Spring again?

An old leaf from an old book,
did the scattered letters bring about a pleasant look?

Expressions deprived, I read not once.
For the one who withdrew, it was a difficult dance.

Loved were my haikus, I suppose they were,
for not a reason more but a soul laid bare.

What, if I fall for a need to write again?
For not a reason more but the old book's old leaf's gain.

A new spring of life for an old shoot of green.
The old book has a new leaf, fruits a wait keen.

The beginning of the end

It has finally seen the light of the day.
No, letting go off the hand has not been an emotional dare.
The anticipation of when had never been there,
because I had foreseen the eventuality that had reigned all the way.

How to end, I ponder.
Should it be an epitaph of recollections, their exchange,
or the look into each others eyes in its change to revenge?
By the way, can I still behold you, I wonder.

I have had my fill of moments with you, have I?
When my fingers had reached just below your lips to wipe off an unwanted morsel,
the distance however infinitesimal hadn't been bridged but it continues to ring a bell.
Will it feature in your retrospection, will I?

To thou I bid farewell, but that's the easy part.
You had become a habit and those die hard.
Forgive me, if for you, I still quote from Keats, Wilde and the Bard,
and if ever again I fail to make another start.

To S...

At times you seem to me a tender bud, the moment next a stone;
to spread thy petals or sit and moan, I think as a soul lone.
If glee be morning, melancholy night, inextricable both become,
I drink to them with pleasures alike when in my thoughts you come.

An inner turmoil

An unsatiated page, the ink dries up in the pot;
the pen fails to bridge the gap; a world of monologues I have bought
and the stage stands witness to my insane ranting.
When silence was got, it wasn't sought,
and it's not being got when it's being sought.

War of Words...

Prologue: Diya is a friend of mine from school. She is doing her PhD in the US. When I was in Zurich, when my time zone was closer to hers, we had got engrossed in this game where we had discourses using rhymes (some of them can definitely be called poems). She is settled in the US with her husband.

Diya said...korbi naki ektu rewind?
Anekdin holo I need to refresh my mind!

I said...For long you have marketed silence.
It will take time dear to clear a fog that dense.

Diya said...Dark clouds cover my witty grey cells,
yet I want to make poetry again and ring those good old bells.

I said...
Was it my absence which brought in the clouds dark?
I must admit too that your long absence made me walk alone in the park.

Diya said...I cannot help but agree,
I have missed those ready wits of a supreme degree.
Strange but you flatter me today.
I feel honored to have been missed in a park far far away!

I said...The beauty of distance we have defined.
On a platter of words we have dined.
Night after night we have hit the keys,
and stayed awake as busy bees.

Diya said...How do you frame a picture of words so fine?
I confess I envy you and wish your thoughts were mine!
Looks like this darling bee in a far away land,
needs a few more sleepless nights to retrieve her lost magic wand!

I said...
Appreciation for each other has always been the undertone.
So I say to you, "your words too can move a stone".
It's a web of words we have woven as two souls lone,
but as a single star we have shone.

Diya said...
Good you are back! How are you today?
And how is my lovely Bengal that sits beside a bay?

I said...
I was always there, I never left.
I know in your coffers I am an object of theft.
Bengal is just the way I want it to be, with a blemish here and there,
but I still stand with the strongest conviction that as always, very well it will fare.

Diya said...
I wish I could leave my miseries and despair,
go back to Bengal and do some career-damage repair.
Nothing against you my friend that brought in the shadows of silence.
I had been strangulated by over ambition, subjected to unimaginable bouts of mental violence!

I said...
The variables Get and Want never in an equation fall.
It's spring again, lets usher in the new leaves and make your spirits stand tall.
Just know, for you Bengal has her hands extended,
with which for years you have been tended.

Diya said...
Send some spring vibes to the west.
Let it warm up my frigid soul and put my mind to rest.
I feel so lonesome, helpless and dumb.
At times I wish I could curl up and hide inside Mommy's womb.
I hope someday I stand up tall,
kick my apprehensions and look beyond the wall.

I said...You reside in the flux of my vibes,
but still if you insist, to the dry soul of Stony Brook, I will send across some bribes.
And an albatross in that stretch will play,
which no mariner will ever try to slay.

