The enlightened tree

Come barren winter or blooming spring

Parching summer or pouring rain

The tree, she stands calm, unshaken

A stoic sage through joy and pain

Perhaps she knows she owes the world

No leaf nor fruit nor tender flower

She owes nothing but sixty honest seconds

Of living in a minute given to her

All she needs shall flow in time

From the earth's bosom and sun's embrace

As she stands rooted with open arms

To accept what comes with humble grace

From seed to shoot, from tree to dust

Mother Nature paves her path of life

Watching in wonder the way unfold

She gently floats on the waves of time

Through seasons of change, storms of fate

She stands in stillness and in peace

As I sit by her, I think I must too

Not yearn to become, but learn to be

Eternal

The hardiest of plants blooms not

Without a tending of the soil

The flame of a lamp dies out

If we replenish not its oil

The roaring river needs its rains

To renew its strength and flow

The earth, it seeks the sun's kiss

Each day to kindle its soul

How then does an eternal love

A marriage of beautiful minds

Though nourished not with loving words

It withers not with time?

What keeps passion's flames aglow

When stoked not by a lover's hand?

What magic etches, I ask of you

Feelings forever on fleeting sand?

You look at me with a gentle smile

You, whose love for me it shone

A steady light through stormy times

And helped me find my way back home

I ask you whence comes your strength

You, my deepest love, truest of friends

You draw me close and whisper, with tenderness

"Love begins, my dear, where reason ends"

 

A poetic end

The evening glows in a golden light

No dark clouds are pouring rain

As I walk to the sunset one last time

May your smile wash away my pain

May your thoughts fill my vivid dreams

As I slip into the endless night

When the music of life begins to ebb

May your song be my lullaby

May your soft breath caress my face

As I breathe in the last of mine

In your warm embrace, may I fall

In love with you one more time

May the last thing I see be your eyes

Of solemn grace and silent strength

As beautiful as our journey was

May just as poetic be its end

---

Inspired by these poignant lines from a ghazal by Qateel Shifai

aakhri hichki tere zaanu pe aaye

maut bhi main shaairana chahta hoon

Why do I write?

Why do I douse my deepest thoughts

In ink and lay them on a paper white

And weave them into words and verse

To what end, I wonder, do I write

I write, perhaps, with the hope someday

Someone may find the shards of my soul

Like petals dried in the pages of books

And put me together into a whole

And know me, beyond the gilded masks

I don for my mistress of vanity

And beyond the baubles bestowed on me

By the benign grace of destiny

And see me, beyond the clothes that hide

My naked flaws in thought and deed

My basest fears and baseless dreams

Memories that bruise, scars that bleed

I write so someone may know me someday

See the real me, without love or loathe

But simply, clearly, with a kind eye

As a soul would see its kindred soul

I write for the lonely child who plays

Hide and seek with the world around

And leaves a trail of words to her place

I write so someday she may be found

When the night dies

In silent grace comes the unassuming night

Draped in a cape of a golden light

She shrouds the earth, from hill to the sea

With her cloak of dark and tranquil peace

And the earth, so wearied by the drudging day

Melts in her arms, finds warm solace

With a hand, she pins stars in the skies

And with the other, she fills the jaded eyes

Of tired souls with placid sleep

And whispers oh such magical dreams

That no man, no tree, nor beast she meets 

Is left untouched by her wand that heals

But soon she sees the break of dawn

And knows it is now time to move on

When come the first pink rays of the sun

She fades away, biding farewell to none

And the world awakens in sweet delight

Ever so grateful for the soothing night

So deep do some souls touch our lives

That only joy fills the hole they leave behind

And that is why when the great night dies

No laments are heard, none mourns nor cries

But for a sentimental flower or two

Whose hearts bleed tears of morning dew

Evanescence

A golden drop of dew on a summer morn

Melts as it meets the warm rays of the sun

Light as air, the fluffy flakes of snow

Crumble at the touch of a mortal soul

Only until dawn does the night jasmine bloom

With a heady scent, to serenade the silver moon

The innocent joy that twinkles in the eyes of a child

Like the bright green of spring, is soon lost to time

And the love that binds two minds in sweet ecstasy

Lasts but for a moment, though boundless as the sea

Why does it so pine, the human heart of glass

Forevermore for fleeting beauty that never lasts?

Do not the Gods themselves say "Nothing Gold Can Stay"?

Does heaven bestow its grace only on things that fade away?

Why do we tie our joy to ephemera that are lost

In the quicksands of time, is it the curse of our lot?

Would we feel the same love for a tender flower 

If it were carved of steel, could live on forever?

Do we cherish the little baubles that will perish one day

Only to rebel against the sureness of death and decay?

---

("Nothing Gold Can Stay" is a famous poem by Robert Frost.)

Light

Light is her hand on the reins of life

As she rides to shape her destiny

She never endeavours to bend her fate

Towards paths that aren't meant to be

Light is her foot as she glides through life

In an elegant waltz, soaking in the view

She minds not the roads she does not find

For she is bound to this earth by desires few

Light is her heart, it quivers and sways

When it feels another's pleasure and pain

She cries when the sky is grey with gloom

She dances with joy in the pouring rain

Light is her mind that has shed its past

Of searing scars and sad laments

She floats unmoored on seas of bliss

With nary a weight but the present moment

Light is the laugh on her tender lips

That rest on her calm and placid face

For she knows, no matter what the ills

The world is still a beautiful place

Light is her grief when misery strikes

She falls as a feather, with poise and grace

And wrapped in the warmth of her solitude

She waits for the breeze from a happy place

Light is her soul, it soars as a bird

On wings of reason in boundless skies

No rules nor mores can bind her down

For she heeds no one but her inner voice

The light of the heavens it is, perhaps,

That twinkles in her dark deep eyes

For, a lightness of being has come over me

From the moment she's walked into my life