Prabhakar Subramaniam

It is where lies come readily

Without any prompting
...

When the lights blow out

Urchins erupt in joy
...

A wall not seen as a wall

Is the one difficult to pull down
...

We, devotees, were asked
To go through a metal detector,
Frisked for belt-bombs
Our bags were searched
...

Silence is not always consent
It could be a loss of words
Even a loss of faith in words
Perhaps, a pause, for something else
...

The night flickers
As tantalizing as a
Half-remembered dream
With its mosaic
...

When the earth turned
As infirm as the sea
Little was left standing
Of hubris or faith or hope;
...

What are the Greeks to us
Or we to the Greeks
That we should weep thus
For them; our fate is mirrored in theirs - -
...

There were fewer farmer suicides
Last year than in the previous year
The crime records bureau report said
Only 1980 took their lives in 2014
...

Between the make-believe home
And the waves
Only tiny little fingers
The sea knows the child
...

Death stopped me at the door
Went away without answering the questions
I could only throw at what he left behind - -
That is not who he was
...

It's only when you have to leave
That you most want to stay
Stay back to grieve
Over that which never can stay - -
...

With this song
I keep playing
I often think
I can stop time
...

It's so hot the trees
Are still sweating leaves
Showing up the sun
For what it is
...

Someone doesn't want the earth
To give up its dead
For the dead, he knows, do tell tales
That will nail the lies of those
...

With a child in the arms
The world is full of wonder
It's like looking at a tree
Before it was named
...

The fall hasn't erased
The smile of the buddha head
The dark face
Doesn't show
...

Who doesn't want to die

When he is so happy
...

How life-like, the dream is
How dream-like, life is
How unadorned, truth is
How dandy, the lie is
...

Let's not go there
I know where
That comes from
Frisson, frisson
...