Approbate

You give, and I take.
An even deal or not-
That's how it's always been.

Till when I knew
That only taking
Meant I was losing. 

And giving, well,
As strange as it seemed
Made you richer...

The homily wasn't lost on me.

And happily enough,
We still have time
To approbate a new deal.

24 November, 2013

Pic courtesy Google Image search 

Release

Dry, flaky, thin and long

So unassuming -

Quietly, it lay.

Knowing, with baffling certainty

Someday, one day

It would be chosen.

Today. It was.

Allowed to finally free itself

It long and drab form

Transferring, transforming

Fragrant in release.

Filling, fulfilling, its destiny.

It burns. Gladly.

You know that.

Because you sense it. 

That joy.

In the fragrance of its soul,

That quietly permeates, often,

Into your own. 

Undated (about a year ago, in 2012; discovered while hunting for something else, entirely :D )

Picture: Google Image search for 'incense' :)

Waxing (Poetic?)

On your full moon night:

I marvel at how

You entrance

Blemishless, distant,

I think.

Yet, I know, fact says different.

I'd rather be poetic-

For nothing else can I be

When you adorn in 

Simple gold.

Tonight, I shall enslave

Myself, in you. 

You make me think in clichés 

In much-used, oft forgotten similes

All revived, when you finally come

Into your own

Every twenty-eight days

That's an interesting number

Woman-wise.

Veiled in references of a vulnerability-

Veiled in- and from.

Beauty that must be hidden;

Smothered.

But can never be held back,

So you tell me

As you climb, in your

Slow orbit.

Only, today we are in orbit-

Awed by your magnificence.

And so, you out-climb

Out-shine those grey wisps

That would confine.

For how do they know-

From you, off you, shines

That brightness - which,

No matter how they try-

They never shall steal.

Not tonight.

And, as brighter yet

You pour your light-

Lighter yet, my heart is...

Pushing aside 

Clinging cobwebs

Of an oppressed, submissive me.

Shine on, dear heart-

And so shall I.

This night. 

19 September, 2013

When the full moon shone, on 19th Sept, 2013, dispelling those grey grey clouds; and I could not help but wax eloquent :)

Photographs credit: Moi! :lol:

The Queen of His Heart...

... and a princess in mine, no less
That is my younger DIL
(love the way it reads too, in Hindi,
That's Neeti, for you!

Lovely, lissome, with a sense of humour,
Wit that cracks me up whenever, wherever it cracks :D
A generosity of the heart;
Empathy, deep and sincere!

These are her gifts
Ones she shares unconditionally!

She is undoubtedly, the only
One
Who can tame the Lion
With just a word, a hush
A look!

When all the Mother Lioness can do
Is flail, roar as loud as he
Not to mention, sulk - Lion-size
Just as he!

But she? Oh no!
All she needs is say
Why, A---, Why!

The clouds lift
The frown fades
The smiles return
The Queen, she has quite

Charmed the beast.

Absolutely no quarrel on that!

My dearest gurl
The day you found him
And so us, is when, truly
We've managed to get a lid
On the tetchy and till-then confounding
Situation that arises
When two Leos refuse to back down

Ah, yes, both those aforesaid Leos
Love 'Never Back down'
And so they don't!

You know, of course, exactly what happens
When that happens!

No more, Thank God!

No more!

From the movies to the songs
We've shared and enjoyed
Slices of dialogues we gorged on-
"I'm a gooo gurl I am..."
And the epicness of RDJ...

Wooohoooo, gurl!
Is what you make me say!

There's an uncanny sense of
Sweet sorority, not really maternity
I feel, you know?

You know.

(Now, your Lion's going to have to figure that one out)

There are soulmates, in our friends
In the everydayness of familiarity
In the anticipations we hold
With those we love...

Though, especially,
When they aren't family!

It's never been that way, with you
You're an alter ego;
Someone who's so me, sometimes
That it's a joy
A reaffirmation, if you wish
Of my belief
There does exist, an alter-ego

And, Lo!

She can be family too!

