EVERY STONE DROP PEBBLE

R.K.SINGH (NEW DELHI: BAHRI PUBLICATIONS, 1999)

Eternity too short to quenchlove

He walks down the aislelooking for the naveto kneel and slide out

After prolonged heat wavesky watery explosionearth lovely doom

Seasonal change viralsuffering, realignment with doctor’s bill

They sculpture psychein the city of dumb dreams:idols sweat in sun

Pulling out white hairsshe reminds increasing age:time’s fragrance unchanged

Each morning the sunshines through window panes, revives

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the dream for verses

Smell of kaminiin front of my house excites:hummingbirds mate

Cloud over clouddarken earth and hide stars:dawn and dust one

I see a fingerpoint to the eye in her breastmist lingers on lips

No letters today--addresses of his dead friendsgreying in diary

She wraps nudityin sari turns graceful:love-touch in colour

Each stone, drop, pebblewaste of life in worldly self:haiku nothingness

After the redthe dog, the girlknotted double face

In the darkness of backyard

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he searches his shadow:summer clouds overhang

I stir the waterto pierce clouds in it:throw memory stones

He has no wind-ropeto tie waves in the net:sand melts beneath feet

Stealthy invaderschill surge of river and dreams:the year waves good bye

Reshuffling the shelvesit’s only dust in alleyssneezing scholarship

She reads my age inthe synthetic dark of moustacheand whitening chest

Willow summer-swaysits bough half-rests on the polelight goes off again

Her wet lingerie revealsmore than her body:I drown in her sea

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She undresses indim light perfumes her bodyfills room with herself

Silence is sound inthe blank of unthinking mindpoetry is peace

The child lost inletters and numbersspins new designs

She waves a quick smilefrom her new Marutityres screech

The sun vanishedin the blue morning couldn’t lastthe flower’s smile

The nightqueen fragranceseeps in from the windowsmy bedroom blooms

He sees the apein the glass self-satisfiedhis own image

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The blue white dappleson the canvas seeingthe eye of silence

Sipping ginhe says he loves sex each nightbut hates the smell

Seeking good newsI watch the lines on my palmstaking new turns

They are skinny butskilful, can’t be swatted:their vibrations haunt

He sweeps yellow leavesor gathers years in a heapburns to merge with dust

After hours of power-cutcobwebs in the roomswing in thanks

Seismic laba network of cobweb:no earthquake for long

5

My bedrooma maze of cobwebspiders breed

Her smilearrival of springat the bower

The red light is on:they all have secrets to hideno use peeping in

In nightly silenceglides the airbus through the cloudstrail of white smoke

After sleepless nighta drowsy sun tearsthe morning sky

A dead mancan’t keep standinglies in dust

A lamp floating onriver breast in bridal gracewaves in the gloaming

Looking for Taj in grains

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through sand storm find historytrapped between toes

Shining from the blade of grassa drop on earth’s breast:tribute to sun

With changing weatherthey look for sun and shade both:chameleon tune

I know waves that roarI live through silence of shore:the sea grows in me

I felt her fingersthe strings of my son’s guitarunplayed for a long time

She hides the mirrorwith rose and lipstickand keeps her fiction

Joy of unionreduces as rhythm fallsrestless embers grow

After hurriedlovemaking we drift to sleep:

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our backs to each other

Flickers of peace hidegod in heart like running brooklove in nudity

Monsoon showerafter a long heat wavemonotony breaks

Ripe on the branchesmangoes fall one by oneend of the season

The mirror is so smallI can’t see the oceanbeyond my own look

It’s utter helplessnesstrue, but to surviveone must be tamed

Dragons play whirlwindamong clouds-- meet and rainunite earth and sky

Coal grows goldeneach moment in quiet cornersraw wind singes

It hangs like a drop

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any moment evaporateslove is gullible

Morning mist restson a swathe of pondlone fish looks for sun

The moon glows andheat wave all through night scalds leaveskills butterflies

A butterflyrestless over the othertrying to console

The mynahsherald the day clamouringfor moths

Vacating the househe leaves four decadesno thanks to any

Not age butyears of worries—his furrowed face

The sun rollson waving Gangeswhitens love-hope

The leaves sway

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to fly like birdsfree in the sky

Long forgottenthe beginning and the end:exist in middles

He closes the eyesexpanding inner spacea short-cut tour

Red oleander andhibiscus calling morningto Kali

After lunchstretching legs in cubbyholelike a frog

Looking lovinglyshe bends his head down to herstwines like a creeper

Unable to change timemy watch doesn’t movemoment at will

The solitary birdlike uninspiring tracks movesalien homeward

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The rainswash the paintsthat hide the face

Tending the hooksshe blushes to seethe line of jewels

Making loveshe presses with her nailsa sparrow sports

The frog in mirrorslips by damp towelcold sets in slippy hands

Half-fleshed facestrack from behind the windowsrawness of journey

Summer turns prettierafter duststorm and rainnight alloys with cool colours

The leaves have turned mothwe cross-leg with crabbed wisheserase one more year

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The half moonon her neck reminds of lovebefore departure

Falling chalk over headclouds understanding: eyes itchand nostrils run

Rains leave soil soft—seeds sprout with first sunpearly dawns

Among the white hairsa solitary black onekeeps her hope alive

The fig of life withroots above and branches below:man and woman one

Frosted facesdissolve in stale rain clutchingfemale body

We lie together

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filling our body witheach other’s sensation

Celebratingforgettable memoriesat public expense

After morning walkthe trio gossip each dayfresh revelations

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