I have been walking a straight line

Searching for what is mine

I’m looking over my shoulder

Searching for the soul in sculpture

I have been running down passages

Can’t turn the page, I can’t turn the pages

Waiting in the dark for dawn to near

I’m waiting for an end, the end is clear

Through the sandglass and into the sea

I’m waiting for the waves to bring myself back to me

– Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

 

I love watching the city when it is raining
I watch it cry like its heart is breaking
I watch lights shimmer by my side
Watch shadows glow and glide
I’m standing watching people run
Watching them praying for the sun
Another one bites the dust
And another one bites the dust

Beneath my mask I see a face

An angel beneath my wings

I hear the skies whisper grace

Whisper of those little things

I’m the bones beneath the clay

In the hours time swept away

I sit and wait for tomorrow

To remove the mask that I borrowed – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

 

 

I have been walking a straight line

 

Walking down my night mind

 

Searching for what is mine

 

Looking into my rear view mirror

 

Looking over my shoulder

 

I don’t know what I’m searching for

 

I have been running down passages

 

Can’t turn the page, I can’t turn the pages

 

All I see is empty spaces

 

Did I see a shadow stir

 

I’m still waiting for the answer

 

I’m waiting for your answer – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

 

I was standing watching worlds falling
I could hear words colliding
Beauty speaking through your eyes
Through the pores of your skin
Speaking truth to lies
All is forgiven – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Remember Joan of Arc?

 

Betrayed by the very king and country she gave her life for

 

Burnt alive at 19 by the very church she lived her life for

 

Is this what happens when you answer the call

 

What chance have you got darling, no chance at all

 

Hold it higher she said, I can see the river bend

 

Keep it always in my sight until the end

 

Higher so I can see the cross above the flames

 

I have learned praise and blame are all the same

 

It’s not tears, it’s smoke in my eyes

 

I seek the heavens, I search the skies

 

Standing in the fire looking out to sea

 

Waiting for the waves to bring the water back to me

 

– NausherNash

The house on the rock, the writing on the wall

Give me back my secrets before I fall

Inside of me, in spite of me

I have the key, I have the key

The wound I wear, look back and stare

Nobody cares darling, nobody cares

Fragile as glass, as reflections in glass

Put on your happy face and let it pass

Listen to the sound of the hourglass flow

Listen to the sound of your shadow

Break the chains and feel the rain

I drink this water and am parched again – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Achingly naked, seeking the sacred
All the love and all the hatred
You know, Odi et amo

In this year of grace, fallen from grace
Follow your heart to that secret place
You know, Odi et amo

Nothing is the same, its all a game
Start the day by laying blame
You know, Odi et amo

Dust to dust, the ache of lust,
Your blood resembles the color of rust
You know, Odi et amo – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Achingly naked, seeking the sacred
All the love and all the hatred
You know, Odi et amo

In this year of grace, fallen from grace
Follow your heart to that secret place
You know, Odi et amo

Nothing is the same, its all a game
Start the day by laying blame
You know, Odi et amo

The ache of longing, the dust of lust,
Your blood resembles the color of rust
You know, Odi et amo
– Nausher Nash Banaji

Your hands don’t hold the answer

Hold it higher, she said, hold it higher

Higher so I can see the cross above the flames

Praise and blame, darling, are all the same

It’s not tears, it’s smoke in my eyes

I seek the heavens, I search the skies

Born of tempests, a warrior at the mouth of dawn

I am a child of beauty in a storm

Standing in the fire looking out to sea

Waiting for the waves to bring the water back to me – NausherNash

See my face beneath this mask, it is me
See the angel beneath the wings, it is me
I’m that face, I’m the skin, I am the girth beneath it
I’m the angel, I’m the wings, I’m the earth beneath it
I’m the bones beneath the clay
In the hours time swept away
I sit and wait for tomorrow
to remove the mask that I borrowed
– N|M

See my face beneath this mask, it is me
See the angel beneath the wings, it is me
I’m that face, I’m the skin, I am the girth beneath it
I’m the angel, I’m the wings, I’m the earth beneath it
I’m the bones beneath the clay
I’m the hours time swept away
Here I sit waiting for the morrow
Here today gone to sorrow
– Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

See my face beneath this mask, it is me
See the angel beneath the wings, it is me
I’m that face, I’m the skin, I am the girth beneath it
I’m the angel, I’m the wings, I’m the earth beneath it
I’m the bones beneath the clay
I’m the storm it swept away
Here I sit waiting for the morrow
Here today gone to sorrow
– Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

