SUDDEN DUSKS

My brightest nights

Turn to my darkest days

I lose my diamonds

I lose my sequins, my pearls

I lose my jewels

Big and small,

I lose ‘em all

Someone seal that hole

Maybe, only maybe,

That might heal my soul

I lose my emeralds

My tourmalines, my red garnets

I lose my gems, my stars

Precious and semi-precious

Through my holey pockets

My bucket is leaking

My liquid gold dripping

My mercury is evaporating

I am losing out, day and night

Please seal that hole

So that maybe, only maybe,

That might heal my soul

My brightest nights

Become my darkest days

My dawns turn to sudden dusks

As my sunrise, untimely dies

Marking hope and promise’s demise

Someone, please seal that hole

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

On the deaths that rocked the arts world in 2009

published today in memory of Lily T. on her birthday.

UNGAG AUNG SAN SUU KYI

Sing on songbird of Burma

Sing on for the down-trodden

Mama, just sing, we hear you speak

Clipped wings, gagged beak

Yet so high you soar, so loud you speak

Within your confines

You, the Antigone of Burma

Chirp songs of sweet freedom, songs of justice

Sing sweet tunes to my ear

Across the seas, above the mountains

Down in the valley, you sing without fear

Chirp tunes so sweet to my ear

Yet songs so prickly to their conscience

The insatiable Creons of Burma

Stand and sing, Antigone of Burma

With a gag across your beak

The words of freedom you speak

We hear you loud and clear

Sing on songbird of Burma

Sing on for the down-trodden

Mama, sing right within your confines

Yet North to South, East to West

Our destiny gets defined

Cowardly Creons of Burma

Who hide in vestiges of uncanny laws

Eardrums stuffed with wax and flaws

The bugler will trumpet the clarion call

And we will battle all Injustice till you fall

Sing on songbird of Burma

Stand and sing, woman of virtue

Sing on for the down-trodden

Mama, just sing, we hear you speak

For ‘Release Aung San Suu Kyi Campaign’

July 2009

SMALL FLY

I am the Cobweb, pretty deceptive in looks

Cobweb woven with the ultimate intricacy

I look simple and plain but I am nimble

So elastic, imperfect and sometimes feeble

Cobweb, so easy to see through

Yet tough enough to cost time

I am the cobweb, wearing a fair and just image

Cobweb woven with the ultimate intricacy

I mostly prey on the small fly

Whose energy and feats I quickly sap dry

Yet I let the dung beetle saunter through

With all the filth laden upon it

I am the cobweb, Woven from clauses and caps

Cobweb woven with the ultimate intricacy

Malleable and open to diverse interpretation

Trapping the small fly

Yet letting the dung beetle strut through

That is justice, the African way

Small fly, don’t even try

Or you will cry and die

In the trappings of my nimbleness

Disguised in my fair and just looks

Fashioned for deception and allure

I am the cobweb, often clad in designer jargon

No one is above the cobweb

I hear everyone claim

Yet selective most times I am

To the gallery I often play

Patience, like no other, I display

But whom I trap, sometimes is just for show

I am the cobweb, pretty deceptive in looks

Wearing a fair and just image of lady justice

Woven from clauses and acts with intricacy

Open to various interpretations daily

I am the nimble cobweb, clad in designer jargon

Small fly, sometimes you win, most times you lose

On the Law after FTJ’s Acquittal

BLESSED LONELINESS

The world without friends

Is sure lonely

But its better staying lonely

Than being an extra friend

Even if

It is to another lonely person

BEST FRIENDS

Sometimes we fight

And part ways

Each one feeling more right

But that way, it never stays

Because

Like thread and needle

Appreciating each other’s strengths

With us apart, we know nothing mends

As the world’s best friends

Privately, at each other’s ego we nibble

To settle at a comfortable middle

Now that we know what makes friends

We try to be…better friends

Candidly settle our differences

Spritely celebrate our successes

Until we grow old… for a better world

So

Though sometimes we fight

And part ways

Each one feeling more right

That way, it never ever stays