Grandpa’s Winter Garden, 2022

Time has been harsh yet so very kind
Its memories well vintaged in my mind

There is a grace to every age
Lessons turning page after page

The stage set to throw wide the net
That seldom catches errant regret

Then a sweep of mindless mindfulness
Puts all off-beat crises to rest

Till wrinkles crease only the mind
At thirty, I barely pull off twenty five

There is nothing soft about me inside
It’s all sharp angles and hard lines

– Akanksha Gupta