Meet me

Meet me in the falling of leaves
where everything turns golden and coffee brown
the moment of haze that brings the love in us.

Then, meet me again in the world of snow
where the feeling of you is frozen in a leaf
and being us requires the compassion we have missed.

Ehsas

Aaj kalam uthayi
Toh yaad aaya
Ki Zindagi ke chaar din
Abhi aur baaki hain

Woh pal
Jo beetein nahi
Saansein abhi lete hue.

Copyright © Latikaa Sareen

Living Art

The painting that I once had in my living room,

Was now broken into the tiniest colorful pieces

By the woman on the wheelchair who called herself

My ‘stepmother.’

The walls are like a sea,

Colorless and full of pale faces.

I wanted to visit my house again,

To be able to look at my broken painting.

The gift that was given by my father.

I wanted to re-live those thrilled moments,

Where all I saw was happy faces.

I wanted to be written in the book of memories,

Like every day was meaningful

Until I remembered the same painting.

Copyright © Latikaa Sareen

Nazranaa

"Aansu bhi ajeeb hote hain

Jab behne ka waqt na ho

Tab dil ke kareeb hote hain

Zaahir hai ruk nahi paate tab woh lafz

Jo ashko me behke

mohabbat ki dastan kehte hain."

"Unhi palo me jee liye hum, jaha tum the (X 2)

Yunhi chal diye phir 

Jaha tumhare tanha dil ki arzoo ne 

nazranaa diya."

"Kehte the woh ye chupaya nahi karte

Dil ki baaton ka dard bhulaya nahi karte

Raatein to humne bhi badi kaati hai

Zehan pe lafzo ki churiyaan chalaya nahi karte."

Copyright © Latikaa Sareen

Mirage

I had walked up to her thinking I am forgiven

The day had just begun

The new gift of time that I was given

I had known she was the one.

She rose like a light beneath the clouds

Sinking down the river she waved so high

I chose to find her among the crowd

She smirked and flew to touch the sky.

She was an epitome of beauty I had ever seen

Blue eyes with those sharp features

Ready to be dirty yet so clean

I wondered, if god mistakenly created such creatures.

As I got closer, she did not sit still

So She thought I might harm her

Leaned back and flew up the hill

I felt as if my mind was being stir.

I then had named her a mirage

She was a living creature; seemed a montage.

Copyright © Latikaa Sareen

'Mom' Phaseout

Had there been a day when she did not shed a tear
I would have forgiven her
for the sake, of a connection everyone was bound to discern
I knew days would pass
and so would the years
then there will be a time when I'll face her so changed.
changed enough to not know what I looked like,
The truth, the gravity of comprehending that I had grown
grown into a woman she hadn't known.

We felt like it was our prime meet

like despite being acquaintances

we were intruders; aliens to the faces we had hugged and kissed

Once.

It never felt so dewy and untouched,

but I had known that was it.

A new 'phase' was born,

Estranged.

The bleak vision behind the glass
had made me see that it was failing with desperation
the one I had once uttered 'maa' to,
was now like a seasoned fruit
who just appeared during her need.
I wonder why wasn't I in bewilderment?
rather, I had absorbed the dew on the grass
and moved on with that tear once shed.

Ever since then, I have lived.. I have died

within the open space of my house

have talked to the windows and wine glasses

about sadness of my own,

Not knowing that there is a part of me

already so wrecked

that it refuses to bloom again.

Copyright © Latikaa Sareen