...the beauty you once were
has decayed,
but the desire remains.

In the dark,
she could be anybody.

                                ...Toffears

...a young body abducted by the dawn,
where candles fade and roses die.
We are one,
we are one,
we are so...

So have we come,
so shall we go.

(Varanasi)
                                                  ...Toffears

...exile
unclassified, the Past remains.
In the noonday sun,
whenever clouds may gather,
there is still a glimmer of Right...
somewhere...
 
​                                      ...Toffears

...callous words carried
a stone's-throw away...
only the Guilty will harvest for their friends’ pity.
 
You have made me today’s Headline...

How boring must their lives be
to be so interested.
 
You have made me today’s Headline,
yet, I forgave

You have made me today’s Headline.
I forgave and you deceived.
 
                                               ...Toffears

...I am holding the gun
and
I am aiming at your faith.

I am at Peace,
I hold the Truth...

Kowtow to my hate.

                           ...Toffears

...du haut de leur colline,
les Grands
regardent les enfants
jouer au football.

Se souviennent-ils
qu'un jour,
eux aussi,
jouaient à la balle
plutôt qu'à la guerre?

A man who owns the corners,
ruins the world.

                                   ...Toffears

...Mack and Gill
were, somehow, deep in love
but always fighting.

For her birthday,
she bought herself
something for him.

Maybe,
one of these evenings,
if he was in the mood for giving,
she would ware it.

...and so,
it wore on,
the married and troubled life
of Mack and Gill.

                                 ...Toffears

...for the night offered me none,
I spoke of refuge and liberation.

Would my dark horse turn to white
upon the crossing of the river,
offering me time to escape?

                                             ...Toffears

...my mind,
my one creation,
would rise again
and not take defeat.

I was to escape to the altitudes,
I was 'I',
and I would not be beat.

                                      ...Toffears

...I could name a thousand gifts
other than Life.
Yet, it seems you have failed them all.

                                               ...Toffears

...there was a figure on the hill
and a tree with purple leaves.
Then, there was rain
and a silhouette.
Then, nothing.

I sat there, on the levee,
watching,
falling into what might have been.

                                                ...Toffears

...once cut down,
a forest provides no shelter.

​                               ...Toffears

...the frames were hung,
printed paper,
memories.

Faces,
voiceless,
whose names were lost
but for a likeness from another time,
in sepia or black and white.

There was a chain in between the pictures
and a path we could not see.

Slightly torn and damaged,
young, as they once were,
now gone,
forgotten,
but for a likeness from another time,
in sepia or black and white.

These are your ancestors,
your history,
your DNA.

They are part of your culture.

                                                      ...Toffears