Fear




Why do I smell fear
in the sighs of the night?
Is it the summer entrenched
in the heart of the city
throbbing with fear of exhaustion ?
Its edges blunted by the sudden drizzle

Down in a narrow alley,
a spec of sky fluttered with hope.
Tiny hands scooped up the
falling drops with delight.
While a pair of desperate eyes
looked askance at the sky
“How to live through the chill of the night
on a drenched pavement ? ”

I hurled myself
against the silence of the city.
Honking horns, whirring engines
and the constant claptrap of unease.
Noisy monotones of silence.
And in that silence were lost
the pleas of that slight drizzle
“Hope, but do not fear. ”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Forest

Its not a sanctuary that I want, a forest it is that I desire. Not the manicured lawns and the trimmed hedges. But the growth that is wild, a form of limitless forms. Roots that spill over from the sidewalk and break the monotony of direction. Yes, a living, breathing forest in my city that chokes the roads; breaking their will to go anywhere to let live the paths that go nowhere. Those strangler figs, that have a foothold in the sacred spaces of life the roots that hang from high rises threatening to strangle the living room. The leaves, ominously closer to the sunlight, than the windows that feign the delight. This murderous nightsky, this perennial scavenger of stars, this inverted cityscape, deviant reflection of our mind, illuminated but devoid of any light. In here shall a forest take root snubbing the citylights, letting the darkness prevail and the stars shine bright.
Read more

Learning a language

There is this word  called unruh. Its restlessness measured  by its lack of syllables- which have fed the moths in the dusty closet of another slang- perhaps, the rendering of a mottenfraße. Planted in a foreign flesh, the cants of a novel tongue, dawdle, saumselig, dithering to germinate alleys. Sonant by sonant searching their own memories for that one silbe of lullaby. Scwindende, Lächelden Rauchshriftzeichen im kneipe- nostalgia of laughter in a sidewalk cafe. Whispers that make the body blossom into the palaver of pleasure. But nothing!!! Nichts!!! Only a long screech of loneliness. Mutterseelenallein, which scars like bluterguß, sounds like the name of a flower but is just a bruise.
Read more

Hyderabad: The Recipe

 And when,  in the smouldering cauldron of April Musi sizzles like Ghee and the tendrils of Nastaliq   caramelize issuing the aroma of Dakkani , add the oblongs of cumin till you hear the crackle of names: " Ghode ki kabar ", strew in the petals  of a star anise till you hear  the blooming of Azaan   from Jama Masjid , and stir in the peeling stuccos of cinnamon till you hear  the rustle of old book market in Abids . Now, toss in the marinated viscera of the city, the arcades Chowmahalla and the sinews of  Begum Bazaar, the marrow of ancient alleys winding through Charminar. Finally, slide your hands  into a casket of anima, find the longest grains of Basmati, layer carefully the folds of time: first Kakatiya , then Bahmani , followed by Qutub Shahi and on the top Asaf Jahi . And there! you have the recipe of a city.
Read more