Life uninspired?

I feel totally dead today.

I wonder how it feels like to die?!

**************************************

This dead night

Those lights remain static;
Bold stripes on stiff mufflers look unappealing--
Red dominating white.

Shut inside ice-cold cosmetic,
Those nerves wait immobile and freezing--
Ravenous for light.

Their minds spin frantic--
Eyeballs rolling 360 degrees unending--
Chasing better insight.

An escape route tactic;
From wretchedness labyrinth limping
Hounding liberty delight.

Yet, all, a drama so nonsensical;
Not a thing can create designs alluring.
This dead night.

(19th Sept 2006)

Indian streets

Building Palaces

Beads of sweat and dirt
glittering in the mid-day sun
on your tanned body hung
like heavy gold necklaces.

Your cheap anklets jingle
like tunes from bollywood songs,
as you balance your basket of bricks
and sand on your turbaned head.

Bare-footed heroine in a crumpled sari
performing a complex dance sequence
among yellow cranes and iron rods
building glass palaces for a day's plate.

Your infants, covered with soot
and eyes unopened, crawl out
from huts of sun-baked aluminum
to watch and learn your trade soon.

Your body toned and chiseled with
years of load and sweat and childbirth
knows not what is pain, anymore.
Do you question or accept what is?

Your aspirations, fears and fantasy,
I wonder if you speak of them
to your husband, children and friends.
Or are they drowned in noises of machines?

Flowers, gardens and peace and quiet,
do you ever dream of? Fairytales and
stories, would you not like to read
to your children every evening, every day?

While we ask, despite the angry monsoon sky,
your cracked heels in the mud still move
diligently, you know that this day will not wait,
and everybody knows that.