See my face beneath this mask, it is me

I’m that face, I’m the skin and I am the girth beneath it

I’m the bones beneath the clay

Here I sit waiting for the morrow

Here today gone to sorrow

See the archangel beneath the wings, it is me

I’m the archangel, and the wings, and the earth beneath it

I’m the storm I’m feeling swept away

Here I sit waiting for the morrow

Here today gone to sorrow

– Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

The light is fading and we’ve been waiting all day

I’m too tired to sleep, tell me can I please stay

Feels like my heart is beating in these stones

Feels like their scars run deep into my bones

On the breath of the wind the murmur of prayers pass

It’s a thing of beauty and so it cannot last

The bells ring and it’s more than I can bear

It’s not over yet, but it’s getting there

–Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

When we left the mirror and entered the room

When we walked the path from bloom to tomb

We stumbled between the blur and the after

We left behind our breath on the mirror

Achingly naked, seeking the sacred
All the love and all the hatred
You know, Odi et amo

In this year of grace, fallen from grace
Follow your heart to that secret place
You know, Odi et amo

Nothing is the same, its all a game
Start the day by laying blame
You know, Odi et amo

Touch your heart, the hurt of belonging
The dust of lust, the ache of longing
You know, Odi et amo
– Nausher Nash Banaji

 

 

 

Your hands don’t hold the answer

Joan of arc said hold it higher, hold it higher

Higher so I can see the cross above the flames

Praise and blame, darling, are all the same

It’s not tears, it’s smoke in my eyes

I seek the heavens, I search the skies

Born of tempests, a warrior at the mouth of dawn

I am a child of beauty in a storm

Standing in the fire looking out to sea

Waiting for the waves to bring the water back to me

 

The house on the rock, the writing on the wall
Give me back my secrets before I fall
Inside of me, in spite of me
I have the key, I have the key

The wound I wear, look back and stare
Nobody cares darling, nobody cares
Fragile as glass, as reflections in glass
Put on your happy face and let it pass

Listen to the sound of the hourglass flow
Listen to the sound of your shadow
Throw back your head and feel the rain
Who drinks this water thirsts again – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

Divinity and nudity

The rubble of decline

God is in the stone

My god is beautiful, strong, and naked. I kneel at Her sculpted alter, And worship at Her renaissance feet. And when the music stops and the mirror shatters She reminds us why beauty matters.

When we left the mirror and entered the room

When we walked the path from bloom to tomb

We stumbled between the blur and the after

We left behind our breath on the mirror

We are just peasants floundering in the snow
Never knowing what we’ll never know

Standing naked in the fleeting rain
Thinking someday we’ll find salvation

Wandering the world’s tired denizen
Wondering what colour is the wind

This water, this rain on your skin
This fire, this lava in your heart
What do you love, what do you desire
This heart is an organ of fire
My god is beautiful, strong, and naked
I kneel at Her sculpted alter
And worship at Her renaissance feet
I raise my eyes and lay my weapons down
I hold onto heaven as the walls come down
And when the music stops and the mirror shatters
She reminds me why beauty matters

 – Nausher Nash

Darkling you reach into the sky
Whoever said memories don’t lie
Your fingers clutch your shadows hand
You only survive because you don’t understand
The wind carries voices but there’s nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare
Was it paradise lost or paradise found,
Was it safety you sought in 6 feet of ground,
Were you tipping your eyes to make an impression,
Wearing a face with a borrowed expression,
Did the looking glass
look back at you in wonder,
Did you look through a mask
only to see a stranger – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

I was too young to understand
But too old to forget
Naked on shifting sand
Hanging on by a thread
Walking through the door
Between the heart and the head
Your face is a mirror
Of that stranger in your bed-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

I was too young to understand

But too old to forget

Naked on shifting sand

Hanging on by a thread

Walking through the door

Between the heart and the head

My face is a mirror

Of that stranger in my bed-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

This water, this rain on your skin
This fire, this lava in your heart
What do you love, what do you desire
This heart is an organ of fire
My god is beautiful, strong, and naked
I kneel at Her sculpted alter
And worship at Her renaissance feet
And when the music stops and the mirror shatters
She reminds me why beauty matters. – Nausher Nash Banaji

It still looks like your world, but everything is different
Everything seems familiar, but oddly distant
What blink of an eye, whose tear, whose stare
What fork on which road has taken you where
You’re running down the track
The night burning down your back
You follow the ghost of you
And your ghosts are following you
Blinded by truth, enlightened by a lie
The die is cast in the blink of an eye – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

