A MYRMIDON'S OBSECRATION

Out of me

You can make anything

That suits your interest,

Anything

That goes well

With your taste,

Like

An undemanding beast of burden,

An all-season yes-man,

A soft interpreter of your deeds,

An anonymous clown,

A lifeless mannequin,

A loyal assassin

Break me,

Twist me,

Smash me,

Thrash me,

Dear Sir!

I am just a lump of

Soil, prepared by

Intermixing some desires,

Some emotions,

Some dreams

That are corrosive at places,

Harsh in patches,

But still plastic enough

To adapt to your tantrums,

Something you’re

Free to give

As many shapes,

As you wish,

Without requiring to smother

A loud, hapless NO!

© DEEPAK DARSHAK 

ALTER EGO

Everybody thought

He must have gone

Mad,

When he said

He could talk to

The wind

But I stood by him

As I knew he could be true

Everybody thought

He must have been

Possessed

By wanton spirits,

When he said

He could see

Strange shadows at night

Moving along

The restive waves of water

But I believed him

As I knew he could be true

Everybody thought

He was overpowered

By the devil’s agents

When he said

He could identify

The lines on

The faces of the moon

And the stars

In still waters,

But I accepted his assumption

As I knew he could be true

Last night,

He was taken away

For what

His caretakers called

A routine test to

Ensure he was suffering from

Some unruly neurotic disorder

Writhing

In a siege of fetters,

He tried to tell the world

He was not what

He had been

Made out to be

I agreed

As I knew

He too was possessed by  

The besotted soul of

Some bard or balladeer

Like me

© DEEPAK DARSHAK

SHADOWS

Shadows

Keep chasing me
Everywhere
In a city
Without doors

I climb up
The stairs of
The hill,
In a nervous bid to

Get away from them,
But the stairs get
Lengthier

I weave stories,
Create soliloquies,
Strategise conversations,
Wear smiles like
Shirts to hide
My pegged disgust
And
Keep climbing up
Soaked in sweat
Oozing from my
Cracked prayers,
But my feet get
Heavier

The moon often
Comes to my rescue,
Hiding me
In her arms
And I often miss
The shadows
Surrounding her,
Eying me
For yet another
Chase

© DEEPAK DARSHAK

DREAM

Senescence burst 

Had no name  

A huff,
A puff,

A pant,

A crawl,

An amble,

A scamper,

A scowl…  

The thick of

Arboreal clumps

Was the theatre, prior to  

A steep fall

For

A streak of soliloquies,

Sensation drives

With a crack of

Soulful cheers,

Pantomimic and

Visible to the times

Beyond

For a while,

We could think

We were faces

Embedded into

The wall of the night,

Loaded with

Illegible reminiscences,

And a compulsive wait

For the boat of gold, 
The Sun,

To carry us away

To the other bank of

A long day    

(© DEEPAK DARSHAK)