In Dust of the Past

I have seen death lurking around
In memories that hold us captive
I have seen the abyss face to face
Some voices that don’t catch rust

I have seen hopes that don’t last
Longings that fade into eternal dust
Mixed with the elements
I have seen sorrow and silence
In the same eye

The future is but the past
Draped in deception
Promises of perennial love
And tempters of unquenched thirst
Often pang the lover

I have seen through the raging lust
That ate into the faith of mankind
Life, bereft of sunshine
Cloaked like a captive dream
Scared of dying

When truth calls for the past
The sorcery fades
The lies fall off 
Like a monster shedding skin
Man stands smeared to the last

In the dust of the Past.

***

Dusty Dreams

One night- Groping memories from the dark
My tired eyes chanced on
Dusty Dreams from the past
Slipping hands, the agonies of parting

The numbing awareness of the irreparable loss
Some hopes mixed with a noise 
Of incoherent desires
I was touring my childhood

Turning Dusty pages of sunken desire
I woke up shaking, sweating and dry
Wide Eyes, Low Lights
The merry business of Daydreaming

Expecting eyes, Several twisted lies
And there, deep beneath the pain
I lay like a triumphant child
Remorseless of the losses
Clueless of the past

I wept myself to sleep that night
Like several other eyes
Today lives Tomorrow
Nothing ever Dies

I clutched my eyes
And blocked the beams
The past was meeting the future
Undoing My Dusty Dreams!

***

Grand Finale

I am the dirt that emerges
From the rubbing of shoulders
In busy bazaars, frowned upon
Yet existing- I am the hunger
Of my Democracy
I am the wrath of years of oppression
I am plain unrequited love
The dust from jostling shoulders
I am the memories that refuse
To leave the bedside on a winter night
I keep rebellions alive, I breathe arson
Into those disheartened by time
I am the ruse of magic, the after-lust
I am what you become
After the last breath has parted
I am the grand finale 
Of the pretence that you play
For years, I am more than just DUST
I am the prayers of the grieving
The angst of the lost- I cover the lullabies
Sung on chilly nights to little infants 
In War- where Man forgets Man.

***