Though, perhaps, too much, there is, then, of us?
Let me hoot a bit here
(I know you're joining me, as you read)

My dearest Neetikutty
Let me this day wish you

Pretty promises that come true

Dreams fulfilling, Monsters running!

Loads of love to envelop you
Linked arms and hearts to catch you
Each time you think
The bottom's going to fall out!

May you be strong, and healthy
May the joys abound
May the goodness of faith protect you
And

May you always find love.

Always, but always... and then some more.

We love you, dear one!

Happy Birthday!

(26 August, 2013, through 27 August, 2013)
For 30 August, 2013 :)

Stumbling into Sense

Living on the edge -
Is hardly the way.

So you tell me.

Constant thoughts of flight
Will always gnaw at roots.

Honestly. Honestly?

I shall always wonder, you know,
Why you deem it necessary
That I'd need instruction
To function. 

Indeed. Seriously. 

I've always, but always
Been that fully capable, you see
On my own steam

To stumble
To fall
To then rise.

No, I am not phenomenal.

But. Yes. 

I always will make

Sense. 

For myself. 

P. S. In case you wondered:

That is all I need to do. 

(Forgive me if I don't thank you. )

25 August, 2013

Young, Ever!

With you, beside me,

Love, hope, and an open mind -

Young, I'll always be! 

20 August, 2013

Written for the prompt, 'Age', (link)  at the recently discovered blog, Haiku Heights (link)

The blog tells you about Haiku writing, and several samples are there for sheer enjoyment, and for practise as well! More on Haiku writing, given on this blog, here. (link)

Falling in love with Haiku writing, all over again :)

Rain - Again (Haiku)

Thundering, roaring
Pounding on mountains, rooftops
Cleansing, raging, rains!

Tried my hand at Haiku, a favourite form of verse yet again. This time to test something a fellow blogger and awesome poet/writer Aareet had developed, as a sort of Haiku-syllable-counting software.

This:
Http://hajku.herokuapp.com

You'll enjoy trying your hand at creating one!

9 August, 2013

Sentinel

The mute appeal of her cry
Would never reach his ear
Would he perhaps, yet, open that eye?
He may, perchance, happen upon
His own tragedy, in her cry.

She stood that distance away
Measuring the miles of silence
That grew each day;
Wishing with all her heart
They could traverse its
Deceitful, beckoning charm.
Silence, that evoked
A hundred different tunes
Of losing, of hoping,
Of being bewitched
So true, that she almost gasped. 

Did he hear that?
Was he listening?
She hoped, she so hoped
With all her heart
He wasn't. 

That silence was her sentinel.

Nothing, ever, should lay
Open, her vulnerable heart. 

Her eyes drew back their touch.
And her voice no longer
Coloured the trails, the wisps
Of their togetherness. 

She walked, alone, proud. 

She became her silence.
She became that sentinel. 

7 August, 2013

Drop by Drop

Pouring, brimming rain

Drop by unrelenting drop

You're drenched - woe or Wow!

14 July, 2013

Written for Write Tribe, Haiku

Thank you for the opportunity, to go back to re-visiting a wonderful form of lyric poetry :)

Togetherness

Togetherness was never an option.
It was the only choice;
One we never had.
The skittering glances
And on-the-edge anticipation
That rued the days

Together, we are.

But, not with each other.

13 July, 2013
Pic Courtesy Google Image Search

Stewed :D

Will you not give me of your time?
A moment, that is all I seek.

Oh! I am, as you can see, tied up.
And bowed though not quite cowed, said she.

I do, I see, said he. But a moment, please?
It would, it would certainly set me at ease.

Seeing that as you are the one, the only
Who can best decide, how it shall be ...

I really need to know, I do
If it's fine, with you, that I use two

Eggs in the recipe you showed me yesterday
Or would you really have it the eggless way

The way you told me, given your propensity
For the heath food crazy stuff, that too with tenaciy

When I've told you, endlessly, I love you,
Only because, you, you're just beautiful as YOU.

Well, said she, now that you put it so lovingly
I guess those eggs'll do just fine,

And anything else you'd like to add as well
So long as you're the one in charge

Of Kitchen Duties, now, and all the times ever :D

1 July to 10th July :)It took a while to stew this one. The flavour hasn't quite got itself write, as you can see :P
Pic: Google Images Search :D

Like You've Never, Before...

