AN OVERTURE TO ILLUMINATION

Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

light a heart but take in consideration

the surprise,

oh you never know what spark you can light,

there goes our love again —  — — 

far away it knows

home is a desperate attempt

(cocoon your heart, cocoon your heart)

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

a tepid dream

that follows me

reminder of the time

i lay wasted

as if

the days, the years,

the seconds

weren’t so damn precious

an irrevocable dream

that tugs my slumber

dastardly disturbed

so that any illusions

i attempt to hold

get pushed out of consciousness, as i

lay unconscious.

a shout that gnaws

but manifests as a

quiet yet unyielding

dissatisfaction

so that

dreaming becomes

an ache so restless

that sleep must be

pulled from the light

of day instead

tepid dreams of boring minutiae

which lay judgment

to my waking hours

for its opposite

is scarce

with that —

the blame lies

both within myself

and the lies we tell.

so only when i

wake from illusions

with a feverish fervor

can these tepid dreams

fall asleep by wayside —

and make space for settled satisfaction

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

cherry blossoms fall

burn before they hit the ground

damn impermanence

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

Finding yearning lovers’ tender embrace,

The guard emerges from woods, urgent to say,

“Escape now, run! Begone without a trace!”

Lovers now torn apart,

flee while they may,

The years separated the heart from heart,

For he was wanted — thief of king’s treasure,

His knights were sent, their swords in hands to start,

To find the man and kill for good measure,

During his time away from love’s presence,

He trained and trained, in swords and shields, to slay,

Returning flushed, wrath with sweet vengeance,

To kill the king and whisk his love away,

He arrived to find the royal head gone,

The queen, her hands of blood, a smile for dawn.

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

A dream, another wish, for life like this,

Whisper delicately, so tenderly,

But don’t go hope for more, it’s hard to do,

When reality fails so easily.

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

The boy, so hungry, in he sneaks,

The kitchen, so quiet, not a creak,

Devoured the whole cake,

Turns out it was fake,

Only if he stole just a peek!

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

Lethe

I swim in rivers I have forgotten,

Lethe pulls me under so,

Look what fate has begotten,

Memories fill my ears like cotton,

I am prone to fall down to the depths below,

I swim in rivers I have forgotten,

Love so ugly and rotten,

Has twisted me so wretched,

Look what fate has begotten,

Into my veins, heartache has got in,

Wishing ravenously for a clean slate,

I swim in rivers I have forgotten,

Discover what the waves have brought in,

Arriving ashore, history begins to fade,

Look what fate has begotten,

Be wary of losing yourself so,

Who I was, I will never know,

I swim in rivers I have forgotten,

Look what fate has begotten.

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

To stay or go, that i never know

Who i was who i am and who i will become

Always fighting against

Who i could have been

Who i could be

Who i could become

Is it sunk cost or is there hope?

Enough to latch onto and anchor so?

Is there a crystal ball that i can look into

And know enough to decide surely?

For this becomes limbo

How paralyzed am i?

In between the spaces of reality and possibility

How do i know where to go?

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

The irony of healing while the ones you love are collapsing,

To wake up with energy and mirth,

While their time is elapsing,

Sinking closer to the levels under the earth,

Yet we will meet —

Our minerals and energy will release,

Will traverse, to come and greet,

Even as our breaths have come to cease.

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Vareesha Khan Vareesha Khan

My son will date an alien from Jupiter

My son will date an alien from Jupiter, 

And I will have to adjust, 

To the reality, that I am no longer the rebel of the family,

He’ll show me music, or what he’ll call music,

And my desire to call it noise, 

Will make it very obvious,

That I’m just not with it,

It’s weird to get older,

Because it doesn’t actually feel like you’re aging,

You’re the same kid you always were,

Just the world around you makes less and less sense,

I find a quiet comfort in that,

Before, death seemed so terrible — like I would be missing out on the wonders of living,

But I wonder if in my old age,

Death comes like a friend,

By that point, I’m really only living in the memories repeating in my head. 

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