Ode to/on a Lab-Rat

The red-eyed rat was dead,
Overdosed on carbon di oxide,
Still she exanguinated it
Leaving no blood in its head.

Barely 3 ml (cherry-red) she drew,
From its tiny un-beating heart.
This chosen merciful euthanasia
For me was but quite new.

The things that followed were few,
(Like god-fearing devotees in a pew)
And when to an end, the day drew
My thoughts were lop-sided and askew.


For...As I have already said,
Its beady eyes were red,
Having no blood in its head
The red-eyed rat was dead.


Sep 28th, 2009.


P.S. Its obvious what my day had in store for me. Need I add that this was my first time working with lab-animals and that some of them were awfully cute and we killed them.

Epitaph

The fall leaves burn,
Yellow to crimson,
Like rouge in an urn;
Fresh blood – in prison.

[Macabre, indeed, is perspective
Washed over by pallid memories of strife,
Of a heart unwilling to forgive –
People, sculpted judiciously –made larger than life.]

Spring's fall
Or
Fall’s Spring?

I allow, tonight, the slow warming of my cold room
To be my comforter, playing its part.
Accompanied by yellow lamp-light and receding gloom,
Reason carves a niche in my heart.

History, doggedly repeats each paragraph –
The good, the bad, the ugly…
But I engrave a final verse in your epitaph,
Smearing a memory sneering smugly.

Forever.

For Life…

Fragrant spring
Or
Scarlet fall…

is beautiful.

Sep 21st, 2009.

Majesty of Music

(A tribute to symphonies of Ernest Bloch and Gyorgy Ligeti, played by Elmar Oliveira and Slee sinfonietta)

The air melted as the music rose,
Vibrations of a man in pain,
Tributes to a moment of joy,
Pure, harmonious notes –
Lento e deserto
In a dome of dreams.

Never before had she witnessed,
Beauty –
Sheer, incomparable, absolute
Presto luminoso,
Sempre molto ritmico
In liquid curves of music.

She sat mesmerized,
Her void vagrant heart
Plucked out from her chest…
Subito –
Swollen, squeezed and trembling
Under shivering chords of that violin.

Clasped 'neath a clefted chin,
Her cold goosebumped hands…
Her soul poured out –
Of the holes in her pupils,
And hovered, danced, waltzed
Allegro, giocoso –
Along the notes of the sinfonietta.

Tears rolled down
Her happy hollow eyes
Holding her heart in her hands
Surrendering her shimmering soul
Soaring, adagio non troppo
To the serene symphony.

That moment held just her,
Her… and melody
And all else –
The ample in the amphitheatre,
The bees in the barn,
The stars in the sky –
Evanesced, poco meno lento
Into a slow serenading sonata...

The universe, gravitated
Maestoso,
Into a simple symphony of strings.

Sep 15th, 2009.

Distracted

Writing hasnt beeen coming too easy
Of late.

Venus winked at sundown,
Late summer painted the wind,
A goldfinch danced by the lake,
I was distracted...
Noticed,
didn't register.
I was busy looking
For something I cannot find.

Meaning? A click away
On google,
The meaning of anything
And the meaning of everything.

The night is late,
Very late.
And in my digressions,
I have again lost
What I could not find -
The answer to a tooth-shaped question,
The hollow under my dark eyes,
The twinkling smile on a cherished memory.

The night is late,
Very late.
Venus no longer waits to wink,
But the waning moon begs audience.
I am distracted
I am distracted
I am distracted.

Losing what i could not find,
Looking out for what to look.

Its not in my closet,
In the folds of my cotton skirt,
In the whiff of fresh bananas,
In those confused brown eyes in the mirror...

I cannot find myself.

Sep 13th, 2009.
Late.
My apartment, Night.