The night is done
Gone with the wind of the first sun
Dreams on ice, the river crossed twice
I want to be alone with me
A transparent layer in history
We knew the night would pass
That the love we lived could never last
Reflections blurred by shadows past
That silhouettes would still roam free
Beauty for a day, or a day of eternity
Arches to ashes, doors to dust
Blood resembles the colour of rust
–Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

You muddle amidst murals
A promise and a prophesy in each hand
Sprawling on mirrors of frozen summer
You forget where your story began
Straining through the ebbs you fall
Grasping a fleeting embrace
The doors are peeling off the walls
Your heart is etched on your face-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Darkling you reach into the sky
Whoever said memories don’t lie
Your fingers clutch your shadows hand
You only survive because you don’t understand
The wind carries voices but there’s nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare
Was it paradise lost or paradise found,
Was it safety you sought in 6 feet of ground,
Were you tipping your eyes to make an impression,
Wearing a face with a borrowed expression,
Did the looking glass
look back at you in wonder,
Did you look through a mask
only to see a stranger – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

You are sitting naked on shifting sand
A dream and a memory in each hand
You mirror a mirage moving alone
You call out but it is gone
The road that brought you here 
Is dragging you back
The light you thought was near
Is fading to black
The grotesque and the divine
Two sides of a coin
Through tunnels and doors
you ached you’d be free,
The doors lead to walls
And the labyrinth leads to me- Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

This is all that remains

When the smoke clears

And the embers die

The grotesque and the divine

Two sides of a coin

The sum total of a mans life

Is a bill of sale transferring ownership

You follow the truth of shadows naked
You are a pebble in the surge of drawing tide
You search the dark for something sacred
Darling can you look inside

Dancing past the chimes of midnight
What is right and what is true
Down the shore and into the starlight
! exchange my old world for the new

Naked now our skins are crawling
We sit in our bones looking out from the hill
Face pressed against the window
The snow is melting and the earth is still-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

take the leaves back to the forest

and the water back to the sea,

turn the stone back to ashes

bring the dust back to me.

Carrying my past inside me
It’s the future I’m returning to
Wearing my mask inside me
What am I turning into?
There is a stranger in my head
Screaming naked in the rain
My mind is clear he says
But my soul is insane,
Sometimes I wish I could fly
but where can I go
Where can I hide
So my shadow won’t find me
Everything I am fleeing
is right here inside me – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

I follow the taillights in the sky
Starting and ending
Fading down pillared corridors into another world
Away from the trivial the inane the babble the trash
Away from life’s symmetry of madness
i have felt the warm breath of stormy seas

Heard waves ebb and flow deep inside of me

Heard their heart beating like it was my own

Felt them turn, retreat and return

They will still be here

Long after I am gone

And the sower will sow the word

A soul at peace in a world of violence

And the word will be silence

Removing the blindfold is pain
Because of what you might see
It’s easier to live in chains
Than it is to be free
Darkling you walk into the light
Staring blind wrong from right
Sweating palms clutching a shadow’s hand
You only survive because you don’t understand
The wind carries voices but there’s nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

My god is beautiful, strong, and naked.
I kneel at Her sculpted alter,
And worship at Her renaissance feet.
And when the music stops and the mirror shatters
She reminds me why beauty matters. Nausher

What the gods give

Man quickly takes away

From the ebbs in your eye

To that void in the sky

From the blackness of light

To that tsunami of night

The night caresses secrets in a dream

Speaking of promises unspoken

The doors open to the wind of the first sun

And nothing recalled will ever be forgotten

You sat there a while scanning the miles

Free child of beauty and a caged reptile

You wish you could fly but dreams cloud the sky

The rain in your brain is washing them dry – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Separated by lightyears of silence and nightyears of stone
The words you speak to me are all unknown
In a crowded train on an empty line
I’m searching for someplace I can call mine
In the mirror of an hourglass naked I stand
My scars are hidden and safe in her hand
Dreams on ice, the river crossed twice
I want to be alone with me
A transparent layer in history
A ripple of gasps from behind a curtain
You part them only to enter oblivion = Nausher Nash Banaji

They who lose themselves in numbers

And are forgotten in the count

Who have voices for lying

And faces to hide themselves behind

They who fill themselves with words

And are emptied by them

Who have eyes for dreaming

But are walking blind

From the depths of a mirror, a stranger looks back

Stretched on the wheel there’s no turning back

Your reflection won’t freeze the lines on your hand

You trace and erase your face in the sand.-

Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

There goes the sower to sow the word

The seed fell in the water devoured by water

The seed fell on stone scorched by the sunless sun

There the sower sows the word

The word they heard but didn’t hear

A world they saw but did not see

But i have felt the warm breath of stormy seas

Heard waves ebb and flow deep inside of me

Heard their heart beating like it was my own

Felt them turn, retreat and return

They will still be here

Long after I am gone

And the sower will sow the word

A soul at peace in a world of violence

And the word will be silence – Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Lost in that space between my head and my face

