Yeh Khamoshi

tum bhi toh abhi khamosh ho aur hum bhi

aur na jaane kya kehti hai yeh khamoshi...

uss din jab tum mile the humse yeh nahi pata tha ki

yeh mulaquaat hogi humari aakhri...

aur mehsoos hua tha tab ek dard dil mein jab tut gaya

humara woh benaam sa rishta aur phir ban gaya ek naya rista

lekin yeh nahi pata tha ki, yeh naya rista hoga yeh khamoshi...

haan kuch lamhe ki thi yeh galatfehmi ki awaaz

lekin jab tut kar giri yeh awaaz kaanch ki tarah ,

toh bikar gayi aur ban gayi yeh khamoshi...

kuch sawal the tumhare jiske jawab tab nahi the paas humare,

aur jo the sawal humare woh kahin dab gaye aur bankar rahi gayi yeh khamoshi...

kabhi agar phir se mann main aaye yeh sawal tumhare

toh padh lena meri yeh khamoshi...

aur jawab phir bhi na mile toh padh lena

humari inn aankon main ,jahan boonde bankar behti hai yeh khamoshi....

nahi thi galti tumhari jo tum hume samajh nahi paye...

naa hi thi galti humari jo tumhe hum samjha bhi na paaye ,

phir waqt beeth ta sa chala gaya aur reh gayi yeh khamoshi...

ab toh subah se shyaam aur shyaam se raat beet jati hai,

waqt bewaqt dil main dard ke toofan sa uth ta hai ,

phir bhi chup rehti hai tumhari aur meri yeh khamoshi...

kehna hai toh bahut kuch tumse magar kahun bhi toh kaise

jab humare vich hai yeh khamoshi...

jaane anjaane jo dard maine diya hai tumhe aaj phir

woh dard batati hai tumhari yeh aankhein aur tumhari yeh khamoshi...

ab itne tut gaye hain hum bhi ki bas

yehi khwahish reh gayi ki tut jaye yeh sab doori aur bol uthe yeh khamoshi...

Rojalin Rose

Rojalin Rose.

Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/yeh_khamoshi_584979

In A Dark Time

In a dark time, the eye begins to see, 
I meet my shadow in the deepening shade; 
I hear my echo in the echoing wood-- 
A lord of nature weeping to a tree. 
I live between the heron and the wren, 
Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den. 
What's madness but nobility of soul 
At odds with circumstance? The day's on fire! 
I know the purity of pure despair, 
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall. 
That place among the rocks--is it a cave, 
Or a winding path? The edge is what I have. 

A steady storm of correspondences! 
A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon, 
And in broad day the midnight come again! 
A man goes far to find out what he is-- 
Death of the self in a long, tearless night, 
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light. 

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire. 
My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly, 
Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I? 
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear. 
The mind enters itself, and God the mind, 
And one is One, free in the tearing wind. 

- Theodore Rothke

The Quiet World

In an effort to get people to look
into each other's eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point at chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn't respond,
I know she's used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.

- Jeffrey MCDaniel

Do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. 

William Ernest Henley

As I lie in darkness

It was a long time ago.
I have almost forgotten my dream.
But it was there then,
In front of me,
Bright like a sun—
My dream.
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Rose until it touched the sky—
The wall.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the thick wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun! 

Langston Hughes

Woman Work

I've got the children to tend 

The clothes to mend

The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own

Maya Angelou