Ground Zero

Stop signs smeared with bloody ink
The burning palace under the grey moon
The smell of fear in the canines moan
Their wretched arrows of pious intent
Vengeful follies after mis taught learnings
Where does their master lead them?
For all that is holy and sacred lies bleeding
And all your love for the creator beneath

Is there love in space?
On land there is hate and in sea there is hostility
In the air we breathe there is a painful futility
Care for a selfless creator?
Who leads us to space not in his shuttle
Who takes us for a walk not in his garden
Humanity is kind, humanity is unjust
In straight lines we go around in circles
In shame we laugh and in jest we cry
In blooming daisies we give our alibis

We mustn't rest till this night passes
We mustn't weep till the naked women are clad
And the men with knives are made to belong
The warm smell of victory and the perfumed essence of joy is lost in vanity
The meadows are bare and the fodder is stale
Venture we more into this placid nightmare we smell belonging
Righteousness and sanity in a stew of solace
From juvenile missions we disembark to an outland
Where there is no night
Where there are no fortresses
Where there are no kings
An infinite state of being
Where ground zero disappears

Justice

Sleeping in these flames i fight
My evening with you had been so dear
The warm tea and your presence with me
I deceive you with the love i smear
Looking at you with your auburn hair
Sitting near the gentle shore
There's a hole in the sky and a hole in my heart
In empty skies my feelings soar

I cant breathe under your breath
I cant live in this debt
You and me we're just having fun
What justice have i done?
What justice have i done?

The masquerade is on lets go watch
Pretentious faces maybe familiar
They march along with their pinup glee
Over the cliff they walk heartily
As i depart your empty eyes i see
The path we paved is at its lands end now
Swim to the closest boat in the water
I'll watch you till my eyes can see

I cant breathe under your breath
I cant live in this debt
You and me we're just having fun
What justice have i done?
What justice have i done?

The Last Celebration

In the whisper of the graveyard
luminous chimes swim adrift
in the madness of my wake
shine bright as a joyous firefly

the dreams descend, obscured,fragile
color me a palette of lust
the desire rises,destiny refuted
sense sans illusions
cry me a sky of colors

the weight of the void
let me think cuz i am alive
the song sung, unspoaken,unheard
unsaid words cry for a say
celebrate thy self, listen, see
heavier things weigh on me

it struck me, the lightening struck me
light my way oh sweet sunbeam
the distance screams the light fades
elevate me to this mellow state
joy within peace without
i'll hear you when you have nothing to say

the last smile, the last sip of wine
the infancy now leaves my mind
the dusk smiles, the night arrives
the smoke in my mind settles now
the end is here, the end is now.


           - Karan Kumar, Aritra Das
              29/11/2007

The Freedom Vibe

I want to play
rushed the brown eyed girl in black
With a gleam in her eye
and a feather in her hat

Blissfully chattered
and playfully jibed
Near the ocean breeze
she gave the freedom vibe

Run around in circles today
We've lived a life of monotony
Run around in circles today
The vibe gives you authority

Walk on now
with a fresher air
The waves recede
and your shore now bare

Swim in the pool
of the newfound dawn
Your shackles now
will never be reborn

Run around in circles today
Run around in circles today

Musicmans Road

The sounds i hear, shatter and rumble
Yet an ease of smoothness and flow
The echoing sound tickles my mind
And pain in the uttered words i find

The melody of the notes
And the newly paved idea
The tranquil urge to break away

Unearthing all your thoughts
In the alchemy of your dreams
The diminished now sustains

My only light in dire times
The last song on the radio
The sugar now tastes sweet
My troubled mind now lets go

The climax makes my fingers twitch
The ice cream truck is nearer
The gleam in the young boys eye
The end so typified

Gallantry

Salutations and Congratulations
Revelations and insinuations
Rode the knight in his pearl white
Towards the valley of doom

Escapades and Serenades
Accolades and charades
The insignia of love fades on the way
Died did the orchids in bloom

Did i falter or did it fade
Was my message lost on the way
Did the mist soak my fervor
Wont she weep
Wont she even say

The second cannon launched
Towards our self demise
The target seems lost in the sky
Alone in paradise
Lost the battle twice

Bend

Their riveted innocence on clanking cobblestones
The smiling women with deep brown eyes
The bayside path at the eve of dusk
Lets walk hand in hand and entrust

Phrase by phrase the voice lies
A treat as the bourgoise smile
Uncouth jugglers play with fire
Circus folk cry in the summertime
What is meant to be?