Diya said...
Grace my sensibilities Shelly, show me the path to thrive,
Show me a "pista de baile", where my words can salsa and jive,
This man here I see , beat his best performance that used to be,
Call it humility, call it surrender, call it whatever you may,
You enrich my soul, forever I shall say!

I said...Wreaths of appreciation become too heavy to carry,
when my lines are so simple and not like you, starry.
I tend to be satisfied if I succeed in hitting home,
when in the Garden of Eden I help you roam.

Diya said...
Alrighty boy! We both lose, you win and I win too!
An evening like this, I had encountered few and all what remains down the memory lane, converge in you!
I wish I could continue,
but tomorrow is a brand new day,
I need to work, such is life's way.
Good night my friend, take care and keep up the smile.
I'll join you in a bit, maybe in another mile!

I said...
It's not about what we win,
just the virginity of our thoughts that we choose to lose over and over again with a grin.
In your company I find my elixir.
An earnest request, from me do not go far.

Prologue...

My fascination for Germany stemmed from what, I still do not know clearly. Probably it might have grown out of my undying admiration for the German national soccer team, Steffi Graf, Boris Becker, Mercs, BMWs', Audis' and very many things with the German stamp. Can I include Hitler also or shall I have to leave it out for the world's sake?

I still remember while in school I had picked up a book on Germany from its library stock clearance. It had glossy pages full of details and photographs. I have spent many a night turning those pages over and over again, feeding my obsession.

Well, I satiated my obsession to some extent during my recent visit to Duesseldorf and Cologne, as I left my first footprints on the German soil. Before traveling to Switzerland, I had pledged that among the countries I would set foot on, Germany would get the first honour and it did happen so.

It had been three weeks since I had arrived in Zurich and in none of the weekends I had absorbed the sights and sounds outside Zurich and my inner self had started questioning my bohemian instincts. With the start of the fourth week, things had to get moving and it got too. Pen and paper in hand, I could see scribblings (my slang for itinerary, here) coming fast and swift. Where to go, how to go, modes of transport, places to see, must sees', all had their presence on my three sheet travel plan.

Next, it was time to match words with actions. I headed straight for the Bahnhof (station) to get my tickets. My mode of transport was to be train and I had my research on the convenient train options in place. The lady at the ticketing centre polished my plan a bit more with her invaluable suggestions. I was to start on Friday night after office. A nine and half hour overnight train ride, and I was to see the light of the day in Duesseldorf. The entire Saturday was to be spent at Duesseldorf with a night halt and Sunday it was to be Cologne calling and from there I was to take my train back to Zurich via Basel.

It got my tickets on Wednesday. So the sure part of the plan was that I was boarding the train on Friday. But what about accommodation? I just had a day and a half before the whistles were to blow and I still did not see a place to put up in the horizon. I started checking hostel options since I wanted to travel as a backpacker in thought and action (I was to carry only a backpack). I found a lot of good hostels but none of them would offer me a single bed in a separate room (my first preference), so I thought I would settle for the dorms where I would have to put up with people from a plethora of nationalities. But being tethered by some strings of worry back home, I had to reconsider my decision. That's when my room mate suggested me the bed and breakfast (B&B) option. The next day (Thursday, a day before I was to travel) I searched the B&B options in Duesseldorf and got some good hits. But the one I narrowed down to was www.bedandbreakfast.de. Why and how did I narrow down to this option? Well, two things fed my conviction about the choice. Firstly they had a neat website with all the necessary details in place. That was judging the book by its cover. Secondly, they had offerings of a single bed with a separate room on the date I wanted it. I immediately wrote to them. They took some time to reply back, but thankfully they did and that too with an offering for that date. No prior payments, I just had to fill up a form and send them. I did all that was necessary from my side and by the end of the day I had an address in Duesseldorf. With the nightfall on Thursday, all the vitals were ready and I was raring to go. The day of execution was just a few hours away.

Wait...

What's a wait if an age doesn't pass,
if the green of life doesn't become sparse,
if the wax to make a candle doesn't become scarce,
and if the flowers do not wilt while in the vase.