Poems by Rohit Malekar
I am not the same soul
Whom you sought last
I don’t expect you to
Beat the same heart
I hope the weather was
Much kinder for you
Alas! If only I knew
How to skip a storms few
I wish your battles carved
A stronger version of you
Alas! I could say that
My bruises aren’t new
Speak to me of your sorrows
And I will show you my scars
Let us drown in our memories
Under the same old stars
Under the gravels of time
Lost words lay trapped
Embraced in eternal silence
Of unexpressed emotions
A sigh breathes besides
That corner always hidden
Where in every heart resides
One letter left unwritten
“There are no mistakes”
The universe commands
There is a reason
Where every drop lands
Waste time forcing choices
Or peek inside with a pause
Hidden behind all voices
Can you spot their cause?
When you hiked not to get to the top
But to discover how the trail bends
Ever wrote down a thought without
Knowing how it all ends.
When your biases came pounding
You bent for only a few
Ever changed your mind about
Something important to you.
When you moved across oceans
To mend a broken heart
Embraced your guilt and forgave
Your younger self’s part.
When in spite of a heart full of rage,
You unclenched that fist a little,
You changed the shape of your universe,
You made it a bit less brittle.
The deepest depths
the Maker could carve
must bow in awe—
dwarfed and dimmed
by the boundless blaze
of your unflinching gaze,
filled with love, unshaken.
I am caught in this double whammy
Why am I my soul’s worst company
Scared of the silence of my own solitude
Who else shall bear with such attitude?
I would rather indulge in the infinite scroll
Or take my chances against the army of troll
Or be buried in the burrow of books for a stroll
Than lay bare open with myself whole
I am caught in this double whammy
Why am I my soul’s worst company
Scared of the silence of my own solitude
Who else shall bear with such attitude?
Like a dandelion seed,
that lands on a palm,
I found the muscle,
With the wind to wrestle.
“I am done being swayed,
And pushed and shoved,
I am taking a stand,
to break your command.”
Your palms made a nest,
For a tiny moment’s rest,
For yet another flight,
To take on the wind’s might.
And I heard while I lay,
Your eyes whisper and say,
The words shared by few,
“I see you.”
‘Twas that moment,
That freed all lament,
I knew before I again flew,
I had found me through you.
Did you choose
The colors with which
You have your face painted?
With borrowed dreams
And stolen quests
We live our lives rented.
You build a world
With faulty faculties
And biases strongly cemented
How I wish
This universe sometimes
Wasn’t always so dented.
Like an unknown turn
With a poker face
And traps and temptation
In its masquerade
When there is no telling
When the sun shall show
Ever heard the calling
Of the purple sky above?
Like a clinched fist
On a barbed wire
My heart seethes
Wrapped in a fire
I clean the stains
Of the spilled shame
I sweep the pieces
Off the life’s frame
I scavenge for choices
I hunt for the meaning
I seek for the vices
To keep me dreaming
With my hands tied
My silent screams soar
Trapped in a future
I wasn’t meant for
breathe. feel. love. 