Dream like it's the only place to go.

Wake, like you've reached. 

Sing, as if that's all you do.

Dance, the rhythm's flowing from you. 

Love. Each moment, you can. 

Be the hero. You're the only one. 

Maybe, the villain. It IS such fun.

Box, pummel, strike, slap.

Zip, zoom, zonk and zap. 

Remember those secrets.

Now tell them ALL.

Sigh. You know, I'm happy.

I can do them all.

I do. Honest. 

You see, I read 'em books.

And they let me. 

19 June, 2013

Literally, Figuratively

From the beginning of the start
To the ending of the close

The tautology of my life
Pales into the colourless.
The synonimity of each day
Blends the same flavour.
Most often.

So I'm rummaging for newness
Trying to read between the lines
Picking at the petrifying thoughts
In the basket case I'm becoming. 

Seeking a fresh persona
From the foxy oxymoron
Of a nervously brave, but
Bravely foolish woman
I seem to be. 

From rhythmic metres
And the cacophony of rhyme
Onomatopoeic in grunts and sighs
In the sibilance of loss
Sometimes thumping drumbeats
Of ecstasy gone awry...

The metaphor that life has become
Is getting mighty hard to unravel.

Till then-
Let me address myself
In supposed hypbole...

"The Unresolved Poem"

15 June, 2013
:D Welcome to the nerdy rambler's riot of misplaced misunderstood logic of life in literary overdose. :P
PS - Google does a great job of giving you definitive definitions on some of the over-the-top figures of speech used in the write. :D

Pantomime

When you would have me
Still, and restful, and serene
I cannot help but shift, drum fingers
And move to a rhythm in my head. 

When you ask that I simply exist
Unleavened, and therefore, unpounded
How - How, I ask, can I be that
Which I can't. Ever.

You may have left that fizz aside.
But boy, have I got enough, within!
That niggles, and nudges, and
Slowly, then steadily, and rapidly
Bubbles forth. 

You wanted a model;
Perhaps a mendicant, of the soul;
That you could, then mould.
But- May I, myself, form into the
Shapes of my dreams?

Mould into them,
Lest I mold. 

4 June, 2013
Online. In anticipation, of cross-currents, and cross-wiring.
Sigh. I know. I'm in need of some rest :P

Reeling

Frame by frame
Stitched by feeling
Trimmed with pain
Frayed somewhere
Threadbare elsewhere
Rich and luxuriant
Colourful and picturesque
Or sepia tinted
With fading memories

Life, doesn't it just
Leave you

Reeling?
Sometimes?

26 May, 2013

Waiting in the Wings

I've been understudy too long
Even though you assure me
I'm leading lady, for you, always...

Do I take you at face-value?
Or perhaps read between the lines
Of your facetious compliment?

Compliment, it is, I presume.
I've lived the role, you know;
Once too often.

Messed up, sure, sometimes
But never the scripted ones.
Only when I tried to improvise. 

That should, perhaps, tell us a story.
Are we too written in?
Ready to be written off?

Or shall I ever, but always
Watch her rule the hearts
Of those who hang on her every nuance?

While I am waiting in the wings?

18 May 2013
Pic Courtesy Google Image Search :)

Limitless, Shail's Sky :)

Shail Mohan's Photograph on her Blog, Shots and Captures. Click on picture to  go to the blog :)

The Sky is an ocean too ...
Dying to be, more ....
Like the seas,
Sometimes blue,
Or is it emrald
A touch of stormy grey?

It has no waves, sadly
And yearns so much ...
And then on wings of wishes
They come;

White, cottony, frothy
Selfsame, those waves...
And lap the edges of that
Nothingness, which remains

Quiescent, waiting.

Gently around the edges
Slowly spreading out...
So that, soon, it shall be
Blue no more ...

26 April, 2013
Online, after yearning, here too :)
And thank you Shail, for the endless prompts you give this writing challenged rambler :) by way of your wonderful photographs!

