to you they came with teeth clenched  and eyes unseeing
yesterday's truth died at the end of  morning


to you they came searching shadows under the sheets
infinity is the same man crossing the same street

drowning in sand lost out at sea

the surf of dreams the surge of memory


they killed themselves with cameras and revolvers
you killed yourself with minutes and with hours

- Nausher Banaji

they who lost themselves in numbers
and were forgotten in the count
who have voices for lying
and faces to hide themselves behind
they who filled themselves with words
and were emptied by them
who have eyes for dreaming
but were walking blind-N

i've cradled the past in my arms for so long

the evening has changed the dust to shadow

like a curse turned into a blessing

the frozen summer has turned to black snow -N

midnight's sun into the valley stumbles

mountains echo the heart's welcome knell

pagan gods stare blind across the sea

the sea brings sweet darkness back to me

ingress  twilight our fingers write with dew

interlocking dreams egress the night

through oceans of laughter through a fog of fears

tearing through the forest into the softest lair

dancing past the midnight chimes

waves surge the cliffs with the moon

down the shore and into the starlight

i 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 Banaji

From the depths of a mirror a stranger looks back
Stretched on the wheel theres no turning back
Your reflection wont freeze the lines on your hand
You trace and erase your face in the sand.
Nausher

You were watching yourself  by the window
Running past days that pass too soon
The doors you forced
didn't lead to freedom
They lead just to another room

- Nausher Banaji

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

Staring down doors into the night
Running blind from wrong to right
Grasping tight your shadow's hand
You only survive because you don't understand
There is a stranger in your head
Basking naked in the rain
Your mind is clear he said
But your soul is insane- Nausher Banaji

pebbles in the suck of tide
harpooned to your voyage inside
nights pummelled by memory
shadows marooned on masonry
a ripple of gasps from behind the curtain
an odyssey to the rim of oblivion -Nausher Banaji

like pebbles in the suck of tide
harpooned on your voyage inside
a night pummelled by gales of memory,
spasms of shadows marooned on masonry
a ripple of gasps from behind the curtain
an odyssey returned from oblivion-Nausher

spasms of shadows pulse the walls inside
like pebbles in the surge of drawing tide
peeling away insanity like the wind
transitory stone on the infinity of skin -
nausher

the past is swept by sand
history is redeemed by art
we severed our left hand
'cause its connected to our heart
-nausher

unmoved, they stand the branches and trees
while memories are carried ‘ore the breeze
our scents meander and curl with air
but our shadows on cobblestone linger there-
nausher-carrara

sleeping in each others dreams
you can hear your footsteps walking away
your shadow is swimming against the stream
you hear your heartbeat asking you to stay
you see your eyes looking back at you
but you are just the stranger you lost along the way - Nausher

How familiar it all is
That within four walls
The ceiling has darkened into a stormy sky
A world of humans passing
Like clouds floating by
At the river's end of dreams
Theres nothing to regret
And nothing to remember
At the mouth of the lie
The truth doesn't really matter
-Nausher

At the mouth of the cave my darling
it doesn't really matter
the other side of dreams my darling
nothing to regret or remember
arches to ashes, doors to dust
blood resembles the colour of rust-Nausher

You muddle amidst murals
A promise and a prophesy 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
The heart is etched on your face-Nausher

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 flood/ that other hands and other hearts will feel the words I felt/ and the pages now ashes will linger on in their blood-Nausher

walking down your old hunting ground
you come across all the people you used to be
you find the self you lost and the selves you found
the ghosts of you mirrored in eternity -Nausher

There is no heaven and there is no hell
An ear to the ground and an eye on the hill
Building our memories on shifting sand
We look back to see an arid land
Waiting for the train we lie awake in bed
Dreaming of the dreams to bring back the dead- Nausher

you're swimming down rivers of mirrors
staring up the eyes of strangers
the flesh is not strong and the walls are too long
you've been searching for someplace you can belong
waiting for the train you lie awake in bed
dreaming of the dreams to bring back the dead-Nausher

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

From the vantage of vanity, from dust to disarray to dust infinity. mirrors wont freeze the lines on my hand I trace and erase my face in the sand.Nausher

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. Nausher

the sea is calling out the clouds again,
carrying stories of sanity to the insane,
there you lie scanning the miles,
free child of beauty or a caged reptile,
washing away black memories in white water,
tomorrow's fears with yesterday's laughter
-Nausher

Darkling you reach into the light
Sending spasms of memories into the night
Sweating palms clutching your shadows hand
You only survive because you dont understand
The wind carries voices but theres nobody there
The bush is burning but the mountain is bare
-Nausher

you are sitting naked on shifting sand,
a mirror and a mirage in each hand,
you dream a memory moving alone,
you call out but she is gone,
the road that brought you here
is dragging you back
the light you thought was near
is fading to black-Nausher

Each seeking life in his own abyss
Hanging onto the other's silence
Waiting on night to deliver your bliss
Your mask is your soul in 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

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=Nausher