Santosh Bakaya

Ah, it was gesticulating in a grotesque fashion
Upwards it heaved in immense passion
Its wavy arms going upwards
All the people fringing the banks
...

WHO DID IT?
Who did it?
I did not do it, you say?
Why then, are the skies permanently gray?
...

Will it, won't it, will it rain?
The spirited peacock does not complain
But lifts its wings majestically
And in sync with the koel's sanguine refrain
...

Where is that snug universe
when the grave, new world unfurling around me
screams and bellows violently
my mind keeps going back
...

WHY DID YOU DO IT, MOM?
[This poem was triggered by a news item saying that a newborn girl was found in a cradle outside an orphanage, and was adopted within a day, by a childless couple]
Why did you do it, mom?
I wouldn't endure whiplashes of any storm
...

On dark nights, I still hear
A sputtering and stammering of love notes
Huskily whispered on that first date.
But wait!
...

On the clothesline they hung
Silent and morose, clothes two
Of a man and a woman.
Tightly squeezed and wrung
...

NO, NEVER!
Hush, what's that?
Pattering of a skittish, little animal
Running from danger
...

UNTAINTED WORDS

In the New Year, bright, let those words trite
Remain unsaid, curled up in bed.
...

THROES OF ANTICIPATION
The setting sun of the last day of the year
Was a girl with hair the shade of honey
With a ruby blush of a teen's first crush.
...

Dear Diary,
Today I again remembered that cold January day
When we stood shivering, long, long years ago.
His compliments mute, no longer flattering
...

Those lost notes
The wind, as though in a drunken stupor
Stumbles on to the windowpane.
Why is it beating its head against the pane?
...

THE POOR-RICH MAN
Ragged and disheveled, lost in reverie
Sat he under the skeletal tree
Lamenting his poverty.
...

IN THE MIDDLE OF WULLAR LAKE, I LOST MY OAR KASHUR QALAM 13
Long, long years back,
My dad, a champion swimmer had swum the Wullar Lake
In the December chill.
...

A CRIMSON WELCOME
Autumn came, attired in gold, yellow and red
Blinding me by his fiery brilliance
Matching the spectacular trees festooned in gold.
...

A NIGHTMARE, WAS IT?
Blotched skin
A hideous grin
Grotesque scars
...

The monsters of the night talked and talked
My reticence mocked
Frowning ominously, I baulked
At their chatter intrusive.
...

There is a constant sound of footsteps following me
Is someone flirting with the shadows?
Am I in a surreal time vault
In the deserts of vast eternity
...

WHEN CLOUDS WERE FAIRY TALES
The swollen clouds hung low
One cloud was a fairy with a huge smile
Another an elf trying to beguile
...

MASKS
Countless are the masks that we wear, the roles that we play
Every second, every moment of our lives.
Now rising, now diving, now traipsing through life with fake smiles.
...