Between stars and scars

Between mirrors and masks

Between truth and lullabies

Between skin and stone and disguise

Between fear and fate

Between love, indifference, and hate

It doesn’t matter what I say

It’s not going to go away

It’s the price I pay

Miles apart inches away – N

When we left the mirror and entered the room
When we walked the path from bloom to tomb
We stumbled between the blur and the after
We left behind our breath on the mirror – Nausher Nash

You hold it in your hand and watch it expire
Barbwires in the sand, the blackness of fire
Careful what thoughts you allow into your mind
Your life is changed on the toss of a dime
You forget the things you should remember
And you remember things you should forget
The bellows are burned
The ire is consumed in the fire
Trying to forget who is who
Trying to forget everything you knew
But you know this night is done
Gone with that wind of the first sun
You know the eyes in the mirror can’t choose
You can’t win because when we do
You have only yourself to lose – nausher nash

You follow the taillights in the sky
Starting and ending
Between stars and scars
Between fear and fate
Between truth and lullabies
Fading down pillared corridors into another world
Away from the trivial the inane the babble the trash
Away from life’s symmetry of madness
The looking glass looks back at you in wonder
You look through the mask only to see a stranger
You peel off your skin and enter
– Nausher Nash Banaji 

 

There goes the sower to sow the word
Some will fall in the water to be devoured by water
Some will fall on stones to be scorched by the sunless sun
There the sower sows the word
The word they’ll hear but will not hear
A world they’ll see but will not see
But I have felt the warm breath of stormy seas
Heard waves ebb and flow deep inside of me
Heard their heart beating like it was my own
Felt them turn, retreat and return
They will still be here
Long after I am gone
And the sower will sow the word
A soul at peace in a world of violence
And the word will be silence – Nausher

Your past is an illusion, a trick of your memory

Your future an illusion, a trick of your dreams

Your mirror is a silver storm of confusion

Nothing is as it seems
Here you are on the blue mountain
Halfway up, halfway down
Between the beauty and the pain

Conquerer and clown
Between fear and fate
Between truth and lullabies

Indifference and hate
Between skin and stone and disguise
Walking down your old hunting ground
You come across all the people you used to be
You find the selves you lost and the selves you found
The ghost of you mirrored in eternity

You will die on a day of sunshine

Or maybe on a day of rain

Are you trapped in your own memories

Is the sublime drowned by the mundane

You muddle amidst murals

A promise and a prophecy in each hand

Dancing on mirrors of frozen summer

You forget where your story began

Straining through the ebbs you fall

Grasping a fleeting embrace

The past is peeling off the walls

Your heart is etched on your face-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Lifetimes in libraries

Around the world
Saved in an embrace

Of books and words

Pages I turned
Turned me and
Will still be here

After the flood

Your heart
will
Feel these words
Turn to ashes that
Linger in the blood

M|N

You follow the taillights in the sky
Starting and ending
Fading down pillared corridors into another world
Away from the trivial the inane the babble the trash
Away from life’s symmetry of madness
For whoever will save his life shall lose it
And whoever loses his life will find it
You know this day too will pass
The night we live can never last
The past is everpresent
The future is buried in the past
Let the living follow the living
And let the dead bury their dead-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

I have spent lifetimes in libraries around the world
Embraced and saved by books and words
I had this thought
That all the pages I have turned
That all the pages that turned me
Will still be here long after the proverbial flood
That other hearts will feel the words I felt
And the pages now ashes will linger on in their blood-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

The bellows are burned
The ire is consumed in the fire
The finger points to us
And we fall among them that fall
The moment has passed, the hour is ended, and we are not saved
There was so much we wanted to ask

So much we wanted to say

But somehow we knew there wasn’t time

And even if there was

It was all, somehow, beside the point
We stepped out in the morning like morning dew

But you knew this night was done

Gone with that wind of the first sun

We knew the eyes in the mirror cant choose

We can’t win because when we do

We have only ourselves to lose – Nash

You died on a day of sunshine

Or maybe it was a day of rain

Were you trapped in your own memories

Was the sublime drowned by the mundane

You muddle amidst murals

A promise and a prophecy in each hand

Dancing on mirrors of frozen summer

You forget where your story began

Straining through the ebbs you fall

Grasping a fleeting embrace

The past is peeling off the walls

Your heart is etched on your face-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

