In a Bus

It’s a summer sun gone into hiding suddenly,

There’s just the right paleness a sky could wear

As if it aches dull, and is sore with some unknown pain

Seeing the panorama of nature and people

From a running bus, is revealing.

The mind drifts back to people

Who came with the signboard of love,

Flirted with emotions and limbs,

But didn’t stay long.

A strange sadness moves through the trees quickly

And you whisper to the wind,

‘God bless their happy families, their wives and children.’

And sullenly think how fear prevents the heart from writing its

Own language,

Fear of people, of safety, of the ego dying,

Fear of so many things

Sticks to the dark corners of the mind

and keeps us small.

A song plays on the ears

And a strange longing stretches its limbs nowhere

Longing for love, for touch,

for a connection as cosmic as ether

Longing for someone to come and break you free

From a self-imposed widowhood.

Water flows in dark ripples

Under the bridge,

Sand ribs stretch for miles,

The trees look absent-minded and sullen,

Carrying your mood.

No fingers stretch and touch yours,

No arms envelope you in reassurance.

You keep listening to the song still,

Teary-eyed, bleary-eyed,

Thinking of how much you gave and how much received.

You are not anymore afraid of pain but,

Not fearful of anything under the sky,

except sin.