Loneliness in high places

It all started with spotting a planet 
at the edge of a hill on a moonless night.
Soon, clouds obliged our wishes, stood off 
and even shrunk under their weight. 
The stars punctured the sky and 
Sparkle from an eternal road gave itself off 
to our eyes scanning in earnest. 
Distant lights from times gone by
reached and lit our anonymous faces. 
There was prayer written on all of us. 
Craning ourselves at the complexity 
Pouring out knowledge from times immemorial
There was a rewind of all that was known. 
Fairy tales, grandmothers and villages
all made their mote of appearance. 
But the road stood still 
waiting for that moment 
when all words are over. 
And the heavenly silence spun us out
into threads of water meeting an ocean. 

Material

I know when I stumble upon 
the perfect material for a poem. 
As if among hundred shells a child finds 
the perfect one, cleans the sand off
Takes it home without waiting 
expectantly at the sea 
which mostly froths useless things. 
I know it when I stumble upon 
a reality that comes in the right size and 
texture of a backyard tomato 
and can be served up in sachets 
of ketchup to all those willing in a hurry.
Only its expiry date is in fine print.

Clear headed

Purpose, lays ambush to our peace
Gnaws away a forest of confidence
Any finger pointing that these are these
is punished by poking at own expense.

It's always an inviting grip
Waiting for the next slip
Fall of the humpty-dumpty
Jack and Jill fallen empty.

When it takes hold
Our stars turn pretty bold.
They don't care one pence
And our planets maintain silence.

Amidst all this skulduggery
Time flies by in a jiffy
Flapping its giant wings
Disturbing the balance of things

Nothing much one can do
Except change one's hairdo
Come back with a clear head
Now, be a train without an engine ahead. 

The sieve

In the hands of wind 
The train sways like a craddle 
All godspeed to sleep
It also turns to be a sieve
Filtering out the united smell 
of shit and cigarette. 
All is not lost while asleep
A layer of this journey is carried
to beds, to partners.
And a country unites in smell
Who's who nobody can tell.

No different

The hills smell the same 
Before and after we came 
The chocolaty mud slipped upon 
Is what others also chanced upon. 
The tongues that loosen 
Not the best ones are chosen 
The bird goes about its chore
Landscape for it appears a bore
A desk that it has to man 
with an attentive eye to scan
A snake stumbled upon doesn't move 
Pretending to be dead it stays a groove 
A pacy wild cat has left its mark 
on its way to hiding in deeper bark.
Our guides spoon up heady tales 
As idling grows mythical tails

Among all the creatures wild 
That scarred the night a mild 
Is the beast sleeping inside me 
That roared and snored in utter glee. 
The tent shook with sleeplessness 
And fates were locked in helplessness 
Hills might remember the snore
And make a place for it in their lore.