To my sons

tall and strong and full of grace
their eyes agleam
with a myriad dreams
questioning rules, mocking fate
certain that they
will write their destiny----

well it is that I can not know
the troubles that will come their way
or I would try in vain
undaunted by the futility
to iron out every wrinkle and crease

companion

walking down the dark
and lonely road,
clutching my fears
certain that if I let go
they'd overwhelm
I felt a warmth steal into me
and a strange luminosity
gathered round, gently
opening my clenched fist
I let go
and oh!
the lightness, the certainty
the bliss that filled me
and I found myself
back amidst the ones I love
grateful for another chance

तिलिस्म ए मोहब्बत

हमसफ़र बने
देखे कई मरहले
तिलिस्म ए मोहब्बत बढ़ता ही गया
अगरचे तुम हमदर्द न हुए
दर्द ए तगाफ्फुल है
पर गिला कोई नहीं
ज़ख्म फूलों से महकते हैं
बेखुदी रास आ गयी कुछ ऐसे

His design

we were not meant
to sleep and eat
and do nothing else beside
or else He would have
surely seen to it
that the cook were
not fitter than I !

To my son,on his birthday

as you flex your biceps
and shrug into your Arrow shirt
you cannot imagine, my son
that I see before me
not a tall and slender Adonis
but a tiny bundle that on this day
fifteen years ago
gave joy a new, everlasting nuance

zameer

ज़मीर भी क्या बला है
जब जगता है
मध्य वर्गी भारतीय जीवन
दुशवार कर देता है

जेब से platinum कार्ड
निकलते ही
किसी भूखे,नंगे बच्चे
का चेहरा दिखा देता है

what?

an emptiness fills me 
that neither speaks
nor lets silence be
and relentlessly
smothers every 
urge to be free
of its slavery