Aspire

Shail Mohan's Photograph on her blog

My tendrils twirling tenaciously
Time on my side...
Tiny, yet strong
Fresh and Eager.
I aspire.
Don't you want to?

10 April, 2013
Online, Inspired  :)

Note: Inspired entirely by this post from Shail Mohan's entrancing photograph. And titled similarly, in supplication of her awesome captioning skills :)

Shail, this one's for you :)

Second Chances

If you've ever been told
Winning isn't everything,
Winner or not,
You'd have probably scowled :D

So where does winning take you?
To fame? Throw you up to gut screeching joy?
Or gloat and brag and preen?
Perhaps line your purse
Or maybe help you hitch that ride onward?

I know the best thing about it
(Errrm... not winning ie)
Is you get another shot at it.. :)
You're lucky, you know
You get to do it differently.
You get to say things you never would have.
You get to find yourself.

Yes, winning is good.
But if you don't, maybe
You'll get that other chance.
And boy! Second Chances matter.

Go on, and take that chance.
Believe. It's a miracle waiting to happen :)

8 April, 2013, online
Sashu's Update on FB, which read: "Always, always believe in second chances. It could be the best thing you'd ever do - for others as well as for yourself. :)" is the reason for this ramble :)
 

Clichés

To the rapt fifty, that day
(Or was it forty-eight?)
I ranted. 

When I rant
They need to be rapt!
Or else... :P
The ogre, you see, is at work!

I, as usual, on my soapbox-
About clichés -
In speeches, in essays
In letters, in e-mails
They'd need to write
For me to evaluate. 

Class Eight.
Writing tasks :D
Now you'd be a-thinking-
This here lady's really
Got a nut loose.
Clichés, and Class Eight?

Well, yes. I did.
They listened. They giggled.
I swear I even heard some snorting too! :P
In the next fifteen minutes
I had to be done. Just in time I did.
They were saved, by the bell! :P

And so, I forgot, as I suppose, they did too. 

Till.
Ta-da! Surprise!
Exams time, and papers galore
(That, incidentally, is where I'm at :P )
Some neat, some spidery
Some short, some too darned lengthy!
Some diatribes, some earnest
Some irreverent, some irascible 

And some - God help me!
To wake me from the stupor
of the overdose of the work-
For, I spy ...

Cliché.! I jump. I cheer.
I look again. Ooooh yes!
Right along there - c l i c h e’
That dashing tiny accent too, to boot!
I have never been more blessed! :P

Never mind that the child wrote:
I quote:
"It's a cliché to say speeches like this"
Unquote
About the topic; and put me well in my place!
I do this fist pumping grunt of satisfaction.
I accept that criticism.
And I do that clichéd thingy.

I write a ramble.
This a-way.

Clichés are good.

23 March, 2013.
A 'eureka' moment :D

Pic: Courtesy Google Image Search :)

Secrets

Secrets to keep
And some to share
Many to tell
But none to hear

Secrets blossoming
Each day, within, without
Some haunt; some are hunted

Tall tales, and short jabs
Some Spicy and
Some just plain ol' drab
No matter what the flavour-
Can you resist even one?

Secrets, they damn-
And they sometimes do more harm
Than good, if you ever saw any in 'em!

You've got yours
I know,
For, I sure have mine!

So, I'll tell you one
If you tell me another
Let's make it one, together
Or maybe, take a bit farther?

Or let's just secret it away
Till it burgeons, and spills
And let's itself out;
For that is it's nature

Secrets are to hide,
And then to tell
Then to spread
Till finally, back at you, it heads!

You know then-
You should have kept it
A secret!

 March 2013
Online, but of course, and getting crazier by the day :P
Image Courtesy: Google Image Search on 'Secret' :P

A Woman ...

Am I, am I.
And glad of it. 

I'm Daddy's Girl, still Growing Up
And I wonder if I'll ever be
The Right Age :)

I'm that Little Girl yet
Who hasn't given up on dreams,
And Carousel Rides :)

I wish I was stronger.
But then I might give
Mr. World a run for his money.
Thank you. I am happy this way :D
For now. :P

I've lived Sepia Dreams And coloured them bright :)
I have my reasons and seasons
And most times, I am defiant :D

Today, too, like other days
I celebrate me. And you....
All of you, who be humane ...
Who loves and respects another,
Especially a woman; for then,

You truly live. 

