One of My Poems: Come Play With Me … it’s HOLI!

Come Play With Me … it’s HOLI!

Come play with me
it’s Holi!

Tell me you won’t play
and I’ll pelt you anyway
with colours that will stay
with you all day - for today
is Holi!

You are the girl that didn’t care
to throw a glance at me.
I am the boy that didn’t dare
to ask you dance with me.

Today I’m out with my gang
drenched with colour, drunk with bhang
I am your Krishna come to play
your friends - my Gopis who will spray
me with abir , for today
is Holi!

And you my Radha cannot stay inside.
The spring sky calls, come play outside
with coloured water - do not hide -
for today …
is Holi!

Upset the coloured powder mounds
in clouds of purple, pink and green,
let your chunni swirl around,
join your bangled hands with mine.

It’s true I do not have a flute
or peacock feathers on my head;
I only know the Bombay hits
and have a cricket cap instead,
which I will throw at your feet
and dance the bhangra to the beat
as we sway our hips today
to the dholki’s frenzied beat ….

Rhythmic shoulders, clapping hands,
faces streaked, coloured strands,
saris sprayed, kurtas stained
friends doused, strangers drained
from pistons, buckets, balconies,
street corners, terraces and trees -
till the wall you try to build
crumbles down against my will

I’ll touch your cheeks and arms
with colour which disarms
you for one day
of abandon -
so let us play
as Radha-Krishna - for today
is Holi!