The Vase

Like soft mist on a cold night
It stood in the fading light.
Catching reflections of the fading light
From velvet curtains to black grime.
Ethereal and yet so real
The vase stood, a sentry unparalleled.

* * *

He couldn’t believe what he created
From dark earth and a fiery kiln.
He didn’t touch it for the fear of stains
He stared at his reflection, in dismay.
The wrench his heart felt
When he thought of the hands,
That would caress this beauty
In some foreign land.
Break it……………..break it……………
His soul tormented,
Let not unworthy eyes rest on it
The echoes lamented.

Mud walls and a leaking roof
Scattered pallets, his only proof.
With a piece of silver they bought his immortality,
Drunk, he lay, staring at a vacant non-entity.

* * *

Pieces he finds, lost in the rubble,
A thousand years ago, somebody had stumbled.
His eyed fixed on the delicate veins,
Blue and gold with silver strains.

Shattered, like human past,
Gathered in pieces, the broken vase.
Whose hands did make, this mirage.
Made the mistake of making it a farce.

A broken man, a broken vase
Time doesn’t let such things pass.

* * *

Under the lights, in a glass case,
Fragile………..stands the vase.
Hungry eyes devour the detail,
The soul of a man, sold in retail.
Tormenting the echoes of words unheeded,
Poverty is what it pleaded.
The faint cracks no one sees,
What it was…….and…
……….what it could have been!

Mirage

He felt the heat like a liquid,
Draining away his will.
Heat and cold, battered his body,
Sun and sand, drained the spirit.
Many a tree he had seen, on a far away dune,
Only to disappear, leaving behind no clue.
Parched throat, dry like sand,
A voice, he didn’t know he had.

Mirage! His senses screamed,
Blue water, is all he dreamed.
He didn’t move, for it would disappear,
Slow steps he took, steps of fear.
His thirsty eyes drank in the colors,
Green and blue, ah! What wonder.

This ain’t real! His brain screamed,
His thoughts, his thirst had screened.
He sat down in the shade,
In cold water he was to wade.

Its only sand! Its only sand!
It’s the curse of this rugged land.
Just one minute let me find,
Solace, in my drifting mind.
One drop, like nectar it shall be,
Saving me from eternity.

* * *

They found him sprawled on the wet sand,
His body cold, in a hot land.
His finger wet, soaked in the pool,
His eyes wide open………..
………Like those of a fool.

Three is a Crowd

“There is no water and there is a man sleeping, with his head on his table.”
“I know.” He replied. “He is dead. I killed him”
I stood up and drained the glass of rum.

* * *

It was freezing cold. I wanted to see snow. It had been 25 years since I watched snow falling. They all said it would be freezing cold but I had made up my mind long ago.

The shops were closed and I was dying for a drink. I realized this place hadn’t changed one bit. And then he spoke
“ Are you a tourist?”
“Yes”
“All the shops are closed for the day. Want to join me for a drink?”

he seemed to have a faint accent that I was unable to place. I had nothing to do and wanted a drink. What had I to loose?
We walked down the road, the fading light casting long shadows. His house had the colonial charm of places built for relaxing. It was not far down the road but the deodars, like sentries, isolated the place from the bustle of the town.
We sat down and he produced a bottle of rum without a label.
The fire crackled and threw eerie dancing shadows on the wall. I asked him for some water and he directed me to the kitchen.

* * *

With great control, which till now had eluded me, I turned around to pick up my bag.
“ 20 years ago I fell in love with a girl.” his voiced seemed so far away, lost in some glory day. “ She was very pretty, like flowers in spring. She lived next door and we used to walk down the hills, on forest trails. She was pretty and her voice was music to my ears. She called me Ritchie.” He spoke, staring into the fire, oblivious of my presence.
“ Leave, leave” a voice screamed in my head but I sat down and poured myself another drink.
“ I thought she was in love with me but Sam proposed and she married him. I still love her and may her soul rest in peace.” He looked straight into my eyes “ they buried her yesterday.”
I was at a loss for words and was completely confused.
“ Sam and I were good friends.” He went on” we made a deal. She would choose the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and the other would leave town and never come back. Sam cheated and won. I had to kill him.”
“How?” one word escaped from my lips.
He didn’t seem to hear my question “ I wouldn’t hurt Rosa. So I had to wait 20 years.she was in love with him.”

It was becoming harder to understand his words and the rum was playing tricks on my mind. I stood up and walked out into the cold night. A warm glow spreading through my senses.

* * *

Rosalyn d’souza.
I had come to attend my mother’s funeral but ended up attending my father’s. I wondered who was Ritchie and what I should tell the police. Walking towards the church a lonely grave caught my attention.
Richard Burns
19th September 1935 to 4th march 1959
“ A true friend and a kind fellow”

In No Sense

Was all alone when the lights faded,
A serene moment juxtaposed in the silence.
You could hear the wind rustling the leaves,
And the soft sob, the heaving release.
Turning around I saw, innocent eyes
Gazing at me in mock surprise.
Sitting in the shadows his features glow,
The freshness of spring, like a brook did flow.

I remember you, but you can’t recall
My face, unchanged by many a fall.

Familiar but distant, clouded by life,
His face had a purity untainted by strife.

I was with you building castles of sand,
Wondering about stars and staging mock wars.
Cycling down the lane, wind in your face,
Arms stretched, with a seagull’s grace.
I felt the pain when the snowballs hit,
The satisfaction, after a banana split.

Who are you? These words escape,
Surprise and fear, such a vague shape.
The smile that plays on his soft lips,
Never to be captured, in some lost clip.

Something you lost many a fall ago,
Your innocence am I, the tears began to flow.

* * * *

I wait for him on lonely nights,
Restless and nervous, before a fight.
The memories reopened an old wound,
A bird without wings, I was marooned.
Unable to relive, the joy that did last,
Into the fiery world I was cast.
Innocence unearthed from the grave,
I never was your slave.