under the susurrus on tin plated sheets
i stand listening
to the southwesterly winds
howling hymns to the land of the beloved
to the splashes of sleazy raindrops echo
from the inner chambers of the prayer hall
to the still water in the cisterns disturbed
by hands being cleansed for ritual
banana leafs careen laden with ripe fruits
golden with delight at the beloved’s imminent arrival
cocks prick around thirsty
unquenched by the day’s drizzle
the petrichor reminds me of untouched skin
waiting to be rubbed with sin
the scent of god breathes through
his pir-o-mones
rosy round kashmiri cheeks
redolent of their own apples
supple
slender
sexy
like a
serpent
under the dome of illumination
brightest chandelier of hope you are
the blazing sword of ‘Alif pincers my heart
yet it is condensed with coolness
from the icy crypts that are
your hauntingly beautiful cold eyes
that commands the fire within
to be a breezy peaceful retreat
eyes of a philosopher
filled with fecund profound
possibilities
bedazzling the blandness
in my heart
draped in a friday prayer gown
telling the beads on my rosary
leaning on a pillar in the veranda
i look out onto the road
his motorcycle rumbles on the highway
puffing smoke ferociously
just like him on his jazz & joint nights
his voice intoxicates me
but i can’t hear what he preaches
but he’s my prophet on the pulpit
alas! but a juggernaut hits him
and his body tumbles
down, making my heart leap
my legs carry me to his bloodied head
glistening gushes of velvet red
stream from his conscious
he proclaims with the last puff of his breath
the antithesis of his faith
“there is no God”
“but God” i whisper to his ear
gently closing those eyelids
and kissing them
before i kissed those tender lips
not only the thirsty seek water
the water as well seeks the thirsty
Muhammed Raazi is a freshman in Ashoka University still figuring out and making sense of the world he was thrown into. Hailing from the Emirates, Karnataka and Kerala, his confrontation with multiple languages and cultures has widened his scope of perceiving reality yet he looks around him in perpetual childish wonder.