Babu Chopped The Dry Branches

of my two coconut trees

this morning as promised

and I sat outside

on my porch

watching him work

deftly with his machete

and he said

it would be best

to tie nets

around the coconuts

as the monkeys

have been stealing

almost every coconut

for a long while now

and I said yes

that would be good

and a lady passed by

and asked if she could

take the branches that

Babu had chopped

and were lying

on the ground

and I said yes

and she was with

a happy little boy

in a pink T-shirt

and khaki shorts

and this lady

in the blue sari

took the branches

one by one

to the end of the road

and got a machete

and started chopping

the leaves from the branches 

and my neighbour Noorja

arrived with some ash

and told me that it

would be good for the trees

and I thanked her

and she said

that the previous owner

used to water the trees a lot

and there were many coconuts

and I said okay

and now in the evening

the children play

in the bylane next

to my window

and they are so jubilant

and the birds chirp

merrily in the setting sun

and I am beginning

to feel happy

and I remember

the afternoon

and my neighbours

strolling about

and the children

who were cycling

this morning

and at this moment

my illnesses do not

bother me anymore

my GERD my stress

my insomnia vanish

into the dusk

and I hear

a child running

and I imagine

it is me

as a boy.

And While I Was On The Terrace

a big black monkey

suddenly appeared

out of nowhere

and started leaping

along my parapet

I got up from my armchair

and shouted at it

and it leapt back

and jumped onto

my coconut tree

and then I shouted

at it again

and began throwing stones at it

from the pile

that I keep handy there

and then it jumped

onto my other coconut tree

and I kept throwing stones at it

but now it would not budge

and after a while it just moved

to another branch

and kept looking at me

and I kept shouting

and continued throwing stones at it

until finally it got hassled

and leapt onto my wall

and then onto the road

and ran along it

what a beautiful animal it is

the big black monkey

with its white mane

and what a sound it makes

woo woo woo woo woo woo

so deep and delighting

but then it eats my fruits

and relieves itself on my property

and I have no choice

but to chase it away

though I must say

that none of my stones

ever hit them

and one of the

greatest sights in Kumily

is watching a black monkey

meditating motionless in a tree

for hours together

and how this makes

you think of the calm inside

that animal that thief that nuisance

making this most puzzling

how it freely shares with you

the peace it feels

how it is able to take you

to a different dimension

and your eyes fill up

with the quiet blue skies.

The Happy Voices

of my neighbours talking

cheer me up

this bright golden morning

and there is laughter

and a young woman’s voice

is like it is gliding on air

and a middle aged man’s

is like a bear

anyway the cock crows

be without a care

relax in your chair

you are a lion

and your house

is your lair

this day is like a fun fair

dance till your clothes tear

and thrash about your hair

because this is a life full of dare

while you’re seated

on a prancing mare

and that’s everything

you need to know right there.

Illness And Grief

have got married

in me

and they are making love

and the effect

is so terrible

my heart shakes like a leaf

my mind does cartwheels

in fire

and my flesh is burnt

and cannot keep up

this is what life is

the child of madness

brother of evil

sister of sorrow

mother of no tomorrow

father of nothingness

universal joke

a sharp poke

and when will all this be done

I ask

my voice withering

and I am lucky

because I am punched in the gut

I am kicked in the head

and then soon I am dead.

A Lovely Breeze

blows in the morning

the forest smiles

and the body is washed

by cool air

the mind breathes

the blue sky in and out

pushing these big white clouds

making them slowly skate

above us like cotton

and the birds are always

chirping

delighting my heart

making it fly in the light

and in the night I cross

mountain after mountain

in the darkness

flying through the valleys

these cardamom farms here

these tea estates where in the day

women pick tea under the hot sun

wearing small colourful umbrella caps

on their heads

and it is such a pleasure to dive

and climb

and the moon is always there

for company

smiling

and today it is so happy

to see me

it sings

O my love O my love

there in the air

come kiss me

and I hold the orb in my arms

like a lover

and kiss its silver face

and both of us now burst into song

and make love to what sounds like a gong

ding dong ding dong.

This Was Now The Track

the mind took and ran

the body rebelled

it felt differently

the mind was now in a trap

it couldn’t escape

it couldn’t jump out of the body

so it kept running like it had gone mad

and when it finally got tired

it lay down

now it was disturbed

about not being able to get out

of the body

and it became sick

and then the body also became ill

it was no more itself

it had become heavy and slow

and old and hurt inside

and it lay shaking

on the bare Earth

and the mind is

muttering wailing howling

in its body of misery

and it screams

this is not me

this is some mad beast

I don’t know

I have had enough

it shouts once again running

I can’t take this anymore

I must go

it screeches

and dives off a cliff.

Ah Life Is Now So Bad

devils screech like mad

piss against the sky

and hurl fire on each other

they all drink blood

flowing freely from

the silver moon

they hunted

with their spears

their bows and arrows

their guns and their bombs

misery is no saliva in the mouth

and there is more bad news

so much white flesh of the orb

has been eaten

all the streets are evil

they rise like tongues

with the sting of poison

that can kill you

so you stay hidden

in your house

that you find shaking

your heart beating

like a drum

and now as the flames burn

you watch through

your window trembling

the dead rise and walk on the road.

And This Morning The Forest

is golden

and dancing

swaying in delight

and I saw a smile on my neighbour’s face

and two small puppies earlier

they were so sweet

and now the birds chirp in joy

and I can hear happy talk

and the leaves of my coconut trees

brush against my roof

in the breeze

and a child’s tender voice

next door

makes the Earth seem like

the old planet it was

once again

and the car horn

is music to my ears

and silence

is the rhythm of life here

O how comforting

the world is

like a lover in my arms

and life

air that we breathe

making it that simple

a hawker is honking

in the distance

like he could hear my thoughts

and I think

we can come

that close to each other

when the cosmos

whistles in happiness

and humankind shouts love

like an automatic toy

I become a boy

I kiss the universe

and she is not coy

in her arms I lie

in her arms I will die.

With So Much Happening

the mind disappears into the void

faster

the body follows later

the universe vanishes

and that’s it

finally nothing prevails

emptiness dances

its death dance

ghosts howling

in silence

and memories

of multitudes

crawl invisible

all that was there

has gone somewhere

and here is the chatter

of zeros

and these are the heroes

of the cosmos finished

you cannot see

anything now

there is no reality

there is no fantasy

this is the end

the space after

the full stop

till the closing

of time

when its hands

fall off.

Remembering

loved ones

who are no more

hearing their

voices in your head

seeing them

in your mind

is like touching them

but they are

not really there

and then

you are so sad

you are inconsolable

the world is so ruthless

it’s taken the people

you loved the most

your mother your father

and left you orphaned

O this universe is so bad

why does it

want us to feel so sad

surely it is miserable and mad.