The Slide

He climbed up the ladder, one, two, three

The ground fell lower,  three, two, one

The sky came closer, one, two, three.

Up went the kid, four, five, six

Down went the ground, six, five, four

Up was the Future, bright and bold

Down was the Past, dull and dead.

The kid sat at the top

And the slide took him down

In one smooth rush,

On a roly, jolly ride.

The wind hit his face,

The ground zoomed up -

And thud! He was back where all it began.

*********** Balachandran V, Trivandrum, 27-01-2012

Time, Frozen

Flipping through Henri’s* pictures, 

I see how desperate he was, like me,

To freeze time.

Fleeting are our lives - the ones you see smiling,

Crying, frowning, deep in thought, their inner selves revealed

A glimpse offered in these frozen images

And then taken away in the flood.

Faster, quicker than the flowing water,

Life flees, swirls and then disappears -

All that remains is a dash between

A year and another...

********** Balachandran V, Trivandrum,  26-01-2012

“through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us. . ." 

    *Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1908 -2004

Gecko

He moved swiftly, through the little gap

Between the door ajar and the wall

Hiding then, behind the desk, presumably

Catching his breath - but soon as I pulled the desk back

Like lightning, he took cover behind the pile of papers.

I grinned at him, he was young and little, a juvenile, and said -

'Gotcha, my boy'  and with a quick brush of the broom

Escorted him out into the glaring sun.

That was yesterday, that was when I felt I could not stand

This suffocating sensation, the revulsion of solitude,

Yet shunning company, sans I am, of love and friendship.

Now, defeated, depressed and disconsolate, I welcomed him

As he skulked in a corner, nodding, licking  his chops clean

Of the remains of a fly and looked at me, cocking his head.

'Welcome, my Achilles, welcome, brighten my lonely evenings.'

******* Balachandran V, Alappuzha, 11.01,2012

Note: 'Achilles' is an unforgettable gecko in 'My family and other animals' by Gerald Durrell, one of few great human beings that ever walked on earth....

Neelkanta

Everytime I went to sleep

Behind the drooping eyelids

Draped over my eyes-

This bright, white glow of light.

I squeeze my eyes further shut

Focussing on the white light

Growing brighter and brighter

Till I  sink into a deep slumber.

I remember it from decades ago

Till one morning, among the snow-capped mountains

One cold morning when snowflakes still fell

Someone  tapped my shoulder -

Turning back -

He was smiling at me gently -

Unraveling himself from the shroud of clouds - 

My mountain, my vision, the pinnacle

Of my greatest longing -

My Neelkanta!

********* Balachandran V, Alappuzha, 03.01.2012

I was in a bus when it struck

I was in a bus when it struck

Twelve.

Waking up from fitful dozing

I heard the yelling and screaming

Of boys bypassing the bus in their bikes

Screaming, “ Happy New Year!”

I look around my fellow passengers –

We have yet a long way to reach home

There wouldn’t be much of a New Year celebration

For us; I love my fellow travelers.

I fall into a reverie, remembering New Years –

Ruefully, I remember those, drunken, partying kinds

That of lying in the middle of a highway at night

That of dizzying hopping from bar to bar

That spent on the top of a hill, shivering in the cold

That by the side of the sea where I would part with my love.

I remember the New Years, lacklustre, spent at home

Indifferent, blank to the gyrating glitterati in the TV

New Years spent alone, nursing a drink, bitter

Blaming self for the promises  unkept, resolutions unresolved.

Chilling gusts of wind blast through the open window.

I remember those who were with us in the beginning of the last year

Yet no more, today, or ever, on another New Year day.

****** *****Balachandran V, Trivandrum, 01-01-2012