A Sweet Lovers Quarrel.

Drifting apart,

Like the few twigs that spread away 

On a floating raft

A raft on a lazy lake

We spent our lovers' days and nights together

Lazing, loving and  searching

Searching for the divinity in our mortal love

Searching for the eternity in our fleeting desires

Gripping at the hands, groping the love

Catching the moments in our passions warm and tender

Hoping , just hoping that all this will last a lifetime

Catching the drops of sweat falling sweetly, warmly over the softness of your earlobes and then your cheeks

 Cheeks flushed with our lovemaking

Cheeks warm in our pleasures

Catching the sweet drops of sweat of our lovemaking with our tongues

Drinking the wine of love

We both clung to our parts of the floating raft

Our raft of life

Our raft of love

Life on this still lake of love was a dream

And now we are caught

In this lovers' quarrel

Each in his sphere of life

Clutching to our egos

Love is hiding there, somewhere

Beneath our bed's crumpled, heady smelling, sheets

Love is residing somewhere, there

In the sweet smelling corners of our bedroom

I feel the heady warmth sometimes

I feel it when you drink out of my cistern of love that is the fountain

I feel it when sometime you inadvertantly kiss my mouth in sweet pleasures of the body

I feel your love sometimes

I clutch at the feeling of love

I cling to your soul 

Sometimes 

In moments such as these

When our tongues meet

But then we drift apart

Like autumned leaves, like drifting twigs

On a still, still lake

A lake that looks peaceful and pristine

A lake that is cold and blue

A lake that is the beauty of the landscape

I still remeber the sweet love's first embrace

 That you gave me on Saif ul Maluk

On the Majestic Malika Parbat

Where you held me and kissed me

I feel the warmth that engulfed my body, my soul

Even as my feet, though booted touched the icy cold waters of the water springs and the lake

I feel your kiss , even today

It keeps me going

Even as we quarrel

A lovers sweet quarrel

It keeps our love alive 

That sweet kiss.

 Picture taken by Meherzaidi, the poet.

Mera Khayal Pani Pani.. The glass wall of water.

As the cool water of the pool touches me gently
As it laps gently across my chest, touching, caressing my heaving bosom
I think of you
I think of your sweet smile
I think of your sad big eyes
Tearful as I left
Your hands warm and loving across my face 
Touching my warm cheeks
For the last time
As if preserving the memory
To never let it go
Never to let go of the love that has become like the strong, banyan tree
That stands firm in rainy storms, 
Stands strong in the lightening thunderstorms
Stands strong in the shaky earthquakes
Stands strong between us on the grassy, green , green  hilly expanse of our lives together
The evergreen expanse of our love, eternal


The rain falls across my window
Quietly, gently
Singing a rhythmic melody
Crescendo and then tinkling
Like the fairy tale bells that rung oh ever so sweetly as you held my hand
For the first time
I trembled
My body quivered 
The sweet ecstasy of love shook my weak and frail heart
The stars exploded all around
I was a Princess in a moment of joy
You became my Prince.
The rain fell.


As my feet feel the cool sand of the beach
As the gently lapping waves of this beautiful Arabian Sea touch my weakening feet
I think of you
I raise my hand towards you
To touch you
I know you are raising yours too
This instance, this moment
To touch mine across the oceans, across the seas
Hands that touch like across a prison wall glass
Cold wall in between
Does not exist
It is gone
But the feelings of lovers warmth remain
Eternal, etched in stone
Across the cold , cold, steely glass wall
I feel your hand
Across the vast and blue, tempestuous water s of the oceans
I feel the warmth of your raised hand
I feel your love reaching out
To my body, heart and soul
I feel your love
As the gentle waves of the pool by the sea lap against my breasts
I feel thee, I love thee
My friend.


Our hands touch and the wall of glass falls splintered ,away
Our prisons of separate existence are set free
 Yes we each one are prisoners in our mortal bodies
Our souls imprisoned in our existentialism
The existence of Id and ego
The existentialism of you and me
Inside our own prison walls
In the existential cage of our souls
And yet my heart reaches out
Gently, warmly
Across the seas
Across the oceans
 To thee
Free, My thoughts fly
Free as bird
Across the ocean sky
Towards you
Across the seas
Across the oceans
Across the continents 
Across the existential barriers 
To reach out for love
To touch our imprisoned souls 

Across this glass wall of water.

Meherzaidi, the poet.

Love's Sweet Endearments.

Meher Zaidi, the poet.

