People with cowpox didn't get smallpox so don't piss on fire hydrants.

It's the peak of summer's smouldering reign. See, the balcony door is are ajar. See, there’s Zaytoun, eyes locked in an unyielding stare on a rock dove (stock dove?) perched precariously upon the railing. Poised as if she might one day leap from the edge in a kamikaze plummet, believing she could catch one in mid-flight. See, my heart is aching with some nameless melancholy. See? Alright. I had to look up what differentiates a pigeon from a dove, and it's the language. Pigeon is french, dove is English. (In German everything is Taube.) But beyond that, is the one in my line of sight right now based out of India the Columba livia domestica or...a stock dove? By the way, pigeons according to Wikipedia are pests — invasive. Disseminated cryptococcus and meningitis due to inhalation of fungal spores from pigeon droppings is a thing. Real. Makes me wonder why there are no efforts at extermination of sorts, not that I support but- Also, pigeon meat is...I wonder if it's Halal? Why do I care about Halal-ness when I have abandoned other rituals of religion? Because it's an embedded sense of purity applied to consumables? Can I extrapolate that to a principle that works for us? Is it not paradoxical to cling to this one aspect? This pursuit of purity a vestige of my upbringing, a relic of the rituals I no longer practice. Anyway. To be noted, there was one particular kind of pigeon was so popular as food that it went extinct. Enter the Passenger pigeon. Reminds me of the time I picked up a brown "pigeon" off the street, and was surprised at how unpigeonly that one was. Obsidian eyes and wildwood feathering.

As you close                     your eyes

          run with all         your might

      ‘cause you're far

                                          too late

   You put it all              at stake

      fyi the train has long left the station


   Dreaming of the days faraway

    and the ocean's sparkling hue


   You've been walking

                             through a night

   I know             nothing about,

     haven't you?       Sometimes     walls

       rise not to exclude, but to

           test who cares             enough

                                              to intrude.


      The seasons change once again

        and you're struggling wondering

             where you should go


        Like a flower      swaying

        in the autumn            wind

    You can't

                   bring yourself

        to tell me                  your goodbyes










           Though I'm now by your side,

      still this                 gap

               is not closing

  sore palms red from

  scouring               sha r p

                                      sections


    To let your heart be              moved,

   to laugh        from the

            bottom

     of your heart,       to find meaning

       in the     everyday.   You      w a n t e d

          to                 be;

               given         permission.

  s o r e palms red from              scouring sharp sections

        The drum solo arrives

         p
     a     i
  e          n
l              g
                   racing
                        beating
                              singing.
                                   And then...
                                        stopping.









            The heart aches

      I wish to rend time's fabric

            g o s s a mer threads.

       Tumble back                 Wake

                     fevered on my    parents' bed

     Soon I'll be           home,

        won't I be happier

             for it?


     Come.                 say salaam

  to orchards                 in Ranikhet's

    crisp       November Hills

        afire with autumn's

         crescendos                 Muted

         light            mulled cider

    s tea m                 Doves      embracing

         Under the falling

               waltz      of leaves


      I f y o u d o n o t c o m e ,

              t h e s e

                 d o

              n o t

              m a t t e r.


      I f y o u d o c o m e ,

              t h e s e

              d o n o t

              m a t t e r .