 

You hold it in your hand and watch it expire,
Barbwires in the sand, the blackness of fire,
Be careful what you allow into your mind,
Your life is changed on the toss of a dime,
You forget the things you should remember,
And you remember things you should forget-N

Your past is an illusion, a trick of your memory

Your future an illusion, a trick of your dreams

Your mirror is a silver storm of confusion

Nothing is as it seems

You are standing naked on shifting sand,

A dream and a memory in each hand,

You mirror a mirage moving alone,

You call out but it is gone,

The road that brought you here

Is dragging you back

The light you thought was near

Is fading to black

Here we are on the blue mountain

Halfway up, halfway down

Lost in that space between beauty and pain

Between stars and scars

Between fear and fate

Between truth and lullabies

Between skin and stone and disguise

Walking down our old hunting ground

We come across all the people we used to be

We find the selves we lost and the selves we found

The gods of us mirrored in eternity

There went the sower to sow the word
Some fell in the water devoured by water
Some fell on stone scorched by the sunless sun
There the sower sows the word
The word they heard but didn’t hear
A world they saw but did not see
But i have felt the warm breath of stormy seas
Heard waves ebb and flow deep inside of me
Heard their heart beating like it was my own
Felt them turn, retreat and return
They will still be here
Long after I am gone
And the sower will sow the word
A soul at peace in a world of violence
And the word will be silence – Nausher

You see yourself sitting naked on the sand

A dream and a memory in each hand

You mirror a mirage moving alone

You call out and it is gone

Stretch out your hands to the desolate land

More desolate than a wilderness of dreamless desire

The dark morning rises and the light of the mountains

Descend like doves from the sky soft like white mourning

The Word without, the famine within

The mirror’s cracked along the angles of your face

Where do you belong in it’s tangled embrace

The looking glass looks back at you in wonder

You look through the mask only to see a stranger

You peel off  your skin and enter – Nausher

Was it a promise of mine or a memory of yours

What did you lie and what did you die for

Your world is the same after as it was before

You heard the wings of racing shadows

You saw the colour of dancing light

You felt the rush of fire on ice

Your words embrace empty paper

The divine divided by divinity

Trapped in the madding throng

Walled in the other half of your insanity

Your dreams are all real your reality all wrong

We knew this day would pass
This night we lived would never last
We knew our future is buried in the past
So you let the living follow the living
And you let the dead bury their dead
For those you burnt and those you forgave
Too late you’ve learnt you’re only a slave
So the last shall be first, and the first last
For many be called, but few are chosen
The wind carries voices but there’s nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare-Nausher Nash Banaji Duo

Looking over your shoulder

Looking for promises kept

Dreams that are broken

Stretch out your hands to a desolate land

The wind wipes away every trace from the sand

The mirror’s cracked along the angles of your face

Where do you belong in it’s tangled embrace

The looking glass looks back at you in wonder

You look through a mask only to see a stranger

What blink of an eye, whose tear, whose stare

What fork on which road is taking you where

Sometimes you wish you could fly but where can you go

Where can you hide so your shadow won’t find you

Everything you are fleeing is right here inside you.Nausher Nash Banaji 

Praise and blame are all the same

You are satiated, you are starving

You are the alpha and the omega

Here you are on the blue mountain

Halfway up, halfway down

Stranded and exiled, looking out to sea

Holding onto misplaced gods

And what you might have been

You had many a thing to say

But had not the words to say them

On the banks of lethe you waited

Nothing remembered nothing regretted

Arches to ashes, doors to dust

Blood resembles the colour of rust

1.

unmoved they stand these branches and trees

while memories are carried over the breeze

our scents meander and curl with air

and our shadows on cobblestones linger there

walking down our old hunting ground

we come across all the people we used to be

we find the selves we lost and the selves we found

the gods of us mirrored in eternity

the flesh is weak and the walls too long

we’ve been searching for someplace we can belong

waiting for the train we lie awake in bed

dreaming of the dreams to bring back the dead
M|N

2. [alternate rendering]

unmoved they stand these branches and trees

while memories are carried over the breeze
our scents meander and curl with the air
our shadows on cobblestone linger there

