UNTITLED

It's late when I pass it by.
The waste bin,
Smelling and overflowing with
The neighbors' collective rubbish.
Old, read newspapers,
Wasted food that mothers
Urged their children to eat
Before they junked it while she was arguing with the dhobhi,
Black polythene bags
That had been used to bring home
Sweets and bread from the iyyengar bakery
Among a whole lot of other rotting things.

He sat there in the midst of it all.
Looking, searching, sifting.
In his old, blue T-Shirt
And battered pants given to him
By a pitying housewife.

I watched him
As he picked up a coconut,
And shake it vigorously.

I watched him,
Watched his toothless grin
Grow wider as he realized
He could take it home with him.

I watched him get up and skip away with it.

I watched him
And I realized,
My trash
Was his fortune.

GROWING UP

Here I stand
I'm in the middle of a crossway
I think maybe it's just this once..
But I have a feeling I'll have one everyday



I know it won't always be hard
It might even be easy sometimes
I smile at the irony of the whole thing
When the familiar warning bell chimes



I've been here before
I've know what it's like
I know it's not fairytales and candy
This is real, this is Life



I want to go back in time
I want to be seven
I want my puppy, the old black and white telly,
Blue uniforms, lollypops, and dark chocolate heaven



I want the tooth fairy, the unicorns
I want my big old house, barnyard and cows
I want all my dreams back
What I don't want is Now



It felt like I was twelve when I was eight
Hell, maybe I was twenty when I was three
I molded into anything anyone wanted
When all I wanted was to be me.

FOR MY FIRST, MY ONE, AND MY ONLY MUSE.

A whispered word
A stolen glance
Hidden smiles
A midnight dance


A blush of pink
A hurried kiss
Dizzy spells
And an endless list


Of secret touches
Of holding hands
Of sensual baths
An endless romance


Of hungry eyes
Of needy mouths
Of searching fingers
And moans and shouts


All wrapped up
In that whispered word
That stolen glance
That hidden smile
And a midnight dance