On The Tides Of The New

Draped in dull glow of a pale sky
the city awakens to its own rhythm;
Metro rail snaking its tortuous way to
ease flow of life in a paradigm.
Distances dissolve; brows no more wet
with sweat for one to dig his shack;
Gone was the sea lore when a voyageur
took years to anchor his bark.
And too weary to revel in his triumph.
Now beyond home lurk the avenues
on the arc of change; tech wizardry
unwinding windows to aspiring millions.
No romancing the sky, black or blue.
Earth is borne on the tides of the New.

My Tryst With Squirrel

I watched the spry squirrel
scamper away hearing
my footfall; Its ear turned
to even slight dissonance of
sound and it rushed to guard
Its nest; a fretful companion,
content to feed its
squealing offsprings, also
hearkening to my short fuse.

Its energy was unfailing;
it would sweep to the
terrace to grab any morsel
It could feed; the red stripes
on its back, caressed by a mythical
Lord kept egging it on
perhaps; It knew when
the windows would
drop down at night to squeeze
inside for a nap in its niche;
Its squealing heralded
the dawn of dawn too.
Nudging me to open
the window to the trove
of morning breeze flowing in;
And it would rush out.

Wonder what is its missive?
“Wake up Man, it’s time.”

Superannuation

When the destined place of arrival closes in
a leaf of memory throbs with the long
memento of landmarks reached and missed.
Let missed calls die out in the log.

Regrets ever remain in unused folders,
pop up to be trashed into the bog;
Monsoon flies buzzing around the bulb.

On the winding path skirt the shrubs,
breathe the fragrance of fresh blossoms.
Things lost or denied count less than
trees flitting across the train’s window.

Spinning on its thumb the earth has seen
the revolving ends of despair and hope.
On the orb of this rolling circus?

K.S.Subramanian has published two volumes of verse: Ragpickers and Treading on Gnarled Sand through the Writers’ Workshop, Kolkata, India. His short stories have appeared in indianruminations.com, setumag.com, indianreview.in, Tuck magazine and museindia.com.