Silent Flutter

Bright orange streaks ran the width of the sky, rapidly turning pale, as the sun bid its daily farewell. Waves gently lapped up to them, receding with a silky caress. She intently watched her feet and raced to count the bubbles before the wave could sweep them back into the sea. His arms encircled her shoulders lightly, a half embrace that announced easy fondness. A boat merrily bobbed under the command of the high sea, a vanishing image at the line where sky melted into sea. The low hiss of the waves, the gentle rustle of the breeze rose to fill the silence between them. It was not a silence that hung heavily. It was a silence cloaked by their perfectly resonating thoughts, a silence cocooned in content love, a silence engendered by years of understanding.

She traced designs in the sand with her toe, rushing to complete intricate patterns before the sea came to claim them. "Why do you love me?" he asked as casually as he would ask for the time. "It's your handwriting, I've told you before", she laughed, not taking her eyes off her feet. "And why do you love me?" "It's your lisp my dear, as always", he feigned a pronounced lisp as he said it. A tiny spark twinkled in his eyes as he squinted to catch sight of the distant boat. An impish smile crept up the corners of her mouth and she looked away from him. She entwined her fingers into his and tugged his arm tighter around her. They lapsed into silence again and looked up in unison, each searching for the other's star.

"Not a word we utter
But does it stop, the flutter?"

The sanctity of their love rested untarnished in the soft recesses of their silence, in the fleeting thoughts she engraved in the wet sand, in the mesh of their intermingled fingers.

PS: Inspired by fond reminiscences of the sorely missed sea...

Resurgam

Intangible thoughts, flickering images, dreamy fantasies surface and vanish, playing a game of hide and seek in my mind. My pen and paper meet only to render my mind instantly blank. My words, a trickle of incoherent stutters and stammers, die away unexpressed. I build elegant characters and weave elaborate tales. But they refuse to leave the ephemeral abode of my thoughts, they shun my offer of immortality.

Thus we rest in peace-
My langushing mind,
My drying pen

Resurgam

Enduring wait

The weeks trudged along laboriously,
I wistfully counted each tomorrow...

You left me fading manuscripts of love,
Creases softened with time, Ah! the familiar coarseness of your skin.
Fond eyes welled up as I ran them yet again
over your undotted i's, your slanting t's.

You left me a picture tacked to my wall,
A snapshot of long past, frozen in eternity.
I touched your smile, your finger tips,
I blew the fleck off your eye.

You blew me a kiss from the far curb of the road,
A fleeting gesture of parting.
I hid them under my eyelids-
your gentle kiss,the warm moon, the cool night breeze.

Since your return,
The todays pass as I longingly wait...

To run my finger along your face,
To trace the curve of your lip,
To melt in your lowered gaze,
To kiss you in your cherubic sleep.

Will this missing ever cease?

Pensive

Suspended clouds mesh together like pieces of a jigsaw and metamorphose into forgotten faces. Some smile, some are still angry, some show no flicker of recognition. Unfazed, I fly past...

The cacophony of voices in my head break the underwater silence. Lofty ideas, fragmented dreams, childhood memories, ancient mirth, heartrending grief resurface and add to the chaos. I dive deeper to shut out the clamor...

Visitors unsolicited in real life crash into my dreams. They stomp all over the rosy dream and distort it into a cruel nightmare. I simply nuzzle closer and sleep on...

A harsh storm follows the deceptively soft breeze right through my window. My gently meandering life is entangled in the sinews of the raging tornado. I melt into a sheet of rain...

Oh! How I yearn for that floating flight amidst the wispy clouds, that silent plunge into the deep ocean, that tender dream in the night-long cradle, that fluid journey from heaven to earth...

Oh! How I yearn for that simple life...

Can you hear the silence?

She peered deep into his eyes, He quickly averted his gaze
                                           A violent storm brews in the distance
                       Can you hear the Screaming Silence of Anger?


                              She touched his fingertips hesitantly, He squeezed her palm tight
                A cool mountain breeze nudges them closer
                Can you hear the Calm Silence of Trust?


               She ran her toe up his leg slowly, He wet his lips hungrily
                         The wet smell of rain mixes with the pungent smell of sweat
  Can you hear the Moist Silence of Lust?


She laid her head on his shoulder, He kissed her forehead lightly
                  Deafening thunderclaps, a blinding crack of lightening
                         Can you hear the Choking Silence of Grief?


                       A single teardrop escaped her eye, He wrapped her in his embrace
                  The moon glows softly in the clear night sky
        Can you hear the Gentle Silence of Love?

The night whispered

I'm standing on my terrace. The sky is inky blue, there are no stars, there is no moon. Clouds drift towards each other slowly and hesitantly like silent lovers melting into their first kiss. The cool night breeze ruffles my hair, a lump forms in my throat, it's been a long time...

Distant memories sail in and out of my mind, I let them pass.
I don't want to think, I just want the moment to stay.
I close my eyes, I hear faint guitar strums, music straight from the heart, I'm smiling...

Characters from my book enter and leave my mind, I let them go.
I'm living a dream, I don't want to wake up.
I close my eyes, I smell rain, there is a mild drizzle, I'm smiling...

The sea beckons me from far away, I stay still.
The night is whispering a secret, I just want to drink it up.
I close my eyes, the spray is on my face, waves crash around my feet, I'm smiling...

A rainbow drifts in and out of my mind, I let it fade.
I don't want color, I just want the black night to last forever.
I close my eyes, I'm humming, I feel his arms around me, I'm smiling...

I'm standing on my terrace. The kiss is over. The night is suddenly still. I know the secret now. The clouds part to reveal a lone star, he is back! I'm smiling...

PS: The night itself was sheer poetry! And my thoughts were not symmetrical :) The randomness was the poetry!

Living Paradox!

There is a voice screaming in the head - "There are things to do..."
There is an inertia tugging back the mind - Cannot move an inch...

There is the urge to fly - The wings are still in the making...
There is a morbid fear - Searching for a place to hide...

The heart desires to create - The mind refuses to imagine...
The face yearns to smile - The heart remains frozen...

PS:
I've not written in a while, not because I could not squeeze out the time, not because of writer's block, not because I had nothing to say, simply because I didn't feel like it!

Writing is gratifying. Sometimes, "Not writing" is liberating!

Thanks for all the messages during my self imposed sabbatical. I came back to them time and again!

Dumbstruck !

I looked up at you, enraptured by your soaring beauty.
I will stand taller some day…


I stood by you, dwarfed by your majesty.
I will be bigger some day…


I climbed up with you, inspired by your mighty ascent.
I will fly freely some day…


I tip-toed around you, awed by your immaculate symmetry.
I will be perfect some day…

PS: Inspired by a weekend trip to Wayanad, Kerala, India.

Life is circular

Another year gone,
Another year come,
But life has become
so very circular...

Happy New Year!