Lucifer Lost

I say, have you seen my cat Lucifer around?

She is never late, annoyingly  too time bound

I tell myself I don’t like your piggy eyes

They dart about, windows to your soul of ice

I know, I am sure, I sent Lucifer to you

As I saw you alone on your porch, weak and blue

Lucifer could cheer up zombies, did you know

I was sure, she would get you out of your low.

And now I search for her everywhere

In the streets, greener fields and those too bare

Don’t you tell me, she would be back eventually

Who knows if she is hurt, or dying in a dark alley

You've had your fill, I scowl and say

And now, of course you wouldn't care.

She is afraid of the dark, of the voices in the wild

A heart of gold, a soul so mild

Didn't you laugh when she rolled over and back?

And made you smile as she toppled on the books’ stack

Did you fondle her fur of satin, the blacks of midnight?

And tap her pink nose, as you held her tight.

Look at you now, happy and singing all the tunes

Your voice makes me want to scream and run to the dunes

Do you not care, she was here a while before?

What if she never comes back anymore?

Alone and hurt, in the darkest of lands

No footprints of hers left on my garden sands

People chasing her away, as she hunts for dead mice

I sigh, and think, couldn't just some of them be nice?

I look at you and my heart writhes in rage

Foolish you, I know you never had the courage

You would lose her, maim her or worse

Not even care, although she did but nurse

Your evil, your tears, your horrid dreams

And even shared with you her cookie and cream

Have her heart torn out if you wanted it ever

Made you smile at her tricks so clever

And now, I search the high and low

“Lucifer! Lucifer!” I bellow

I cry as no one would bring her back home

I wouldn't see her gleeful, chasing the gnomes

Or purring near my feet, content with her meal

And playing with my paints, the reds and the teal

In those night like corners, her eyes would dim

Slave to the fear, the devil’s whim.

Broken bones, and the lost smile

Would she be looking for me all this while?

How could you lose her, when you swore?

That the joy she gave lessened the burden you bore

That her pink nose would glow when you laughed

That she would jump for you and try to catch the draft

That you would hold her close and fill in your love

Sigh! All she did was never really enough

For you, your love or your selfish heart

And now, driven away, as she was done with her part

A stray cat somewhere, hurt and angry

Hated by people, loveless and hungry

Would she hit back, scratch and spit?

Would she weep silently, on her destiny’s writ?

I shed a tear, as I know for sure that I have lost

The tiny beacon of bliss, the winds of the coast

I still look for her in the high and the low,

Singing about the cruel, breathing seconds of her lore.

No, as the night comes, she wouldn't

be home

Buried in bones, lost in the loam

Whisper to the air, of the spirit she had

Of the fate of men, in her mewling ballad

Know that the sounds would haunt your sleep

Breach the locked doors of your safe keep

Though you may escape from the gallows of men

That song would seek you, find you and when

You cover your eyes, and block out the tears

The pink nose would grin, clap and roll and cheer

To say, “Here’s to you, my friend!”

A New Day

Today as the sun comes up, it would be because sleep was slow and at the supposed right time

It wouldn’t be to the last moment hassle to resume slumber in the lectures

It wouldn’t be to kick you out of the bed or to scream at you that your class starts in 5 minutes

It wouldn’t be to the ritualistic coffee and toast or to the loudest room in the corridor.

A new day to an unfamiliar silence, the sounds of life that you weren’t wont to for quite some time.

Today as the freshly mowed grass is bathed in the blistering heat, it wouldn’t be to that open window overlooking the campus and the best view in it

Wouldn’t be to the best room in the hostel, with that just right cool breeze and a built in natural thermostat

Not to the road to the endless diet journey, and yet that led to the hostel mess.

A new day with timely meals and not four hands in one tiny lunch box.

There wouldn’t be that din of life, of happiness and sorrows wrapped in the waft of good food and Coke Studio

Nor the need to hide my tears in solitude for the fear of being caught by the too attentive roommates

There wouldn’t be the dread of the days ahead, of the incessant calls and the gravest discussions in the dingiest room.

A new day with lesser worries and even lesser people to grumble or laugh about it with

You have run out of excuses for food binge, will not have ethical dilemmas over Chinese or North Indian

Who would tickle those creative feathers for further demolishing the walls?

You wouldn’t run around booking rooms and sending mails, all through complaining about the lack of infrastructure

Yet loving that alcove nestled beside the lake with music from the otherwise silent smartphones

The new day has a promise of the grown up world – of morphing relations and sleepless nights of materialism

This new day heralds for everyone, brings in hope for some and perhaps fear for others.

But somewhere that insolent child demands that time stops just this once, let this moment freeze for a while

In a room of 3 beds, speakers, the multi-hued crowded walls and those ever present souls

In the laughter and nonchalant bitching, in the shared food and fears, in what felt like a happy fraction of life tucked in a safe corner

In the classes with those drowsy faces, even in those DCPs with their hands up, always

In the rush of local trains, in that mellifluous walk by the Marine Drive in the wee hours of dawn

Let those moments reel back to where it all began

The journey we embarked to carve out our niche, to make a mark on the sands of the slippery mistress called time

I know not if the destination ever arrived, but I remember your laughs, your music, your dance, your dinners,

I recall that idli, and the bhel, the beaches, the late night series, and the not bothering about exams

And I smile.

I smile at fortune’s favour, I sigh at the speed of the time

And I wonder where the diverging roads might meet again.

Surely we will, the insolent child pouts

He cares not of the tempestuous treachery of time and fate, he doesn’t look at what life brings to each.

He holds on to those gossamer threads of memories filled with sunshine and peace

He sleeps to the music of silence under his friends’ loving gaze

He learns to try and hope for the better as he looks back at his tears and joys, sublime and real.

He runs barefoot on the sun kissed sands and hugs you for the reprieve from life

He cracks jokes on you thanking you for never giving up on him, even when he did

And he sings along, high pitched and noisy, to the tune that bound us all together.

As we aged a little more than yesterday, as we set in to lose ourselves a bit more to the world

I hope that the child finds his home by the sea, of azure waves, white clouds and golden memories

And that someday, one new day, we all would find our way back to it too.