings!!
The sands scare me, she said,
I always wonder what they hide beneath?
And each time I set a foot forward,
it's as if they'd suck me within,

She looked at him with beseeching eyes,
liquid as the rain that rose therein,
He, didn't see, he'd walked away,
Astride the wind.
She waits,
it's been an eon since...
-Vinny
8/12/15

The Walls We Build

The Walls We Build
Oh what walls you build, she smiled 
Stone faced fortified, 
Are all these illusions of security, 
Meant to keep me petrified? 
Safely at arms length,
All allure at bay, the distance sanctified?
And are you ? He asked, so petrified ?
You see that wisp of a smile? She asked,
Contained in the crinkle around my eyes,
And the sigh caught between my lips?
Those are my partners in enterprise,
We've weapons of our own, we don't scare easy,
No matter how great the illusion be,
We build bridges, across all moats thus fortified!!
-Vinny
9/12/15

On Killing a Tree

On Killing a Tree
Did you see them kill that tree today? She asked, 
That's just the last rites they perform, he said, 
They killed it a while back, 
Starved it of attention, it fed on neglect, 
They poured arsenic into its roots, it drank that up,
Turned blue,
Then they forbade its nightly rendezvous with the moon,
That's when it turned its sights inward,
Living off the lamp that was lit within,
They built around it, created a conundrum, shattered its peace,
That's when i saw it weep,
It shed its bark and its leaves like one sheds skin, seeking liberation,
That too was not to be,
It stood there solitary, defiant in its misery,
It's addled skin exposed for all to see.
" I wish to die in the spring he whispered,
When the mango is laden with flower,
Or when the corn on the cob ripens and the Mahua reeks with juice"
Spring was a long time away,
They've cut it up today,
Light a fragrant pyre? oh, that they will...
-Vinny
10/12/15
‪#‎Vidrohi‬ .. Is dead, in the manner in which he lived, defiant

हर्फ़

हर्फ़
कुछ सच हैं यहां,
ज़ेहन के भीतर बिखरे हुए,
कुछ झूठ भी हैं,
डरे सहमे दुबके से,
और है एक कहानी,
जिसे है बस इंतज़ार,
के कोई कह दे उसे,
जो है नहीं यहां,
वो है एक हर्फ़,
टूट गया था कभी,
गिरा था  आसमानों से,
आज उस हर्फ़ को कोई,
फिर ढूंढता फिरता है ख्याल,
के वो कहानी जो कही जानी है अभी,
मुक़म्मल हो.
~ विन्नी
१२/१२/१५ 

The Spell

The Spell

When did you and I happen? She asked, 
Was it as sudden for you as it was for me?
Did it all happen all at once?
No, he said, I had this slow insidious burn,
Gnawing, never ceasing,
that I suppressed for as long as I could,
Till it burst forth, aflame,
Could be denied no more,
Is that when we connected? She asked,
For I remember the fear the fires induced,
That drove me to the peace of the waters blue,
True, we did walk around aglow, licked by the flames,
We didn't quite know how to tame,
Then our conversations caught fire she said,
And I waited for them to recede to an amiable Amber glow ,
Thereafter the rainbows burst forth, glittery and new,
Emerging in all those myriad hues,
When the bees sang amongst the flowers that drank dew,
When fireflies fluttered creating that special milieu,
And we were often drunk on sweet scented vapours,
That were ether infused,
When moonshine induced meditative calm,
That's when I first knew.
I've often wondered since,
Was it you ? Or was it me?
or that extra bit of magic that did us in ?!
-Vinny
14/12/15

ख्वाब

ख्वाब 
चिरांग जले एक ख्वाब उतरा, 
वक़्त की देहलीज़ पर, 
बैठा है खामोश, 
के कब नींद टूटे, 
और देख ले उसे भी कोई,
आँख भर...
इससे पहले के,
सहर हो,
और बिखर जाए,
उस का वजूद,
ज़र्रा ज़र्रा,
कोई देख ले उसे भी ,
आँख भर.
~ विन्नी
११/१२/१५

In Transit

In Transit 
I wish i could read the messages the winds bear, she said,
And the clouds and the rainbows and the rain, 
Why? He said , what are the answers you seek ? 
I seem to be at a crossroads, she said ,
Between hope and despair, is neither here nor there,
And I know not the way through this,
And while this indecision lasts unresolved,
My life hangs suspended, in transit.
-Vinny
7/12/15

Silences

Silences 
There was a time that you knew all my tales,
I've still so much to say, she said, 
But I fear that you listen no more, 
Are we no longer on the same page?
I listen, he said,
but I often don't quite get what you mean,
Your words are metaphors oblique,
Fathoms deep,
They leave me floundering for intent,
I don't quite know what language you speak.
When did our tale succumb to these tyrannies? She said,
Why is it that we no longer look beyond the words for content?
Why don't the silences speak, when once they sang ?
Ah, my dear I don't quite know what to say, he said,
Perhaps the dark in the words we speak,
Rob the pauses of their fragrance,
Perhaps it's best we turn the page,
Perhaps it's time to get to the end...
-Vinny
6/12/15

You and I

You and I 
I think I know two of you, 
Janus like you meet me in turns, 
And merrily confound my confusions anew ! 
There's one of you now , 
Smiling unconcerned,
And the other am certain, awaits his turn,
Which one , which one? Is the true you?
For One waxes like the moon with my hopes,
And the other wanes each time I despair,
Perhaps you reflect my own concerns?
-Vinny
5/12/15

Conversations

Conversations

I wonder why we talk no more? He said,
There once was such a lilt in your voice,
Our conversations shone, as if lit within, 
There was laughter and there was joy,
And now, the words resound no more,
They seem to lose their way in abstractions,
I don't hear their music.
Don't you know why? She said,
Perhaps the words were merely reflected shine,
Lit within, yes, within,
And when the light died inside,
They lost their luminescent beings.
Now, There's just this dark silence that you see,
Perhaps that's why the conversations ceased...
-Vinny
30/11/15