hidden conversations
We fell in love from the shadows
professing love through radiowaves
kissing pixelated lips
and whispered longings from under blankets
What are you wearing you ask, heaving.
Insecurities he gave me,
burns, scabs that I still pick at.
You don't flinch. You don't back down
Let me. Is all you say.
and I do.
closer than I've ever come to myself.
You take them down one by one.
And tie my hands with the softest of knots
When I try to beat myself up.
You say words I want to hear
But also the words I need to hear.
When I say
hold me and I'll break, hold me or I'll break
So you held me against you and said
I've got you and you've got me.
An anchor and a promise.
That's when I knew I've always loved you.
And I realize
I'm not walking a tightrope anymore.
I'm not walking anymore.
I don't have to walk.
Because I'm here. I'm home.
The endearing youth looks around
Searching for something, seeking someone
All the gopi of Brij ask their darling
“What is that thee seek so dearly Girdhari?”
“Thy footsteps have become transient?
Our anklets which chimed along with your
the melodious morning flute feels distant and silent.
What is that thee seek so dearly Govind?”
“We scan amber heaven for thou as
our kohl feels amiss without thy divine embrace,
the universe feels unfathomable and labyrinth
What is that thee seek so dearly Vasudev?
The saccharine smile of the youth
gazes the sky reflective of his complexion
with those bejeweled eyes affixed yet adrift
extends his sapphire hands as he says
‘I yearn, the beauty’s euphoric darshan
she, the very presence of self
adorned in humility of Vrindaban
This Murali seeks for his Manmayi’
I yearn, for the essence of tenderness
She, who dances under nightfall luminous cape
embellished herself in ornaments from the moon,
This Keshav seeks for his Keshavi’
‘I yearn, the nectar of their name,
undiluted bliss, clinging to me like a rare perfume
melts away heavenly sinners’ lie
This Shyam seeks for his Radhe’
- nocturne
“Words were different when they lived inside of you.”
— Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (via razreads)
hands reaching out towards each other in the depths of the sea, a lone lighthose standing in the midst of the ocean, waves that roar and grow only taller, the sea spray and the salty breeze kissing your face, odd things washing up onto shore, letters written in cursive, effortless script, beholding the words of a lover.
Poetry challenge #7
A strange dream.
Writing period dramas in the discord, lads
I love you, and I think you love me.
But that's how far it gets, so I put it in poetry.
I write about you sometimes.
Hide my truth within similes, metaphors, and rhymes.
Of hushed conversations in a crowded place
Memorizing each thing so I can later retrace.
You ask me how I feel when I'm with you.
Like I'm in a cellophane bubble of a soft pink hue,
La vie en Rose
A dopamine doze
You ask me what I think of you.
Words to which I wish I knew
Universe pulled a few invisible strings,
Put you in my life to change everything.
We stand inches close yet light years away.
Cliche!
We stay long enough to touch, not enough to hold
The world is unfair, or so I'm told.
So I pretend your smile doesn't put me in slumber.
Memorize lines on your hand as one would with numbers.
You ask me why I hold back. I say I'm scared.
What I hold back is what I'm scared of:
It's not being unable to find the right words for what I feel
It's being able to say the right words and never heal.
I love you, but I don't tell.
I try to show you, like casting a gentle spell.
Through metaphors and rhymes
And words that were written by dead poets sometimes.
Jingle bells, Umbridge smells, losers go away.
Draco’s hot, Voldy’s not.
Slytherin all the way!
Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus: First Part (XXV) (tr. J.B. Leishman)