As  I feel the touch of thine strong fingers on my neck 
Holding its nape in your hand
Gently caressing my hair silky in your grip
The love in my heart swells deep into my breath
The sweat of longing fills my bosom 
The sweet desire of  love's first bloom fills my heart


Oh, my beloved come near me and lie by my side
As I smell the sweet rain falling on the sand
The gentle droplets falling on my breasts
Accidentally.
I feel thine sweet love in my heart
A heart that is as pure and pristine as a pearl
Enclosed in a shell deep in a blue sea
Hidden, waiting, untouched
A heart that is as pure as the inside of the rose bud before it is opened
A heart that is untouched
Untouched by desire or lust
A heart that has just started living
A heart that is ear to your sweet endearments of love
My heart is turning towards you 
Gently 
As  a dewdrop that touches the beloved's sweet lips first time in spring
As  the tinkering sound of a bell in the morning
As a ray of sunshine when it touches a beauteous cheek
Or a teardrop that falls from the dark, dark eyes.


Come and lay by my side gently 
Hold my hand in yours, warm and strong
Comfort me and promise me
That you will never leave me
That you will be my anchor
In life's tempestuous waters
Promise me that our love will stay forever
Above prejudice, mistrust and sorrow
Promise me that our love will live forever
Always till death do us part
That your sweet kisses will wipe away the tears
 That your love's sweet endearments will wash away the sorrows
 Sorrows that sometimes are our fate


Oh my beloved
I feel thine strong fingers on my cheek and hear your caressing voice
Knocking gently open the door
To my love's untold hidden pleasures
 Pleasures that are way above the body
Pleasures that reach deep into our souls


As the rain falls first intensely and then gently
Like the tears in a beloved's eyes after a parting night
Parting that leaves unfulfilled the lovers' sweet desires
Parting that forces the forlorn kisses to be the fate
I feel for your strong hands on my face
 Touching . caressing, finding my features
I feel your sweet, heady breath on my lips ever so closer
I can see that your closed eyes cannot see what I see
But the pounding of your heart sings to me a song
So sweet and full of love's sweet endearments
As your strong fingers curl and hold my hand
I hear your heart's passion rise
Like the crescendo sound of the rain falling
The sweet sweat of love breaks upon my brow
Drowning all my life's painful sorrows


My bosom fills with unfulfilled desires deep
Desirous of the longing for your kiss on my cheek
And sweet endearments and whispers in my ear
Of promises to be kept
Of love's eternal hold on my heart
Endearments that will stay forever
Till death do us part.

Karachi Kahani ...Love Is A Many Splendor Thing Or Is It?

Once upon a time we thought love was a many splendor-ed thing. There was romance in it. There was joy and then of course there was sex in it. Sometimes hidden, sometimes fleeting. Sometimes obvious, intense, with passion. This was way before the age of advertisements, commercials, plastic hearts. Big red, plastic balloon hearts of the Valentine sort. The sort that have neither a cool , sexy, silky texture. The sort that neither have the sensuous , velvety touch to light your fire or inflame your passion. but the cold, unfeeling plasticized feel that throws cold water on your desires. Desires that sometime one tries to light up like the already dulled ashes on a cold winter morning. Stoking gently ,the icing hearth. finding some semblance of a small chingari. Or the quickly snatched kiss in a dark elevator while coming up and down in an I I Chundrigar office building. Maybe this may lead to a more passionate commitment. But then, now the elevator is always too crowded. No more the lonely moments or joyful encounters in the dark. Only one works in the entire ten floor building. One works sometimes, the third one always out of order. Just like our characters in life, these elevators in Karachi. Love has also become dull, imaginary and plasticized,Valentinized. Snatching it away from a 9-5 moment. Finding it in a very tired weekend night. Saturdays have become synonymous with the much awaited relief from the urban jungled, fast paced I I Chundrigar cage. Well sort of .A quivering anticipated wait to find the moments of love. Away from the mediocre  cold , cold existence of an urban existence. A hot passionate embrace, a soft full mouthed kiss. Maybe sometimes the fragrant touch of my beloved's  dopatta pallu on my face for a fleeting while. And the dreams live on. The dreams of love as a many splendor thing . Love with romance that is now dying . Thanks to the ugly dance moves of the reddened Indian movies.Love with passion that  now comes with cheap, quickly snatched urges. Thanks to the vulgar almost non-lyrical songs blaring out from our China made MP4s.
Love as a many splendor thing that was once the forte to be written by Lord Byron.

Ehsaas..Tere Wajood Ka Lams: Your existence ,my feelings.

Mein ne tujh ko mehsus kiya hai kaise kaise
Kabhi ungliyon ki poron se shuru hoker halke halke
Ek dile dereena ki khwahish ho ataktee jaise
Ek halqoom e girifta ki dabi cheekh ho atkee, atkee
Ek mere aankh ka moti ho jo tara tara
Kabhi behta, kabhi atka, sulagta, bujhta
Kabhi palkon ki sajawat ka woh moti banta
Aik anmol sa heera kabhi jalta, bujhta
Mein ne mahsoos kiya hai tujhe kaiose kaise


