Millstones and Milestones

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

Echoes Past the Point of No Return

A million voices bleed in my head
Pleading for a solid coalition
But I know the quota is limited
So I stand perplexed
Resisting temptation

You see, somewhere ages and ages ago
There was another set of voices
And though, long, I stood at the crossroads
As no storm did I hear them forebode
I discriminated between neither of the choices

Thence, teetering at the end of sanity
I waited for the next interlude
Whence I shrunk my limit to unity
Choosing the voice with the greatest amity
In anticipation of a sanguine quietude

But, as I languished in the passivity of the refuge
My voice lost all its vivacity
So for the following season of vocal deluge
I chose to rebel against the complacent attitude
Which has cost me more than my sanity

Now, as I stand at dawn of the next chapter
With the voices having returned with a vengeance
I stare at my ever-growing puzzle in wonder
Uncertain of the solitary piece I must discover
That which shall make all the difference

– Akanksha Gupta