Self-Generation [gnomic verse]

Love makes its own comment
valor proves its own prize
sorrow sings its own lament
vision brings its own eyes

"Noise-to-signal" [ghazal]

When the noise-to-signal ratio grows extreme
will renascent thorns pronounce the rose extreme?

lend fresh clarity O midnight! when darbari's
open window day's brute echo shows extreme

is the writer some rough football in their play?
head's expendable! declaim blunt toes extreme

is the middle path obliterate O Buddha
when the raft declares the one who rows extreme?

Raphael why sift through shadow seeking substance?
gold's spent glimmer dreaming eyes suppose extreme

Heartbreak Hotel [gnomic verses]

"There are no happy poets"
a poet once opined
all poetizers know it's
a paradox of mind

yon sea of bliss bides deep
ink's darkling path looms steep
for bright bliss poets pine
heartbreak imparts dark wine



================
1st line borrowed from the tweet of Raj Devjani (via Facebook-mirrored response of Sharanya Manivannan)

Questions & Answers [gnomic verse]

Questions   why do you arise?
Beings whither-ward depart?
Whence shines sparkle in your eyes?
Answers hide within the heart

After Ghalib [couplet]

When so proximate to the nest   your snare was hidden
Before even our wings could spread   we were in prison