pour ainsi dire

at the village bar
the boy serving drinks
hands me a slip of paper

day is coming to a close
cashew hills retreat in the dark
night birds can sing now in the bush

pain bluntly sharpens
without sending out signs
consignment of grief
va donc de soi

poems are fatherless
alone and without echo
they stand at crossroad of winds
while we sleepwalk along country roads
they watch over our silence

its god's day today he says
gangeshwera
each monday
bhajans
sung in his praise


mandrem, february 2013

white stone on white stone

when death comes
alone she finds me
alone and in agony
in no shape to welcome her
with a bouquet of lilies
as she walks home
to walk me back home
lips murmuring graces
should one still hear

we offer our late hours to these walls
that in turn offer to entomb us
with glittering dust of prayers
suspended in mid air

when death comes
leave my linen outdoors
let the rain pour libations on them
let them reach down and grow with the turf

nothing is lost
may you receive abundance
as i receive abundance
abundance of rain
thirst in abundance
thirst blooming into desert
desert resurrecting hell

hell of this man
hell of that man
peaceful moon of no man
showering treasures of afar

this is the hell of man
nothing is lost
only forgotten
so that we may stop and see
so that we may silence
so that we may amen

ubud, 13 february 2014

wet of late

not unlike the young snake
slithering through drenched grass
not seeing the high wall
rising to bar her path

you are not seeing
the high wall
rising to bar your path
not unlike the young snake
slithering through drenched grass

ubud, 22 december 2013