Don’t tell me what to write

Don’t tell me what to write

My pen is bound by no chains
Not ideology, not love
Not by decency or decorum
Nor by the Hand of Fate.

Don’t tell me what to write

Of my unspeakable love or the
Wounds that sear the heart
Of my solitude or my soul
Together imprisoned for eternity.

Don’t tell me what to write

Of the blood in the streets or
The comrades left behind
Of the battles we fought or
The fist that swore an oath.

Don’t tell me what to write

I and I alone shall decide
My love, my war, my poems
I shall write them and burn them
And I will write them again.

But don’t…
Don’t tell me what to write.

So who has the better life

So who has the better life?
I rode in the rain yesterday
And I smiled and laughed all the way
Happy to be singing in the rain
Unlike all the other travelers
Who were frowning and fuming
At the water drops falling on their faces
So who has the better life?
I rode in leisure at the night
My co-travelers were
The bats and the fireflies
Who too didn’t have to report in time
To their spouses or parents
Neither did me
So who has the better life?
I didn’t have any money in my pocket
But neither did I owe to any
So I didn’t have to worry
About the dark night ahead
Or the long day tomorrow
I felt as light as a bird
So who has the better life?
I didn’t have to see her sullen face
Or bother to explain my delay to her
Since there is no her at all
So who has the better life?

A Poem

A poem I saw
But never read

A poem I heard
But never said

I can only remember
That I forgot it

It comes back to haunt me
From the future

Where I laid it to rest
But never dead.

Darkness

Darkness did not descend upon me
I made a grand entrance into it.

Someone

You can't extract a man
From these letters or words.
I paint not myself here
But someone I'd rather not be.

I forgot...

I was so blinded
By my own doubts
I forgot your words...

I was so drowned
In my own misery
I forgot your smile...

I was so lost
In my own world
I forgot your love...

Now

Back then
When I said those words
It was magic (to you)

And now
When i say those words
It is madness (to you)

Soldiers

If it becomes a peaceful world
Where again will we find
Those battle-torn soldiers of yore
Who inspired us to take the plunge
And forged us into who we are today.

Mine

Just because I don't own her
Doesn't mean she isn't mine

memories

And the memories come
Like falling leaves
Floating in the wind
Faded and scattered...