Ocean and Fish

Can this universe, which is but a mere reflection, 

Engender greed in wise men? 

The ocean surely does not become agitated 

By the movement of a little fish.

-- वैराग्य शतक (भर्तृहरि)

Thou art not that..

I see you as you stand, tired yet tall

Not a sign on your face that can carry a fault

It was just hard, long trip from long back

How could you have avoided that crookedness to nowhere

It’s done, it’s gone, it’s way back in past

It has finally nothing that you may resemble at last

How can one say that the ship that sails

Is the one that was launched or systematically replaced

It was just plain tiring is all we know

It was needed just as we need the sun to grow

Yet this was not bright, this was not warm

And all it did was kept some lives afloat 

This is at last that point in life

Where what matters is just plain in sight

Who cares what happened eons ago

What matters is that I see you stand tall and glow

Innocence

Remembering the times that were innocent in every aspect. 

No complications, just heartfelt actions. No fear. Just courage.
The world turns one into a very careful pessimist. 

And suddenly things that were easy to do, become the most complicated things ever.

Words change their meaning. Simplest of them.

People change. Closest of them.

And then we love everything that reminds us of that pristine, pure days of Innocence. 

Days that can never come back.

A New World

My heart just breaks to see her go
Her little figure against the door
She braves this new world on her own
As I call her name twice or so

She does not look back
Just walks slowly through
And my head screams out
Does she even know?

All the days that she will face
And all the ways that she will be brave
I will be always watching her
Wish I could be with her in everything

Everything slowly blurs and fades
Meaningful and Meaningless
What are we to do on days
When  these thoughts possess our emptiness

Lost in Time

A glimpse of what I was to you
makes me wonder if that was really true
I was taken by my life and woes
And you were just passing through

May be I caught your eye and thoughts
As you were trying to figure out
What life could be and what it was

But it's endearing how you recall
that slice of life with utter delight
It brings me to a standstill as I think
How it was for you darlings

You recall what I forget
Little things of joy and regret
It makes me feel so close to you
Little angels lost in time

I think I understand if this is how
It must have been for one someone
They lived their life in front of me
Yet I recalled the most of it

Flickering doubt in pretty eyes
Bewildered, scared at the same time
Tries to hide away the pain
With a weak and mellow smile

Does not know where to hide
Does not know what could be right
Does not understand at all
That this is just a learning game

How I try to catch her eye
With all my efforts that soon run dry
She looks at me and sees right through
Is angry, sad and pained yet won't cry 

I chased around my slippery thought,
That one I could not do anything about,
I scratched my head and ho-hummed too,
And then picked some courage and said to you.

Hello my dear, I think you know
We cannot go on the way we do.
I agree that the days are tough alright
But I cannot fathom why you cannot smile?

You seem all aloof and trying to be fine
Why can't you agree that things are not right
If it makes you feel better, please try to light a pipe
Go ahead and dance if it makes you full of life

It works like magic, lightening up a little
It helps to focus just about a little
If you hold it close and you hold it tight
Things are sure to fall out of hand all right

There I said it, I have been holding it for long
I cannot say it better for the love of God
I hope you see the thing as I do
And that's the only wish that I had for you.

Tum samjhdaar ho lekin zera deewaanay bano / itna jagogay tto phir khwab kahan dekho gay

-- Javed Akhtar

We dance around the ring and suppose. The secret sits in the middle and knows
-Robert Frost

Tamam Umar Mujhe Tootna Bhikarna Tha
FARAZ Woh Meherbaan Bhi Kahan Tak Sameta Mujhe

My child who is not yet four months old
Gives me this little grandma look
Her eyes filled with knowing smiles
Fill me with this wonderful delight

If only she knew how to speak
She would really laugh aloud and speak
For she gets all the inside jokes
And let's her naughty eyes roll

She tries to do all that grown ups do
Makes us forget that she is not so old
I wish she would just stay like this
For us to have fun till eternity

But I also want her to grow to be my friend
For she indeed is our friend
A song, sweetest of them all
That nature wrote and sang to us.

They say when you die you fly so high
It makes you forget your petty life
You wonder how it all was till now
A little surprised and saddened somehow

Was that really me or someone else
But I seem to be recalling the rest
What did I get, what did I learn
Was I too occupied to remember this test?

My life that I said was mine from rest
Could have been at anybody's behest
Did I learn what I had to learn
Or could I have had better done

I am sure that I would not feel so bad
Once I realized or was made to understand
It was fine my dear however it was
If it wasn't for it, you would not have come so far

You did just great, you did your best
And now you can leave all the rest
Come to me and have what you will
Did not you wait so long for this?

I have this little secret to tell
It's been told forever and told again
It's true what they say of me
I am nothing but what you see of me.

And that depends on how you see things too
For you may say two plus two is two
Then when you get your arithmetic right
You may see me in another light

So then how is it that we all are right
We all seem little people so bright
The secret lies in the start of it all
A start no one seems to recall

And so the story goes for you
It was told to me and told to you
When it was decided that right is right
They forgot to decide what wasn't right

And that has led us all to believe
That what we know is reality
And it makes us all very naive
Coz it is indeed a triviality

A life besotted to it's fall

Hurting no one, and loving all

It's only in one's memory now

Strange that not one could see it at all. 

Incapable of hues so bright and bold

We did only what we were told

We left the flower to wait for sun 

When we could have at least tried to sun

Who could reach that soaring mind

A dauntless bird with  pretty eyes

How high it was and so lonely too

We thought we knew but never knew

I think it was a relief indeed

Cause at least it can now rest a bit

Far from prying eyes that judge

In higher company, so sought within

Be happy and safe, my little one

You need this break and I know this now

Wherever you are you are singing still

To higher life, to deeper feel

When I was blue, you made me smile
with a knack you knew what I would've liked
You came all the way, to see how I was
and held my heart when I would have died.

Back to Basics

Na tha main to khuda tha,
kuch na hota to khuda hota?
mitaya mujh ko hone ne,
na hota main to kya hota?

To hold it all above and see it fall
Then see it rise again of all
It's only a matter of time and trust
One day it will definitely rise and rust

The days can see what nights cannot
Yet nights are best to see it all
'cause darkness adds to that one sight
Which makes bright day look trite alright