Tall promises, now belittled by time
Firm faith, now shaken by doubt.
The words, they now ring hollow.
From a cauldron so full, so shallow.

From dust to dust, then further on
I move, drag my feet, plunge, fall.
I hurt, I cry; but life doesn't stop.
Then I awaken, to a new 'morrow.

That palace of illusions, of dreams I built
With own hands. Nurtured, strengthened.
With sweat, watered. With love, adorned.
Gave it everything I could ever give, ever.

Yet that very palace, I later discovered.
Was sunny in day, but very dark at night.
The protection I had once hoped for
Was unfortunately never there, never.

Then one day when the storm came,
It took that palace of illusions too.
The palace I had spend my lifetime for
Was nowhere in sight, gone forever.

Then one day, as I sat down to cry
I realised, what I should have long back.
That palaces are fickle, have no heart.
That palaces decay, they always rot.

I realised that love has no home,
It has to stand naked in the rain.
It has to get burnt in the sunny day
And yet, it can never die, never.

This blood on my hands, doesn't go away.
The sins of acts past linger in hazy memories.
The pure water of deeds done good today,
Bloodied by a single drop of blood of history.

In the blithe joy back in those old days,
Didn't know a cut would grow into a wound.
Didn't realise that minds would be so fickle
Didn't know under the currents lay still waters.

Till I scrapped the surface and discovered
That the past was still alive, still breathing.
That the albatross was still around my neck
That the hearts, after all, were still bleeding.

I walk those streets again this night.
Lonely, accompanied by the moonlight.
My heart paces with joy of rediscovery
But the familiar faces are nowhere in sight.

A stranger to my past I have become,
A stranger to the moments yet to come.
In between the bygone and the rising,
Like a possessed man I run, I run.

On top of the world I sat that day
The wind whispered into my ears.
A story, an affair, a love, a passion
One that tore, destroyed, set on fire.

I heard, of times of unbridled hope
Of nights spent in tears' arms, of despair.
Of love that wasn't meant to be fulfilled
Of a life that was never meant to be lived.

I heard of sacrifices unheard to this day
Of sights that mankind wasn't meant to see.
Of words of blood, hell, fire and brimstone,
Of a catharsis that shall never repeat.

And then the wind, it suddenly died.
I got up, picked my clothes and came back.
I went there trying to save the world,
Am glad to have simply returned with dignity.

A thread, the thread of life so fine
Snapped in a moment, oh so fast.
It had just been born, this moment
And now lies scattered, scattered.

In this house of broken glasses,
At this time of raging emotions.
Of hope, of despair - of love,
Of a friendship not meant to be.

A heart sank that day, into the sea
Came to save it not one, not one.
From their palaces of worldly peace,
They watched the drama unfold.

Let it be, just let the heart sink
Into an ocean of despair, of hope.
Let self-pity not overpower
Let this house of wax not burn.

This broken mirror, red with rage
The man in it, a stalwart I once knew.
His decaying face betrays the rust
His haughty eyes, the pride bygone.

The swagger of the past now undone,
The wealth of esteem lost in due time.
Remains, in its place, a hollow shell
But the haughty eyes burn so bright!

This pain, like a dose of anesthetic
Rushes through my body, my soul.
It purges me of the sins bygone,
It gives me strength for future battles.

It is, at once, an unmatched uniter
And the greatest divisive agent.
It is, at once, the beacon of love
And the war cry of blind hatred.

This pain, the story of my life.
This pain, the sorrow of my days.
This pain, the succor of my nights.
To this pain, I surrender, surrender.

In wait of the eternal union with you,
I wander these ephemeral shiny streets.
Your one word, a hundred roses bloom.
Your one sight, lifts this heavy gloom.

You are mine, and yet not part of me.
This world's traveller, our paths differ.
When will you leave this material world
When will my wait for union end?

Till then, these streets I shall roam.
Like a dark, brooding specter I walk.
Till the five rivers of love, they converge
I shall be dead, I shall be dead.

The dead leaf, an anguished yellow
Floats with the tide to a future unknown.
The veins are visibly tired and beaten,
The giant river's currents overbearing.

There it is, bobbing from below the water
At death's door, one last gasp at life.
A horde of other such dead leaves follows
All dead, all being rushed to a watery grave.

Till one day, the sun shone brightly
And washed ashore the bank it was.
At the foot of a giant green tree,
The leaf now lay for one last tryst.

One last tryst with life, with joy
One last dance between life and death.
One last night, perhaps, of revelry
One last moment of love, of companionship.