Intriguing words

Words have intrigued me forever

Words, that are immensely powerful
And intensely weak
Words, that make you who you are
And then fail you when you need them the most.

Words at times are like those people
Who do not let you get near them.
At least not until they test and try you a bit.
They stay away, remain elusive, act tough,
Until you start flowing in their veins.
Or till you know them so much
That they start growing roots in each part of your body. 

Whenever I find a lyrical new word
I play with it for hours...
Like an insistent lover I keep going back to her
Every time with a new proposal.
"How about this?" I ask.
At times she obliges me with a smile
At others, she does not even budge.

To tell you the truth..
I have accepted defeat many times
That is if you can call that a defeat.
For they say, nothing is never lost in love.
Then I never went back to her for days
I did not for years, once.

I tell you, it is then....
And do trust me on that, she misses me.
She misses me so much that she fills my dreams to the last bit,
Makes me restless and forlorn
She calls me till the time I can think of nothing but her.

Then again, words love to be my foe
("Raqeeb" they say in Urdu)
They leave me even before I understand them fully
And leave me gaping when they reach my own ears
Forget the poor human on the other side of it!
On those days I hate words!

But when I think
It was words which could ask you
"Keep my stars shining!"
We make up. We stop fighting.
They then become my closest confidant.
"Never let the stars down" they told you.
"Will you hold them till I return?" they asked.

Its only words that has helped me keep going...
"Some day"..I said...

"I will see my reflection in them".