Virginal

woman you look
virginal still
your soul untouched
your person unloved
your desires unconsummated
time has ravaged you
but given nothing
you still look askance
at life
how many stabs
does it take to kill
how many denials
before you get
how many betrayals
before you belong
woman you still wait
for destiny to bequeath
what was never to be
to be loved
and to belong

Crumbs

i had been impoverished
i hadn't got much
so i grabbed
at the crumbs
crumbs of love
ones that you threw
absent-mindedly
less than what
you were willing
to exhibit to others
even to friends
and acquaintances
but the crumbs
inflamed my passions
and ignited my need
i wasn’t satisfied
taste breeds desire
i wanted more
why was i willing
to squander my all
while you only so much
you showed the sky
but when i opened
my fist
i found
only dust

Mother Earth

since millennia
you have been doing this to me
carving portions of my body
drawing lines on my person
each bloodier than the last
you kept multiplying
and kept drawing lines
taking a piece of your own
nothing else would suffice
you never stopped to think
of my wounds or my pain
you continued
till the borders grew so tight
and my pieces so small
you could have had me for mincemeat
now I am unrecognizable
as far as the eye can see
there are walls, fences and barricades
you call them countries, states, nations
but the lines that you so meticulously drew
also broke homes, families, hearts
they cut rivers, meadows and mountains
even the skies are in tatters
as you cannot fly into another’s
nothing is complete today
nothing is free
only one thing is true
there are enemies on every side
you spend millions to survive hate
what could have been yours with love

HYPNOTIC DECEIT

those eyes
those eyes
were too beautiful
to be true
perhaps there always
had lurked
shadows of doubt
in the crevices
of my faith
perhaps
i always knew
in the ambiguity
of your promises
in the suaveness
of your ardour
had lain the bankruptcy
of my emotions
those eyes
those eyes
were too brown
to be true
we played a game
of self deception
and persuasion
so what
if it didn’t last
so long as it did
those eyes
your eyes, held mine
in hypnotic deceit
between the lines
i saw nothing
all that i beheld
were your
eyes, eyes, eyes

LIES

how many lies
does it take
to make a truth
how many lies
does it take
to deceive oneself
the ones we say
to ourselves
and those to others
in running away from
the injuries we inflict
on those whom
we betray
how many lies
do we need
to convince ourselves
of our own benevolence
and the other’s
unreasonableness
you want to serve love
on your own platter
asking not
of her desire
but then it is you
who will decide
how love ought to be
yesterday, today
and tomorrow
she acquiesces to your
changing moods
after all
you are a man
notorious
for your hypocrisies
infamous for
your emotional penury

VERY BASIC

do not place me
on a pedestal
do not make me
an object of worship
for worldly convenience
i am human too
you forgot
what you had said
take as much
as you want
but courage failed you
promises turned turtle
elevation was necessary
so you made
me into a deity
and placed a halo
on my head
i would have been
for you
what you wanted
without this burden
i had my needs
just like yours
very basic
very raw
very real
by turning me into
an object of obescience
you robbed me
of my womanhood
and left me
still to find

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

with clinical precision
you press the button
you bomb the target
you complete your mission
its thumbs up for you
its all so asceptic
so sterile, almost surgical
you dont have to see
what lies below
infants dead clutching
their mother's breasts
invalids crushed
becausethey could not run
dreaming children
buried beneath rubble
no blood, no gore
so high above
you soar in the skies
you return to your base
leaving behind a bloody trail
when fingers will point
and wails follow
you will shrug and say
some collateral damage
will always be there