Contemporary · Delhi
Kabeer Asar is a fictional young poet created for the Meeras archive — his work is original seed verse dedicated to the public domain, not that of a real contemporary writer. He is imagined as the newest voice on the shelf: terse ghazals about screens, sleeplessness and the city at night. He lets the archive close the era timeline with a present-day, copyright-free voice.
har haath mein ek roshan sa shaffaaf sa aaina hai
magar koi kisi ki aankhon mein nahin dekhta
neend aankhon se ruuTh ke kahin chali gayi hai
aur main hoon ye raat hai aur ek jalti screen hai
shahr so jaata hai par uski roshni nahin soti
har khiRki ek jaagti hui aankh ki tarah hoti hai
hazaaron log mere aas paas hain phir bhi
main is bheeR mein bhi tanha sa reh jaata hoon
dil ki baat ab lafzon mein nahin tasveeron mein hoti hai
magar dard ka koi nishaan abhi tak nahin bana
tujhe maine kabhi dekha nahin sirf paRha hai
magar tere lafzon mein bhi teri khushboo aati hai
is andheri raat mein bhi ek baat achchhi hai
ki har screen ke peechhe ek jaagta hua dil hai
ham naye log hain puraane dard naye andaaz mein
vahi tanhai vahi gham bas naam badal gaya