CERULEAN
I am blue under the cavernous boulder
tired, worn yet awake with you on this virgin soil
we play with dragonflies on the mist
Intense. The smoke rises to the skies
cerulean cannot hide under any colour
so I gather crystal ferns from the rocky shelter
Teal. Your eyes are sad and weary in the rain
we know once the showers stop we must part
yet you spin sapphire dreams that briefly hover
we lie entangled wary, fearing for what is to come after
and see that fatal light filter through the latticed cover
With what fond hope my love did we look for landmarks
remembering old times we fancied were forever.
LAPIS
We are suspicious beyond our narrow quarters
we barricade faith and trust, lock them in chains and fetters
we condone each other under duress
for it is our common sins that hold us to each other
be sure the heat will come again
all dry and sere about the flowers
even as we prod numb flames over the embers
then we’ll look for the word that was given in earnest
promises meant, loyalties not yet forgotten
then we’ll tear at the barricades that we knowingly secured
recall, that vision swift, clear and silent
yet nameless on the edge of this burning forest
but now no words are left in whose arms
we leave our loves behind relying
only on those distant days we spent dreaming together.
INDIGO
We are both barefoot this warm and tender night,
I summon desires and diamonds from the dust
the moon will rise again
all huge before the wind
the stars descend amidst the fireflies
the twilight has come and gone away with the treasure
So I will go splintering before the air and seek
the ghosts of our dreams beneath the cinders
This insanity is hard, wavering, altered
lost in broad daylight yet upon us like a deluge tonight
To what end did we refugees miss our chance and turning
we capsize our boat willingly into the mute waters
it sinks silently out of sight.
(first published in The Bombay Review – A Journal of Literary Things : Jan-Feb 2016)
anjaliwrites 