Between Apathy and Empathy

Posted on July 25, 2023 by akanksha gupta

Restlessness clings to the air
It blows far and wide,
Soul searching through the depth of stars
That glint past their eventide

The wind picks, strays, soars
Gently ebbs, gently flows
And the heart thumps a minute a mile,
Yet it is time that stops
Slows and steadies, to stand and stare awhile

The promises of a fickle mind
Five-minute fame that would not rewind
A corruption that unwittingly creeps
Excuses that ooze and gape and weep

They clothe whispers borne of prejudice
With sunsets that judgment did not miss
And with a kiss of nightmare on sleep’s brow
From the hangman stood bloodied but unbowed

A garden, unfettered, sows and grows
The guilt that gnarls a crow’s crow,
There the callouses of weary souls
Have long since culled care’s hold

But when the illusion shatters solitude
And pieces of sanity unhinge and elude
Then care takes roots anew, again
Upon each ponderous now and then

– Akanksha Gupta

Deception

Posted on July 23, 2023 by akanksha gupta

The Glitz of the Cotai Strip,
A land of Casinos and Duplicates


It’s never gleamed tears of sweet delight 
Mess of scars beneath my dreams
Twilight draws curtains close
Darkness sweeps in at the seams

Mere memory of your canny smile
Chokes and charms the cheeks of time
Pink blush splutters graciously 
Gold flecks more and more my eyes 

My sanity spirals in and out
Churning oceans deep and wide
Yet tethered to my many blues
I feel no dread pull at the tide



- Akanksha Gupta

Shattering Illusions

Posted on July 23, 2023 by akanksha gupta

This solitary cow escaped slaughter, was lauded for taking initiative, and rewarded with life imprisonment. Its compatriots remain statistics. The war ended before it started.

We have words troubled with thoughts
That tremble with indecision
That tiptoe through unfunny bones
Before being steeped in precision

Yet ego scours substance
For paper town forget-me-nots
And intent, unless misdiagnosed,
Languishes as an afterthought

It’s a chicken-egg irony
Wrapped in a beefed up paradox
That in an era of diplomacy
Tolerance should be hitting the rocks

There are acts of courage
Powerful, undisguised, profound
Excepted from acceptance
Deemed exceptionally unsound

Oh it is hard to blame
Wherever would it fall?
Indeed it is hard to blame
If we should blame at all

It’s a chicken – egg irony
Wrapped in a beefed up paradox
That in an era of transparency
Honesty should be hitting the rocks

Arguments define the momentum that
The intelligentsia seeks to win
Yet their support is insidiously fed
Auctioned information

The unyielding grip of sanctions
Chokes the fair and free flow
So that the bias sowed in opinions
Gets steadily watered and ploughed

It’s a chicken – egg irony
Wrapped in a beefed up paradox
That in an era of self-discovery
The mind remains lost in thought

– Akanksha Gupta

A Portrait of Time

Posted on July 22, 2023 by akanksha gupta

I will follow you into the dark
I will sup with an open mind
I will eat out my heart
The moments do not rewind

The kindness of time warms
The stills within my soul
And paints the dark and the heavy
With a light and lurid stroke

The night fire stokes my dreams
Casting reflections of the day
Spicy, salty, sour, sweet
Never could I want to stay

Sweet nothings fill the morning air
Cool blues smudge the red half-sun
I breathe in dewy undertones
Before time leaps into a run

– Akanksha Gupta

Shaky First Steps

Posted on July 21, 2023 by akanksha gupta

Smirking, the shards of your rainbow
Cut deep my days and my nights
Folding the blades of my elbows
I stare at the edge of alright

Reason curdles at my fingertips
Toes burrow into hot sands
Cold gains foothold in my stomach
Winds blow ice from distant lands

Flickering, the shadows gather
Black clouds dance in my sight
Rain pelts reality at blind spots
Whetting with caution my appetite

– Akanksha Gupta

Making History

Posted on July 21, 2023 by akanksha gupta

My bones are black
Chapped with the ashes of my past
They stack up like a house of cards
The soot dribbles from their sinews
No gust of wind can whisk asunder
The faith that bids them continue
And weave the tapestry of time –
Oh weave a tapestry of time
That steals all my blunder away
Until the victory is all mine
And I am the captain of my fate

Cobbled streets,
Paved roads,
Pedestrians abound,
En route to the
Ruins of St. Paul,
Macau

– Akanksha Gupta

Procrastination

Posted on July 21, 2023 by akanksha gupta

Hanging on to shredded lies,
Where sluggish solemn dreams reside,
Past the dream catcher’s teeth,
That rattle on inaudibly

Between the shadows
and the soul
The mysteries lurk
uncontrolled

From bold the lies to
colder truth
Nothing is ever
understood

O in the shade
of hung despair
The silence shrouds
and stands and stares

A whiff of careless
times gone by
Invites the whims
to multiply

Till at the close
eyes weary rest
Ashes to ashes
jest to jest