The Second Half-2

You look at her and

don’t presume people

question her dress code

for, she was as naked as truth.




You look at her and

don’t question why

she was out at that time-

for she thrived

in a fairytale world

where she defined time:

Time did not define her.




You look at her and

don’t ask her what

she was doing out

with a boyfriend-

because she did not know

what it meant.




You look into her innocent eyes

and don’t wonder

why she doesn’t say:

I want to live.

for she has not even

entered life yet.

Trust

You said -

the foundation of our loyalty

was not firm,

forgetting -

it was the foundation

of your trust

that wasn’t firm.




© rukhaya mk 2013

Teacher

“He who can, does;

he who cannot, teaches.”-GBS



You asked me : Why I wanted to teach

Poletically correct,I quipped:

“Teaching is my first love. “



I never knew when, where, why

this mask became that man.

This bond I promised, only would be-

the c/graft of knowledge;

this postpaid connection,

never turning lifetime;

feeling never creeping in ,

even like the Sunshine Cat.

Yet, they metamorphosed into creepers,

thriving on knotted ties, grafts budding into me.

Attachment desperately knocked

for citizenship in my heart.

And,when it was time they turned stems-

it hurt-

Tough, promise made to the self was easy

to break.



When you bloomed, I was-

When you blossom, will I be?





You had asked me-

whether teaching

was a cakewalk?

Perhaps, I had learnt

to teach them

But forgot to

instruct myself.




© Rukhaya MK 2013

Party

Obligation is a heavy word-
it follows you
everywhere staunchly
like a loyal
chunky puppy
refused to be let alone
You let it tag along
sentient of the damage it does,
Unawares , I adorned the uniform
as they ironed out
the individual creases
so that I belonged.
The party is for the individual,
the individual is not for the party.

© rukhaya mk 2013

Jihad

>>They were<<

Nazis, Naxalites, Maoists

or fundamentalists

dwelling in times of

Pearl Harbours, Iraqs, Afghanistans or

Man’s first organized crime.

“My name is Nathuram Godse

And I am not a terrorist.”



But I am –

the one who came as a guest

but forgot to go away.

You disapprove as easily

as you approve

one of the seven wonders

on your mantelpiece, and

pitied the defensive cat

cornered below it.

How can I call Mom

step-mother

when I know

I came from her womb.

I am a Muslim,by choice

but by default, an Indian:

Nothing can change that.



© rukhaya mk 2013

NoWhere

I pack my bags

esteem and ego

deposited below the

bundles and burdens

And revert to return-

But as I reach the gate-

I find my heart left behind

dead long before I knew it…

and stopped beating for you

It was now a fish-

out of its water,

would die any moment…




© Rukhaya MK 2013

Lies..

If not draw

a correct picture,

do not simulate

a false image

You looked like my son’s inhaler

but was filled with paraquat-

did your work and went back

without any trace

trailing only a visible effect

and people say

there would be no smoke without fire.

You could add only O to CO

and still create the truth.



© rukhaya mk 2012