8 March, 2013
Wishing every reader here, both men and women the best of the day, and of life, as you walk through the world, sharing your respect for everyone, especially women. Happy Women's Day.
And for a change, I shall not excuse myself for a self-aggrandizing post, linky linky one at that :D

Listened to, as the first song of the day, "Woman" by John Lennon. Magic :)

Conundrums

Why friends weren't born in the family

And family didn't all turn out to be friends

How laughter and tears are just the same;

Most times, even anger and love!

How people listen, but seldom understand;
But some understand, even if nothing is said.

How words hurt, and silences heal.
But silences gouge, yet words never heal. 

And Life. The biggest of them all.

5 March, 2013
Seriously on the way to being an absurdity :D

Nit-Picker's Ballad

On the loveless shores of dissatisfaction
He wanders, dark and sombre.
She said she loved him, you see.
And he wonders why.

You, the reader, would now smell a skunk.
You don't? You're supposed to. There!
Why does he wonder why! Because, you think?
Fine. But why?

He wonders, that's why.
Now, why he should, does it matter at all?
No, you think? Why not, I ask.

Walking the shores, with promises of love
Given endless dreams, and lustrous hopes
A hand held warm, a heart cosseted gently
Why would he wonder? Why should he?

But then he is that alter ego of everyman
The one that never takes on trust, 
The one that fell foul of love
The one who found no love within. 

And yet that one, too, is he
That quietly stood, and braved the angst
When she lost her mooring.
Gathered her when she was washed ashore
From a tumultuous voyage, bereft, and battered.
She knew. Though he did not.
Saviour he was not. Survivor, he was.
As was she. 

A pause to this tale, here now;
To tell you how love, it creeps upon you.
Perhaps to envelope, perhaps to smother,
But always to fill each pore, till replete it is.
And so it was, with her. She knew.
And so it was, with him. He did not.

So there comes, then, this moment:
Survivor to survivor; the honesty of a heart,
The unfathomable depths of utterance
And the incomprehensible betrayal of the ear. 

She confessed. He ran.
In circles, on that loveless shore afore mentioned.
What then? The storyteller is asked.
What then? And you wait with bated breath.
Willing a fairy tale to happen.
Knowing that some things are never to be. 

Will he stay?
Will she accept, then?

But ah! The threads, they dissemble, the weave fragmented...
And the spell of the storyteller is broken.
He sighs. His gnarled fingers wrap themselves around his staff.
And on, he plods. 

Thinking, dreaming, of what could have been.
Had he stayed. 

1 March, 2013
Online, on yet another silly line of thought :)

Ships that fly!

Sailing, soaring high

On wings of dreams and laughter - 

(Have you)

Seen a ship this high?

21 February, 2013

This is a new genre, called 'an almost Haiku' :P! Seeing Shail Mohan's beautiful picture of this, on FB, the write just expressed itself, this way, and no other. Had to invent nomenclature, because of it!

So, today ...

... bang in the middle of the day
I wait for those words, lurking
Just there. Just there.
Where I cannot reach.

They came, with the waking moment.
That moment, when you are, and you aren't.
That moment, when clarity strikes.
And fuzzy warmth of slow recognition
Mists over.

I reached out. Too late...
Like petulant children, they shied away.
That moment is when they wanted me.
Not two ticks later.

So here, in the middle of the day
I sit. I yearn. I plead. I know though
They won't surface now.
I also know when they will. :)

Not now. But at that moment,
When I turn away, peeking like those
Perky persistently playful creatures they are.
Not words. Not anymore.

They've grown beyond that
Into a yearning. Into a secret pleasure.

I don't know the story yet.
Or the ending.
All I have, are these tingles
These feathery-touch-me-softly promises
From them.

They'll come.
They'd better.

... They ought to.

They will, won't they?

14 February, 2013

Google images brought me to this pic. ... from this place:
http://clairemca.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/a-love-of-words-and-music/
The picture belongs to its creator there.