walk on down our old hunting ground
come across all the people we used to be

the selves we lost and the selves we found

the gods of us mirrored in eternity

the flesh is weak and the walls too long

we searched for a place where we belong

waiting for the train we lie awake in bed

to dream the dream that brings back the dead
– M|N

I see the moon in your eyes

hear the swoon of your sighs

hold you naked you dance in the rain

whisper your story sanity to the insane

where are you now where have you been

awaken this morning a butterfly in a dream

last night you dreamed the butterfly was me

I tear open my skin you enter my veins

swim to my heart break the chains

come tell me that this day will pass

the nights we live burn the past

the slow future is melting fast

here butterflies still roam free

eternally on a day of eternity

• M| N

What are these words you speak

Why are they all unknown to me

You see yourself sitting naked on the sand

A dream and a memory in each hand

You mirror a mirage moving alone

You call out but it is gone

The road that brought you to me is dragging you back

The light you thought was near is fading to black

For those you burnt and those you forgave

Too late you’ve learnt you’re only a slave

The wind carries voices but there’s nobody there

The bush is burning but the mountain is bare

Pagan gods stare blind across the sea

The sea brings sweet darkness back to me

Staring past doors into the night

Running lost whats wrong whats right

Grasping tight your shadow’s hand

You only survive because you don’t understand

There is a stranger in your head

Dancing naked in the rain

Your mind is clear he said

But your soul is insane

Everything we knew

Was not worth the knowing

You are roaming far you roam

So far from home – Nausher Nash Banaji

unmoved they stand these branches and trees

while memories are carried over the breeze
our scents meander and curl with the air
our shadows on cobblestone linger there

walk on down our old hunting ground
come upon the people we used to be

the selves we lost and the selves we found

the gods of us mirrored in eternity

the flesh is weak and the walls too long

we search for a place where we belong

waiting for the train we lie awake in bed

to dream the dream that brings back the dead

Here I am on the blue mountain

Halfway up, halfway down

Lost in that space between my head and my face again

Between stars and scars

Between fear and fate

Between truth and lullabies

Between skin and stone and disguise

It doesn’t matter what I say

It’s not going to go away

It’s the price I pay

Worlds apart inches away

 

 

 

What manner of creature is this

She hauls tempests behind her

She parts seas with a sigh

Walking out into the world

Bringing light into the night

She walks on water into the blue

The gods that created lightning and rain

Also created you

 

These fingers, almost touching, like breath on your skin
These lips, almost grazing, like whispers in the dark
What do you love, what do you desire
This heart is an organ of fire
There arises a great tempest in the sea but you are asleep
The waves carry my words but they are lost in the deep
Out beyond the waves there’s no turning back
Is it your reflection that shimmers in black
These liquid mirrors don’t freeze the lines on your hand
You trace and erase your face in the sand
Naked now your skin is crawling
You sit in your bones looking out from the hill
Face pressed against the window
The snow is melting and the earth is still – Nausher Nash Banaji

You are sitting naked on shifting sand,
A dream and a memory in each hand,
You mirror a mirage moving alone,
You call out but it is gone,
The road that brought you here
Is dragging you back,
The light you thought was near
Is fading to black,
Through tunnels through doors
You ached you’d be free,
The doors lead to walls
And the labyrinth leads to me- Nausher

I sat at the window and was looking out
Then i looked within and began to shout
Have i seen too little, have i seen too much
Am i guided by stars, maimed by a touch
Am i blinded by truth, enlightened by a lie
The die is cast in the blink of an eye
– Nausher

unmoved they stand these branches and trees
while memories are carried over the breeze
our scents meander and curl with air
but our shadows on cobblestones linger there
walking down our old hunting ground
we come across all the people we used to be
we find the selves we lost and the selves we found
the ghosts of us mirrored in eternity
the flesh is weak and the walls too long
we’ve been searching for someplace we can belong
waiting for the train we lie awake in bed
dreaming of the dreams to bring back the dead-Nausher

 

 

Water wears out the mountain
Time wears out the skin
You see yourself naked on shifting sand
A dream and a memory in each hand
The stone the builders rejected
Has become the head stone of the corner
You saw your fears hiding in your laughter
You sat there a while scanning the miles
Free child of beauty born of a caged reptile- Nausher

if there is bread i will have bread
if there is wine then wine
if there is none then i will live
on moonlight and sunshine
if there is none then i will live
on snowflake or on rain
if there is none then i will live
on hunger thirst and pain-N

