Ab aaye ho? Mujhe dhoondhte jana.
Ek arse se kisi ki yado me gum hu.
___________
English translation:
So, you’ve finally returned? Find me before you leave again.
For ages, I’ve been lost in someone’s memories.
___________
Author’s note: Sher are couplets in Urdu that tell a complete story.
Sun
kisses
the ground but
winter reigns my
heart.
Wanton thoughts pass through mind.
Spring air kisses cheeks leaving desire warm.
Seasons mock with you gone.
Walked in with fists tight,
Shouted, cursed, blamed, cried, fell on knees,
Begged for mercy, in church, that night.
Based on the style of Classic Hindi writer, Bihari, known for writing entire story in two lines.
There are dogs and, then, there is ‘The Dog’;
The one that owns you right from the moment your eyes meet;
The one who silently commands you with puppy eyes to pick it up;
and marks you as his own territory by fervant licks;
The one who ties you around its wagging tail
and rules your life then onwards.
It’s too late until you realise that you’ll be
feeding him out of your hand, buying him toys,
taking him on walks, cleaning after him;
become his slave for the rest of your life…
It’s too late because you are already ensnared in the trap
the little four-legged cupid had set up for you…
You have lost your heart…
For some reason, I’m missing you a lot, Master Bruno...
Photo by Nathaniel Bowman on Unsplash
I hold the phone
hoping you’ll pick up;
hoping you wouldn’t;
hoping you’ll recognise the number;
hoping you wouldn’t;
wondering how you could forget the number
when I couldn’t…
I hold the phone
hoping you’re awake;
hoping you’re asleep;
wondering how you could,
when I couldn’t…
I hold the phone wondering
if you have company
and who could she be;
fuming, how you could
when I couldn’t…
Raging, I throw the phone
at the wall
breaking it into pieces
like me…
Still wishing,
you had taken that call…
You stand with your family
looking at me with eyes full of hate–
angry at god-knows-what
since god-knows-when–
glaring at the lawyer, the clerk, the judge,
your mortal enemies without a grudge.
You shift the glare
to burn a hole through my heart.
Startled, I glance back without anger,
only deep loss at the part
where the last thing we ever share
is the papers you hand over
to set us both apart.
Taking steps one at a time,
Lost in a haze of images–
Too slow to look at,
Too fast to understand,
Backwards in the good times we had,
Fast forward in the non-existent future.
Voices of friends
a blur of background noises–
Too high to like,
Too low to register,
Numb to all pain–
Too numb to be alive,
Too dead to be breathing,
Still existing
In a world without you…
Image by Jr Korpa on Unsplash
All day, I wait for the night to return
When her long fingers caress me
And light the very fabric of my being.
Her silhouette in the dark room’s door
is the fire to my core.
I watch her every move
as she lies down next to me
with a sigh,
Her dreamy eyes closed to the world,
she smiles.
I sigh too, knowing too well,
My heart would never get over her,
No matter how many years go by.
Of course, she doesn’t understand
how I feel because, for her,
I’m just a night stand.
I sit in the class
with all my best friends
laughing at their silly jokes
when I look behind
to find
my parents asking
why I am not packing.
So I walk to my drawer
and pull out all I own–
my bed and study table,
my colours and pencils,
drawing board and birthday cards,
letters and flowers,
and a stapler
to tie it all together
in a shoe box
that I’d carry to my new home.
I turn around one last time.
My friends disappear
one-by-one
in the rapidly darkening hall.
I hunt for a candle to light
so I won’t lose their sight
but there is none to find.
I feel no fear,
only deep inevitable pain,
an emptiness in my gut,
on losing
all that mattered the most.
I wake up choking on my tears
like every time
I dream of the days from the past.
Short Stories | Fish-eye Perspective 