रिहाई

आज चाँद रिहा हुआ था अपनी ही कैद से
उसने खुद को ही रिहा किया था;
कुछ वक्त से छुपाए हुए थे वो दाग उसने जो मोहब्बत में मिले थे उसे।
वो भी मोहब्बत कर बैठा था एक सितारे से;
वो सितारा दूर कहीं टिमटिमाता रहता था
और चाँद उसे देख देख उसकी चाँदनी में डूबा रहता था।
एक रात वो सितारा फ़लक से टूट चाँद पर जा गिरा
आग उसकी ऐसी कि उसने चाँद के कई ज़र्रों को जला डाला।
चाँद ऐसा जला कि वक्त उसके दाग न मिटा सका
मगर आज चाँद रिहा हुआ था ख़ुद से,
आख़िर उसे समझ आ गया था कि दागों में भी मोहब्बत है
क्योंकि वो दाग गवाह हैं चाँद- सितारे की मोहब्बत का
अब हर रात वो दाग ही सुनाते हैं दुनिया को एक मोहब्बत की दास्ताँ।

Escape

I have waited very long for you to come.

There are nights when you visit me;

I see you in my dreams,

Far away from me sitting on a river bank.

I try to come closer

But you somehow manage to escape.

Sometimes with the first ray of light,

You touch me in the morning.

I have tried to hold you,

But you somehow managed to escape.

At times, you walk with me in the evenings,

Under the street lamp, I have seen your shadow in mine.

I looked up with joy

And my eyes tried to engage yours

But you somehow managed to escape.

The other day I saw your reflection

In the twinkling stars.

I was happy to see that distant reflection.

But in a fraction of second,

The dark clouds appeared over the twinkling stars.

Yet again you managed to escape.

Then one day I thought I will write a story;

A story of you and me.

I thought I can keep you with me

Written in my story.

But from those words in the pages,

You somehow managed to escape.

Picture Courtesy: Kapil Sharwa

The Ocean and the Sand

The ocean tried to tell you the stories of him and the sand.
You see, how lovely is the vast blue ocean!
It is deep, full of mysteries and is surrounded by the sparkling sand.
The sand beautifully defines the ocean.
Will you let me be that sand for your deep ocean?
I want to be that sand which will prevent your depth from the worldly evils.
Alike the sand, I will merge in you gradually at every night.
Only the stars will be there to glorify our union.
Will you let me touch your depth?

Metaphor

I have seen seasons change.

With every season I have felt heat, colours, warmth and separation.

Separation.

The cruel winds always took away my green leaves from me.

But every time it took away my leaves, 

The dark clouds appeared ferociously to rain love upon me,

To see me grow fresh leaves. 

But now that I have grown old,

I stand erect and unaffected.

Now neither the winds can take away my leaves

Nor the clouds can rejuvenate me.

I, the soul have overpowered seasons.

Picture clicked by: Kapil Sharwa

Heat

My body has harboured fire for years,

Keeping me warm in the dark chilling nights of winter.

But the other days,

This warmth burns few parts of my body.

And some other days

When this fire grows furious,

It reaches my soul.

Thus, sometimes it hurts my soul.

Oh! I wish you were like those healing rain showers.

So that every time this fire

Tries to reach my soul,

You will pour yourself onto me

Extinguishing it.

Maybe for sometime if not forever.

I wish...

Not forever because

I need this fire to keep my heart beating.

But you are not those healing rain showers,

Rather you are like a rigid rock.

I sometimes feel this rigidity

Has fortified your beautiful soul.

Maybe you forgot to build an air channel.

But it is okay. Just wait.

Wait for the day

When that fire inside me grows furious again.

That day I will pour the heat

Which will emerge from that fire,

Onto your rigid walls

To set your beautiful soul free.

Because, my dear, remember,

The heat only melts rigid rocks.

Image courtesy: Kapil Sharwa

Embers

Winter has come. It hurts more now when the cold, chilling winds rub furiously against the bruises on my skin. It hurts but I will never give up walking in the dark, chilling nights. Darkness, cold and pain make the perfect combination. As the night grows darker and colder, it hurts more. There will come a point when I will not be able to bear this pain. But when I will be on the verge of breaking down, your words will echo within me, "Darling, its a matter of time." Yea, I should hold onto this pain for some more time till the winter passes. 
Then the Sun will grow brighter and the heat will ignite the embers within me to light me up. 
Because it is the heat which revives my soul and defines my existence.

Picture Courtesy: Kapil Sharwa

SNAKE

I sometimes see a snake in my dreams. I see it crawling behind me as I walk in a dark forest. I try to run fast, faster; alas, I fall down! The snake crawls onto me and I shriek out of terror. It bites me injecting its poison into my blood. I see my veins turning purple and feel my body getting paralysed. Numb. But I could feel the coldness in my blood. I could feel my heartbeat lowering down. I thought I was dying but it was something more than death. The poison was decaying my soul and not my body. I felt pain, it was as if something was chopping me into pieces without sheding a single drop of blood. Anxiety. Struggle to survive. And the next minute, I felt nothing and found myself in a box of grey colour. I closed my eyes.

...I woke up.

Woke up in an other world.

Artwork by: Priyansh Saxena