FUTURE

No ! Please don't write my name
In golden letters, for
It will simply gather dust
And will be a vulgar way of
Unsuccessfully immortalizing oneself.

Why don't you understand ?
None could ever be immortal
Merely by writing one's name
May it be on books, trees or
Monuments.

One has to grow trees
Build monuments and
Write a book -
To come anywhere
Near immortalization.

For being immortal is a
Myth
None could ever be immortal
In this futile world after
Adam and Eve.

Illegitimate

Nonetheless I'm a child
Ain't I?
As innocent and gregarious
As your kid
Whose only claim to legitimacy
stems from a wedlock
witnessed by hordes of influential socials

Come to think of it
ain't I as innocent as your child?
but moral upkeep
was seldom a forte of we
the hapless, lifeless rag pickers

I'm lucky
I love my mother
I'm happier
She too loves me
Holds me dear
dearer than her life,
honor and dignity

So what if she doesn't know
my father's name
does it matter?
should it matter?
Leave alone the name
She can't even recollect his face
He truly was a faceless man
nay he wasn't a man
he offsprung from muck
lived in muck and became one himself

Nonetheless I'm a child
Ain't I?

YOUR WORLD.... MY WORLD

I kiss you
As if a dead body
Every touch gives cold impression
Of being immoral.
It is indifference to love?
Possibly warmth itself
Why?
Because it comes from me?
Togetherness signifies warmth
Symbolizes fire for each other.
Why then I dread touching you
Why then you remind me of
Graves and ghosts
Sickness and death?
However gently I touch you
It invokes but warmth.
I understand you are annoyed
Half amused
Nonetheless listening
But reassuring yourself
All is well with the world.

TERRORISM

Whose son was he anyway?
No
He was not killed in action
He was killed for inaction
Something possibly he couldn't have averted
He was as peaceful as is the
Characteristic of his class
Law abiding with deep rooted
Love for traditions
He was pro-establishment and
Seldom disturbed the status-quo
He could talk for hours
Denying he was meek
Always stood in queue
Was reluctant to travel in nights
He would return home just before
Sun could set
Nonetheless, he was killed by a
Stray bullet
Not meant for him
Yet he bore no apathy
Towards the killer
For they both belonged to
Same religion and
He could not be convinced
Killers have no religion whatsoever.

MY MEMORY... MY TREASURE

I had lost you in
Wilderness of this vast world
Much before I could realize
What it means to lose you
Left to cope with killing routine
Too busy to recapture those golden moments
The memory has perhaps served me right
By mercifully fading out
For I cannot even remember
Leave alone re-live
Those precious happy moments
Without inflicting untold miseries
Upon myself
Every moment I find
Face to face with the same very world
Cold indifferent and as usual
Prompt to warn me
"You haven't stopped day-dreaming"

MASOCHISM

I have to live with this
Pain, agony and suffering
And yet smile...

A hardened masochist indeed
No escape but death
Death would relieve me
Of my sorrows...

My feeble soul
Burdened with frozen tears
Would secure a release and
Would once again breathe in
Fresh air...
Untouched by cruelty of your
Beauty, hypocrisy and even presence
On this festival of festivals

The day of deliverance
I shall secure a release and till then
I have to live with this
Pain, agony and suffering...

(२)

आप तो मुझे मनाने आते हज़ार बार
इस दिल का क्या करूँ आप पे आ जाता है बार बार
न सताने का वादा याद था बदगुमाँ को
फिर भी हँस के बोले सता लेने दो आखिरी बार
सुना है वो सितमगर आज फिर रूठा है
देखूं मनाऊं उसे फिर से एक बार
कहाँ गए वो शख्श जिन्हें पास था दिल की मजबूरियों का
उनकी दिल्लगी ठहरी और हम छोड़ आये अपना घर-बार
उस शोख को आते हैं रूठ जाने के बहाने हज़ार
मेरी सादगी देख हर बार मनाता हूँ जैसे रूठे हों पहली बार

(3)

मेरे साथ रह गया
या मुझे तनहा कर गया
फैसला तेरे हाथ है
अब तू ही बता ये क्या कर गया

लोग ताउम्र भटका किये
उसके निशाँ-ए-पा के वास्ते
मेरे साथ दो कदम चला
और मुझे मंजिल के पार कर गया

दिल के सौदे में तू मेरे नफे की न पूछ
एक रात ठहरा था चाँद मेरी ज़मीन पे
और मुझे उम्र भर के लिए
मालामाल कर गया

बहुत सुनते थे उसकी दरियादिली
उसपे जाहिर भी थी मेरी तिश्नालबी
फिर साकी मेरे प्याले को
क्यूँ इतना कम भर गया

मेरे साथ रह गया
या मुझे तनहा कर गया
फैसला तेरे हाथ है
अब तू ही बता ये क्या कर गया .

(४)

वो मेरा था फिर क्यूँ
अजनबी सा गुजर गया
नहीं कोई गिला उससे
बस आज से वो मुझे अपना न लिखे

यूँ ही नहीं अहले-शहर को
याद अब तक
अपने कशीदे.. उसके नाम
हमने कहाँ कहाँ न लिखे

कभी उसकी रुसवाई का
सबब न बन जाएँ
बस ये सोच सोच जिंदगी भर
उसे खत न लिखे

सीना-सिपर था वो फिर क्यूँ
अपने ही आंसुओं में डूब के मर गया
खुदा किसी को पानी की
ऐसी मौत न लिखे


(५)

वादा है आँखें तुम्हारी
खुशियों से रोशन होंगी
मैं चिराग जलाता हूँ
तुम नज़र मिलाओ तो सही

तुम्हारी राह के तमाम कांटे
समेट लाये हैं
लो फ़ैल गयी मेरी बाहें
तुम एक कदम आओ तो सही

तुम्हारे दामन में बहार के
फूल ही फूल होंगे
मैं दुआ में हाथ उठाता हूँ
तुम एक बार मुस्कराओ तो सही