WATERING THE CACTUS

(A lovely gift from Abhishek- I think in 1996)

You can't love a cactus too much
It may die of disbelief!

Futile-Its too stoic to cup its hands
suffer without complaining
A lesson it has learnt

It looks dead
But pluck a thorn and you'll find
Life in tis bosom

Or is it a tear held back
when another callous cloud ignored it?
No one ever heard a cactus cry

For it life is a post dated cheque
With no signature on it

Maybe it is not water a cactus is asking for

Why is its flower hauntingly beautiful?
And so short lived?

What the hell
After all I can do it tomorrow!