An 8 of diamonds on the road,
stamped on by a a heavy sports shoe,
turn it over idly with your toe
and be surprised to know
that it has 8 diamonds on the other side too.
Some trick that lies by the wayside
Some trick that never was
Someone walked by armed
but was robbed by chance
of all the tricks up his sleeve.
A Kinley bottle filled up with water
lying unused by the gutter,
a stream that never passed through the gullet
bypassed to meet its fate.
A thread on a nail,
leading to a slowly unravelling dupatta,
the dupatta lies inconsequential
on a heaving heavy bosom.
Some of us are never allowed to perform
the routine that we have practised hard.
Some of us make our destinies,
most of us just fulfill them,
and there are some
who are carefully undone by the master's hand.