Tera yeh karbe judai jo na tha itna shadeed
Jab mere jism ka hua tha pehla ehsaas
Meri aankhon ke sitare the woh roshan roshan
Aur mere paon ke paayal he the bin payal cham cham
Mere sar par the woh phoolon ke mehekte huay taaj
Joh har ek dosheeza-e nau ki karte hain wajood ki nau
Aur the sab range baharan uththe roshan
Ab woh ek khwab ki tarha hai hewla manind
Jaise hon Sadequain ke kanton bhara pehne huaiy taaj
Ab woh garmee-e ehsaas hai thandi, thandi
Aur yeh karb mere dil ka haiy jalta bujhta
Jaise ho jai ek haseen sham ke baad
Saahile darya pe rakhee huwee woh aag ki raakh
Joh eik haseen sham ki naghmageen geeton ke hujoom
Mein guzaree ho doston ne shauq ke saath
Jehan goonje hon naghmae sartab buland
Aur ek misle jashn hum hon naachte haste
Ek teri aankh ka ho jam-e khumaar behka behka
Aur mere dil ki ho sachayee bhi behki behki
Kaheen roshan hon kuch khwaab halke halke
Kaheen ehd-o -paimaan hon thaamte huey haath
Aur tere gaal pe woh cherta, hansta hua til
Mere dil ko gudguda ke tharakta hua jaise
Woh jawanee ki umang
Woh jeevan ki uthaan
Ab tau ek hewla-e yaad-e rafta hain bane
Isee sahil pe men ab bhi teheltee hoo akaile akaile
Aur yeh paoon hain jab bhi is reti pe hain parte udhte
Mere ehsaas ka woh halka sa karb hai ubharta jaise
Joh tha jaagta, josh marta mere dil ke ander
Eik jawan khuwahishe tauqeer thi dil ke andar
Garm joshee-e hayat mein tha har pal masroor
Aur thi jolaniye tabyat bhi bhari har dam
Kabhi aise kabhi waise
Yuheen harsoo hardam
Saare the khwab nikalte hanste gaate
Tere un lab kusha jalwon se pare
Teree ungleeon ki poron se kuch aage aage
Mere us wajood ki ek tasweer banate the woh rangeen roshan
Mein tera ehsaas kartee thi palkon se zaroor
Tera woh cherdh ke jaana hai mujhe yaad abhi
Goke woh ehsaas hai madham abhi aur door
Wohee lamhe joh the aag alao dehkate
Dil-e bechen se paon talak mehkaate
Yehi the ek gawahee tere wajood ki gawahee dete
Aur baaqi tha mera ehsaas unke tufail


Ab jab bhi mein chaltee hun saahil ke kinare kinare
Aur mere boseeda se paon pardhte hain geelee reit pe
Tera ehsaas mujhe karta zinda
Tera ehsaas dilaata hai mujhe
Apne wajood ki sachayee ka ek lamha-e zauq.


Translation:


Oh how I have felt thine sweet touch
From the beginning of my fingers
Gently , caressingly
Like a rare heart's desire
Like a soft scream
Waiting to be set free
Like a pearly teardrop of my eye
Shining like a star
Sometimes flowing, sometimes held back
Simmering , burning
Sometimes like a pearl necklace on my lashes
Like a precious diamond Alight or hidden
Oh how I have felt thine sweet touch.


The pain of your separation was not so intense before
Whence the reality of my body's feeling had dawned
Oh how my eyes were shining bright
Like stars in heaven
And the sweet melody was coming from my anklet
Even without adorning it
My head adorned with fragrant flowers crowned
Like a virgins sweet first bloom
The spring's color were aplenty, abound
All that is but a dream now
Like a shadow of a dream lost
Like the thorn crown adorned head
Of Sadequain
That warm feeling is cold as ice
My heart's light is low and flickering
As quiet as a dark night's spent ashes  on the beach
Those that after a night's songful festival abound
Spent in the beloved's arms
Where lovers danced in rapturous embrace
Drinking the sweet heady wine off the beloved's eyes and lips
My heart was full of love's sweet heady trance
Like dreams awakening in love's warm desire
Where the vows of love taken with holding hands
I was smitten by the mole on your sweet cheek
That teased my heart with joy and pleasure
Ah that was the youth's warm desire
Rising, promising
But now it is but a fading distant dream


I stroll gently on the same beach
These worn out feet tread the sand
The feeling of longing rises in my heart
That which is simmering , smoldering
Like a a young heart's desire to be loved
Life was whence pregnant happily with the warm desires 
Sometimes hence, sometimes whence
All the dreams danced singing happily
Sometimes hence, sometimes whence
 Sometimes here, sometimes there
Away from your astounding beauty
Away from the sensitive tips of your fingers too


They painted a picture bright and shining
Of my existence, those moments of desire
I felt you with  the  lashes of my eyes
I remember your loving teasing
Though that feeling is dull and far away now
Those were the moments of burning fire
From my restless heart to my feet 
Fragrant with love's warm desires
Those were the moments that witnessed
My existence
Those were the moments of truth.


 Now as I stroll along this beach
My worn out feet feeling the cold sand underneath
Your desire makes me alive 
Your desire gives me that moment of truth
That precious moment of my existence.