#long meter

[rudysassafras]

Birds of a Feather

We used around the fire light

To speak of life into the night

Until the morn’ came into sight

Then bid farewell like birds in flight

And falling on our separate beds

Inside our minds in separate heads

We dreamed of things each of us fed

The tapestry of verbal threads

And waking at the crack of noon

With splitting heads like crescent moons

We ventured out of separate rooms

To separate lives, two crazy loons

—rudysassafras

[rudysassafras]

[rudysassafras]

[rudysassafras]

s e r e n b e

my head and heart are jumbled up

like wine inside a coffee cup

cerebral tannin, ardent heat

i'm drunk inside you, bittersweet

i still recall your sweet bouquet

my fingers smelled of beaujolais

your finish lingered on my tongue

in velvet depths, uncorked and sprung

-rudysassafras

[chashmenaaz]

Use kyun humne diya dil jo hai be-mehri mein kaamil jise aadat hai jafa ki

Jise chidh mehr-o-wafa ki jise aata nahin aana gham-o-hasrat ka mitana jo sitam mein hai yagana Jise kahta hai zamana but-e-be-mahr-o-dagha-baz jafa-pesha fusun-saz sitam-KHana-bar-andaz Ghazab jis ka har ek naz nazar fitna mizha tir bala zulf-e-girah-gir gham-o-ranj ka bani qalaq-o-dard Ka mujib sitam-o-jaur ka ustad jafa-kari mein mahir jo sitam-kesh-o-sitam-gar jo sitam-pesha hai Dilbar jise aati nahin ulfat jo samajhta nahin chahat jo tasalli ko na samjhe jo tashaffi ko na Jaane jo kare qaul na pura kare har kaam adhura yahi din-raat tasawwur hai ki nahaq Use chaha jo na aae na bulae na kabhi pas bithae na rukh-e-saf dikhae na koi Baat sunae na lagi dil ki bujhae na kali dil ki khilae na gham-o-ranj ghatae na rah-o-rasm Badhae jo kaho kuchh to khafa ho kahe shikwe ki zarurat jo yahi hai to na chaho jo na Chahoge to kya hai na nibhaoge to kya hai bahut itrao na dil de ke ye kis kaam ka dil Hai gham-o-andoh ka mara abhi chahun to main rakh dun ise talwon se masal kar abhi munh Dekhte rah jao ki hain un ko hua kya ki inhon ne mera dil le ke mere hath se khoya

Muztar khairabadi

[rudysassafras]

Pennsylvania

Early March in Poconos

Means icy roads and runny nose.

Once they free you, pick a rose

And give it to Miss Ohio.

—rudysassafras