There rises a great tempest in the sea but we are asleep
From the depths of these waters our future looks bleak
Out beyond the waves there’s no turning back
Is it your reflection that shimmers in black
These liquid mirrors don’t freeze the lines on your hand
You trace and erase your face in the sand
Naked now your skin is crawling
You sit in your bones looking out from the hill
Face pressed against the window
The snow is melting and the earth is still
Open palms seeking a shadow’s hand
You only survive because you don’t understand
The wind carries voices but there’s nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare
The divine divided by divinity
Trapped in the madding throng
Walled in the other half of your insanity
Your dreams are all real your reality all wrong –  Nausher

Separated by lightyears of silence
And nightyears of stone
You speak a language all unknown
In the mirror of an hourglass naked you stand
Your scars are hidden and safe in her hand
The mirror’s cracked along the angles of your face
Where do you belong in it’s tangled embrace
What blink of an eye, whose tear, whose stare
What fork on which road is taking you where
Where can you hide so your shadow won’t find you
Everything you am fleeing is right here inside you. Nausher

I have felt the warm breath of storm and sea

Felt waves ebb and flow deep inside of me

Heard their heart beating like it was my own

Felt them turn, retreat and return

They will still be here

Long after I am gone

A soul at peace in a world of violence

And the sower will sow the word

And the word will be silence – Nausher Nash

There was so much you wanted to ask

So much you wanted to say

But somehow you knew there wasn’t time

And even if there was

That it was all, somehow, beside the point

You know the night is done

Gone with the wind of the first sun

But the eyes in the mirror cant choose

You can’t win because when you do

You have only yourself to lose – Nash

This water, this rain on your skin
This fire, this lava in your heart
What do you love, what do you desire
This heart is an organ of fire
There rises a great tempest in the sea but you are asleep
The waves carry my words but they are lost in the deep
Out beyond the waves there’s no turning back
Is it your reflection that shimmers in black
These liquid mirrors don’t freeze the lines on your hand
You trace and erase your face in the sand
Naked now your skin is crawling
You sit in your bones looking out from the hill
Face pressed against the window
The snow is melting and the earth is still – Nausher

This water, this rain on your skin
This fire, this lava in your heart
What do i love, what do i desire
This heart is an organ of fire
There rises a great tempest in the sea but I am asleep
From the depths of these waters the future looks bleak
Out beyond the waves there’s no turning back
Is it my reflection that shimmers in black
These liquid mirrors won’t freeze the lines on my hand
I trace and erase my face in the sand
I sit in my bones looking out from the hill
The snow is melting and the earth is still – Nausher

The light of the body is in the eye
Where neither rust corrupts nor moths fly
You seek love lost in your own abyss
Crucified by the other’s silence
Waiting on night to deliver your bliss
Your soul’s at peace in a world of violence
The divine divided by divinity
Trapped in the madding throng
Walled in the other half of your insanity
Your dreams are all real your reality all wrong – Nausher

There are those who would convert just for the art

There are those who would convert just for the art
They are the chosen ones for whom gods are naked and words are beautiful
They would convert just for the sculpture, the domes, the pillars, and the paint
They would convert for the poetry of  saints
They see the perfect proportions in the hand of David and the finger of god
And they understand since they are mortal they must be flawed
Fear and vanity are painted into the perfect body and  perfect face
Hands outstretched they approach you with feline grace
There are those who see the genius of the golden mean and  perfect ratios
They are the chosen ones who would convert for the perfection of the prose
They see how parts of the body relate to each other
And how areola relates to aurora
These are not the nudes of  liquor and lust
Not the modernist hacks of warts and rust
There are those who would convert for this art’s divine aloofness
They are the chosen ones who can distinguish the sublime from the ridiculous
With every stroke of visual nobility, they cancel out the porn of stupidity
Carving, painting the grandeur of great poetry
The door is shut but at least now they have the key.
– Nausher

 

there is a reason why gods are naked
her hands reach for the earth, her feet touch the skies
her marble chest heaves as the mortal self dies
my renaissance heart shies from the sorrow
here I am waiting for tomorrow
philosophers of the Enlightenment saw beauty as the way to save ourselves
masters of art saw gods as beautiful in their own skin
there was a time when artists were scientists, technicians, poets
there was a time they knew this well
Those gods are naked because
beauty is sacred
that beauty is divine
gods are naked because
all they are clothed in is their belief

What manner of creature is this
She hauls tempests behind her
She parts seas with a sigh
Her yoke is easy and her burden is light
From the dark she walks into the light
She stares blind wrong from right
Open palms seeking a shadows hand
You only survive because you don’t understand
The wind carries voices but theres nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare
The divine divided by divinity
Trapped in the madding throng
Walled in the other half of your insanity
Your dreams are all real your reality all wrong – NAUsher

