For Sandhya

With a song on my lips, i move along
With a sweet melody in my heart, i move along

Wherever i wander, people say
"Just look at this trusting fool
How he embraces both, friend and stranger
Does he not know, the times are full of danger,
And even friends are known to carry daggers?

With a song on my lips, i move along
With a sweet melody in my heart, i move along

It is not as if the pains of love and the world do not exist for me
But not much sorrow does the past hold, nor much fear the future, for me
I cannot claim that misfortune and heartbreak were created just for me

With a song on my lips, i move along
With a sweet melody in my heart, i move along

There are those who object to my laughter, too
"Just making ends meet is full of strife
The unequal fight between income and expense burdens life
Frayed garments and an empty stomach are old friends
And this carefree one asks why his laugh offends!"

With a song on my lips, i move along
With a sweet melody in my heart, i move along

I have stepped carefully around jagged pieces of broken aspiration
I have burned often in the inescapable light of the moon of separation
But yet, my jauntiness of walk remains undiminished
I am sure to die, but i am certainly not finished

With a song on my lips, i move along
With a sweet melody in my heart, i move along

I know not where leads this path, where lies the destination
Nor when the train of this pained heart will arrive at a peaceful station
What scenario will present itself beyond the eye's horizon
Whether promises of paradise are lies, or if hopes do find sublimation

With a song on my lips, i move along
With a sweet melody in my heart, i move along

Sandhya Ke Liye

Labon pe ek geet liye chalta hoon
Dil mein madhur sangeet liye chalta hoon

Jahaan se guzarta hoon, kahte hain log
“Zara dekho is dil-phaink deewaane ko
Kaise be-jhijak milta hai gale
Har jaane-anjaane ko
Kya jaanta nahin, yeh kalyug hai?
Yahaan apnon ke haathon bhi khanjar hua karte hain”

Labon pe ek geet liye chalta hoon
Dil mein madhur sangeet liye chalta hoon

Yun nahin, ke gham-e-duniya-o-ulfat ka pata nahin mujhe
Magar kuchh khaas ranj-e-dosh-o-fikr-e-farda nahin mujhe
Ek akele alam-naseeb-o-dil-figaar hone ka daawa nahin mujhe

Labon pe ek geet liye chalta hoon
Dil mein madhur sangeet liye chalta hoon

Logon ko meri hansi par bhi aitraaz hua karta hai
“Yahaan gham-e-rozgaar se jaan pe ban aayi hai
Kahaan kamaai toh kahaan jaan-leva mehngaai hai
Chithde hai pairahan, bhook se aashnaai hai
Aur is befikre ko bewajah hansi aayi hai!”

Labon pe ek geet liye chalta hoon
Dil mein madhur sangeet liye chalta hoon

Tooti hui tamannaon se paaon bacha kar chala hoon
Shab-e-hijr ki bepanah chaandi main aksar jala hoon
Magar baank-pan ab bhi mera wohi hai ke jo tha
Sar pe kafan ab bhi wohi hai ke jo tha

Labon pe ek geet liye chalta hoon
Dil mein madhur sangeet liye chalta hoon

Na jaane kidhar ko jaati hai yeh raah, kahaan hai manzil
Kis makaam par jaake rukega karvaan-e-gham-e-dil
Kya khulega hadd-e-nazar se paar manzar
Nilkenge jhoote waade jannat ke, ya hai duaaon main asar

Labon pe ek geet liye chalta hoon
Dil mein madhur sangeet liye chalta hoon

I Saw

last evening, a stranger at my door i saw
i asked "who are you?" he pointed to the mirror - and i saw!

self-forgetfulness reigned, my friends, when she bereft of veil was seen
even now i remember not - what remained unseen and what i saw

"are you ignorant of the ways of the city of beauties, Sifar?
draw a curtain on your pain" she said, the scars on my heart when she saw

some loveless hearts i loved, some faceless faces i met
ask not, in this meandering life, all the scenes that i saw

one day, on a whim, i strayed to the house of the beautiful, Sifar
there i saw those dagger eyes, here the butchered heart i saw

Jo Dikha

kal shab shaqs koi ajnabi sa dar par dikha
maine kaha tu kaun hai, usne kaha aaeena dikha

bekhudi kuchh aisi thi yaaron, behijaab jab woh hue
ab bhi sochta hoon main, kya dikha, kya na dikha?

rasm-e-shahr-e-husn se waaqif nahin kya tu Sifar?
naqaab kar dardon pe apne, daagh-e-dil yun na dikha

kahin bedard se dil mile, kahin beshakl chehre dikhe
gardish-e-ayyaam mein manzar kya-kya na dikha

bhoole se but-khaane ik roz chale gaye ham Sifar
udhar deeda-e-jaana dikhi, idhar chhalli seena dikha

Death At Midnight

Stale sex and smoke
Insinuated into the air
Like a nasty rumour
Naked yellow bulb
Throwing shadows of despair:
Do you see the humour
In the joke we have become?
Well, that makes one of us.

Tap, tap, tap - the watchman’s cane
Accompanies the drunkard’s song
Tap, tap, tap – on the window-pane
She drums her fingers, thin and long

The air is languid, bloated, blue
Like the carcass of a bull
Perhaps, her body’s passion is true
But, of bitterness her heart is full

Outside, as it uncurls
Softly purrs the moonlit night
Soft, her undulating breasts
But, in her eyes, a steely light

Me, the smoke from her cigarette mocks
As it mingles with her breath
Silently, her fingers in mine she locks
And strangles our love to death.