The sunbeam through glass?
Only shivering under the drying leaves
Placid urns of distrust?
That burst into gallows of deceit
Siezure and proclivity of tears?
That levy the fund of demise
I was watching as the night slipped by
Bent by confusion
Burnt my ire

I looked at her copper locks that day
And the moonshine gleam in her eyes
She laughed and played and joyously cried
My words inept, my thoughts ary

It was meant to be.

Cocoon

Let me make you smile
I'll wipe your palette dry
Burning bright like a savanna flame
Leaves of toxins make you levitate
Its white all around
Even the sky houses a swirling blade
You're trapped in plumes of fire and ice
Cacophony with a whiff of melody
The aphrodisiac sound of an oriental chord
Its white all around

The kick of thunder pushes the cylinder
The revs of silence awaken the owls
Im travelling through the passage of dark
The passage is woven
Streetlights blur past my road
Its just the beam of craving that lights my way
Alas the jeweled palace shone bright
The cold night fades to a sleepy galley
Dim are the lights again
Its white all around

As i entered the emerald hallway
Vacant thrones called my name
The yellow parchment stares at me blankly
We're at a mellow place
Down south from divinity, we're edging nearer
To the sunrise of the newfound wake
As the blues play, we awaken
Its all blurred, its all a haze
Its white all around

The Rising Tide

Sun soaked flakes of glass
pristine emeralds receding away
frolick in the groves of nature
rummaging for that spec of gold
glee arrives with the helpless shoal

The light cries with fury
sinking in traps of beauty
washed away those who are bold
abhor the black waiting to arrive

Mindless games children crave
tripping on water and wine
aching deep inside
waiting for the rising tide
waiting for the rising tide

The Shallow End

Forgive my maladies for i have sinned
The feathered sniffle of betrayal
The gleaming edge of steel smiles
As nocturnal risings haunt the troubled mind
Emptiness prides itself
Thieves have stolen the wings of the raven
Clowns and monks roam the streets in disguise
Even the kleptomaniac reeks of satisfaction
And the poignant charade moves on

Opened books, valued more than speechless murals
The undercurrents at their hilt
Tasting the black blood of a charred soul
As nothing gold can stay
As i put back on my mask of fear
Slide into the whimsical cage
The chimes now hide the foregone love
And the poignant charade moves on

The Waking Hours

Sitting pensivley she gazes at the seed
Waiting for her flower of love to bloom
All alone as the winds give wings
The night is crowned bt the gemstone moon

To wait his while he dips his feather
Into the ink of tears he shed
A loner in shackles and a slumber called life
A time of silence in the wormhole he led

The waking hours and the glorious days
Over the bridge and under the veil
Sip the malt and light the coals
Enclose me in your timeless shoal

Lift me on your ship and fly
Draw me in your eyes and cry
Kiss me in your dreams and feel
This endless love that i cant heal

The Haystack

Proliferating diatribe in a literary nightmare
Still craving for relentless cacophony
Drowning the echoes of silence in blood
Running wild, circularly in disgust
Laying seeds of thought, waiting for the weed
Crying, screaming, grinning...bittersweet as shame

Wandering through doors of dreams, passages to nightmares
Leaving the games children play mindlessly
Choked by a vain ember, a line drawn indirectionally
Calm like a holocaust, mildly chilling, cleverly judging
Sinking in labyrinths of lust, rising cleverly as the autumn moon

As I tap my finger, the melody escapes, profusely setting free the soul
Stacked on coins, with a cherry on top...look
Look at her watching heartily as her portrait shatters
As she shows me the sky I see but an empty street
Don’t show me the way, I’ll reclusively reach my end
The darkness charges towards me, I throw pebbles to mock it
But she tells me the pain won't ever go away
Look to the other side, a ladder lies smiling, climb where u please
Cry, scream, grin...bittersweet as pain, lest be ashamed

Beating nauseatingly as I sway to hurl
Crowning the king of neverland, look at me fool
Don’t cry, just die, she said, it'll save you the pain

Cutoff from the end, then it'll never find you
Slip away, blind yourself, bias, shelve, dig deeper you fool
Doesn’t it feel strange though, lying immaculately, poised to enthrall
Enchanted by the shredding disturbance slithered under the beat
Wrap yourself around the chilling melody
Look down the cliff and throw the mandolin away before 'you' choose to perish
Doesn’t it feel hefty, so bury that thought under feathers

The flying birds approach, forming the V for vanquish
Vehemently venerating the vice
Alliterate progression, can you?

See, I can never explain, nor will you ever understand
Though your boundaries of thought transcend sensibility
Some things are better left unexplained
Don’t fret, don’t fume, she said, just die...it'll save you the pain....