There rises a great tempest in the sea but I am asleep
From the depths of these waters the future looks bleak
Out beyond the waves theres no turning back
Is it my reflection that shimmers in black
These liquid mirrors don’t freeze the lines on my hand
I trace and erase my face in the sand
I sit in my bones looking out from the hill
The snow is melting and the earth is still – Nausher

You regret the present is not the past
You despair it’s becoming the future
Those moments were perfect but they didn’t last
Those meaningless meanings were sutured
Turn away thinking they will come back to you
But the eyes in the mirror can’t choose
You can’t win because when you do
You have only yourself to lose – Nausher

So it is written with a pen of iron
And with the point of a diamond
Graven upon the table of my heart
That praise and blame are all the same
I hide this truth in secret places
Cover my tracks hide the traces
You search the horizon but you cannot see me
You search heaven and earth for ways to deceive me
From the vantage of vanity
From dust to disarray to dust infinity
Mirrors won’t freeze the lines on my hand
I trace and erase my face in the sand – Nausher

I want water, you want fire
In the wilderness of dreamless desire
I stretch out my hands to a desolate land
I am lost in a grain of sand
My eyes follow the angles of your face
Where do i belong in it’s tangled embrace
The looking glass looks back at me in wonder
i look through the mask only to see a stranger
I peel off my skin, and enter – Nausher

There goes the sower to sow the word

Some fall in the water devoured by water

Some fall on stone scorched by the sunless sun

There the sower sows the word

The word they heard but didn’t hear

The word they saw but did not see

But i have felt the warm breath of storm and sea

Heard waves ebb and flow deep inside of me

Heard their heart beating like it was my own

Felt them turn, retreat and return

They will still be here

Long after I am gone

And the sower will sow the word

And the word will be silence – Nausher

What manner of creature is this
She ropes in the storms behind her
She parts the seas with a sigh
Her yoke is easy and her burden is light
In the dark she walks into the light
Staring blind wrong from right
Open palms seeking a shadows hand
You only survive because you don’t understand
The wind carries voices but theres nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare
The divine divided by divinity
Trapped in the madding throng
Walled in the other half of your insanity
Your dreams are all real your reality all wrong – N

There rises a great tempest in the sea but I am asleep
From the depths of these waters the future looks bleak
Out beyond the waves theres no turning back
Is it my reflection that shimmers in black
These liquid mirrors don’t freeze the lines on my hand
I trace and erase my face in the sand
Naked now my skin is crawling
I sit in my bones looking out from the hill
Face pressed against the window
The snow is melting and the earth is still – Nausher

So it is written with a pen of iron
And with the point of a diamond
Graven upon the table of your heart
That praise and blame are all the same
I hide this truth in secret places
Cover my tracks hide the traces
You search the horizon but you cannot see me
You search heaven and earth for ways to deceive me
From the vantage of vanity
From dust to disarray to dust infinity
Mirrors won’t freeze the lines on my hand
I trace and erase my face in the sand – Nausher

Your eyes see your own reflection
Ears listen for the sound of your echo
One builds up a wall
The other fortifies it with mortar
And yet the gust of a memory
Scatters the gravel away
Like white memories on dark days
They escape from one fire
But another devours them
Praise and blame are the same
You are satiated, you are starving
You are the alpha, and the omega
Here you are on the blue mountain
Halfway up, halfway down
Stranded and exiled, looking out to sea
Holding onto misplaced gods
And what you might have been – N

There is a reason gods are naked
At the alter this beauty is sacred
She said when you turn the corner
You will no longer see
You’ll be loved or you’ll be hated
For your words and for your dreams
There is a vein for silver, and a place for gold
Iron out of earth, and brass out of stone
Darkness oozes shadows onto her skin
In her hands she measures the weight of the wind
Are we blinded by truth, enlightened by a lie
The die is cast in the blink of an eye – Nausher

The bellows are burned
The ire is consumed in the fire
Nothing is learned
You left the ones you desire
The finger points to you
But that is nothing new
The gods that created thunder and rain also created you
They provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces
Trace the scars back to all those hidden places
Through gardens of eden deserts of scrawl
They fall among them that fall
You see yourself sitting naked on the sand
A promise and a prophesy in each hand
You mirror a mirage moving alone
You call out but it is gone
A ripple of gasps from behind a curtain
You part them only to enter oblivion
-Nausher

There was so much I wanted to ask,
so much I wanted to say;
but somehow I knew there wasn’t time
and even if there was,
that it was all, somehow, beside the point.