Lamp

Of all the things

You gracefully talk about

Clothes, curtains, furniture

Utensils, crockery, tea-flavours

And all the fine luxuries of life

I want to be the lamp

At the side of your bed

And read with you

All the books you read

Before you blissfully fall asleep

Syllabus

Woh kehti hai

Mai kitaab nahi padti

Aur fir

Poori poori raat

Mujhe

Ek nayi Kitaab ki tarah

Padhti rehti hai

I'm Not From Here

In the beginning

Adam and Eve

Were exiled from heaven

And sent to earth

We all are immigrants since

Kya Hoga?

Dard ki shiddat se ukta ke

Aahon ki lau pe

Lafzon ko piglatey hue

Woh mujhse

Karhaate hue

Poochti hai

“Muzammil!

Kashmir ka Kya hoga?”

"Wohi...

Jo hamari muhabbat ka hua…"

Pura Chaand

Chaand uska hai ya mera?

Is baat pe

Muddaton

Hamara jagda raha

Fir?

Fir yun hua ki

Chaand ke do tukde ho gaye

Aek usne rakh liya

Aek mere hisse mai aaya

Ab yun hota hai 

Ki

Jiss raat

Uski aur meri

Mulaqaat hoti hai

Dono tukde mil jaate hain

Thoughts on a Rainy Day

It’s raining

The shoulders of your maroon silk frock are wet

Forming a painting of a waterfall

Running down your arms and breasts

Few raindrops mark the lining of your brows

Few others merge at the tip of your proud nose

Blowing droplets off from your lips

With swift steps

You run through hundreds of raindrops

To get back to your home

And just before you reach

You look up

To let the rain

Touch your face

While thinking about someone

This is what I think about

On an unexpected rainy day

While walking back from work

Intention

I am not a magician

I can’t create illusions, my love

I only write these poems

To distract the world

Away from us

I just want them to leave us alone