The river of your memories

In dazzling white attire
Spreading beauty and light everywhere

Pearly waters of your river
Makes my throat parched

When I drunk the pure water
Of your divine presence

I stopped dancing
And started floating

Into a river of eternal calm
But then you went away

Your absence caused a great storm
Thunderous waves came crashing down

On me, and I submerge in
The river of your memories

I come out to breathe
Only when I see your presence divine

I call you

My voice is so feeble

And yet I gather all my strength

And call you at the top of my voice

And yet it never seems to reach you

There seems to be mountains

And streams and forests between us

The distance is enormous

And yet I try to reach you

Sometimes during a new moon night

When your beautiful light shines forth

I see you from this great distance

And then the light vanishes as

You go inside your house

And lock all doors

The momentary bright light is blinding

And what follows is a long period of darkness

Even though you have closed all doors

Your light filters through the corners

This light is so beautiful that

I leave all and run behind it

But I know not how great

A distance I have to travel

I wish you would come halfway

across to meet me, but you do not!

I travel alone towards you

And It seems verily so

That I have been walking

Since eternity, but you are still

So far away, that I feel dejected

I then see your light again

And then I again pack my belongings

And walk towards your dwelling

I am Hallaj

I am Hallaj, An-al-Haq (I am the truth)

You are the angry Abbasid Caliph

Even before I have made the proclamation

You torture me so by already putting me on the pyre

I whirl like the dervish in divine ecstasy

Until you come along and vanish before I could see properly

Your brief appearance is like a thunderstorm devastating

It blows over calm waters and wrecks havoc over my city

One moment I see you, it is followed by a longing so deep

I stop whirling and am surrounded only by you entirely

I feel like a helpless deer trapped in the hunters net

And you are the lioness waiting to hunt me down

And yet it looks as though you are not hungry yet

For you look at me from the bushes where I cannot see you

When I see you I submerge in your murky waters

I do not want to surface but to stay within

Inside these waters I see nothing but you

When the fakir comes I leave your river

He takes me to water so clear

That I can see you me and everyone else

And yet, once I am away from there

I again feel like submerging in your river

And yet your abode is across this river vast

I have tried to swim across, but the distance is large

I tire myself out and then again

Submerge and am satisfied to remain within

And I remain there for the fakir

To pull me out and cleanse me

How long will this cycle last

I wish to get out of this fast

I wish you would leave your abode so far

And submerge with me in the fakir's ocean of bliss

I search for your ship

I was sailing on placid waters

Until I saw the sails of your ship

With your well equipped magazine you attacked

Doing irreparable damage to my ship

Your blows smashed many of my crew into smithereens

Many were forced to go to Davy Jones Locker

After the attack you just left me

In the vast sea hapless

Suddenly the waters turned violent

There were claps of thunder and heavy rains

Wet and hungry I was sailing alone

Searching for your ship

For I knew that only in your ship

Can I sail safely ashore

But I continue to sail in the rickety ship

Afraid of the sea monsters of the deep

I search for your ship with pearly white sails

A steady ship is yours in the roughest of waters

The beauty of your ship alone fuels your magazine

No ship can withstand your naval onslaught

I seek to work under your command

In your ship to sail till death do us part

Eternal night

You do not know what you are

You know not your worth

Does the diamond know it's value?

Or the water in the oasis it's worth?

It is the Jeweller who craves for a beautiful diamond

And the traveller, the life giving waters of the Oasis

My craving for you is no different

I look everywhere for you leaving no stone unturned

I see the proof of your presence from a distance

For I see you glistening in the Sunlight

And yet now, bereft of your presence

It feels like an eternal night

No matter where I go, no matter what I do

You always seem to be just out of reach

There are, Only when you pass by brief moments of light

They are so bright they make me shut my eyes tight

And when I open my eyes again you have taken flight

I again grope in darkness searching for your light

Phantom in my mind

I think you are but a phantom in my mind

For in my world you do not exist

I behold you only in my dreams

When I snap back to reality I do not see you

And if I do you only appear

Like a Shooting star and then disappear

Reality metamorphosis into a dream world

Where I see you every moment

How can I but tell one from the other

It is like my reflection in the mirror

Reality is painful because of your absence

The consolation is the dream world filled with your presence

River of stillness

I was a river of stillness
Until you came as a butterfly

The flutter of your wings
Caused a raging storm

Terrible waves lashed in my river
The storm went away, but the waves remained

Remnants are the waves of you
They will remain within

Every time you fly by
The raging storm follows

The stillness can be regained
Only if you submerge in my river

The crowded street

I saw you in this crowded street

The darkness was driven away by your divine light

I walk this street everyday

But I return home without your glimpse

I spend hours everyday loitering in this street

But only to return home without your divine sight

I come to the street where you live

I wait there in that crowded street

I call out to you but I hear no response

I write things on the wall opposite to your window

Yet very rarely do I see you in this crowded street

Very rarely do we really meet

And when I see you in this street

I run to another one in fright

Then I come back only to find

The street bereft of your beautiful presence

It appears as thought I am prepared

To spend an eternity in the street where you live

In the darkness

In the darkness I was in a cave

Light was what I did crave

You did for a brief moment appear

Everything out side was brighter than earlier

I wanted to bask in your light

But I stayed within the cave in fright

There was again darkness after the brief moment

Why did I not come out I lament

In the cave I continue to wait

To again glimpse your divine light

The lighthouse

I am the pen,you are the author

I am the candle, you are the flame

I am the flute, you are the music

I am the whirl, you are the dervesh

Every day my longing grows

Until the moment when your image shows

A powerful lighthouse in a dark sea

You appear to this sailor who has lost course

When I try to steer towards the light

Fierce winds take my boat in the opposite direction

I wander in the sea in pain

To catch a glimpse of your light again

In the darkness I wait!

I came here in your quest

I flew without food and rest

And yet I know not where you are

I look in land, water and air

Many a times I try

to fly really high

So you could see me

wherever you may be

And yet I hardly see you

Nor is there any sign of you

Only once here and once there

Do I get to see you somewhere

Your vision is like a brief spark

Of light in the night dark

In the darkness I wait

For your beautiful light

The city where you live!

I came near your city

In your pursuit

In the night, illumined

By your presence divine

The city appears so near

Yet I have not there reached

I have walked for many days

Hungry and Thirsty and bereft of sleep

No matter how much I walk towards you

You seem to be just out of reach

Why do you tease me so?

Why can I not enter your city

I become angry at this inabilty

And yet at night when I gaze at your city

It glows brighter than the moon and stars

It eases my pain and reminds me of my longing

Only when I leave my city

Will I be able to enter yours