I am

Posted on July 31, 2021 by axelle

I am what I am 
Exactly the way I am
Varnished, unvarnished, 
Tarnished by tide
I gleam in the morrow
Swim in the today
The night is nigh
Tomorrow is another day
And unlike yourself
You might find me staid
But I am happy to keep up
With me at my own pace

The race never dies
Fatigue sets in sometimes
And I kip in the boulevard 
Of my mind
There right across the corner
Between sun-kissed trees
Where the hammock stretches 
Oh so invitingly
I lie in thought
In waking dream
And knock upon my reveries

You knock upon my reveries
I curl, and sigh
And squeeze shut my eyes
But the reel escapes 
My memory
I groan and rise
You needn’t knock twice
Tomorrow has come
I know
Life beckons only once

– Akanksha Gupta

Lock and Key

Posted on July 2, 2021 by axelle

source: https://www.fuzia.com/article_detail/232771/freedom

Lurking in the depths of my soul
The hunger unfettered, growls and roars

I grab it tight with both my arms
With fingers unclenched from clammy palms

Yet fear threatens to swallow all sound
The muted ringing of silence surrounds

I dare not open my eyes, and stare
Into the very eyes of despair

On a face that could so easily mirror my own
Had it not been wildly unkempt and so very old

Dazed, startled, I uncurl again, and again glimpse
The future that spins anew with every blink

~ Akanksha Gupta (poem)

Betwixt the Shallows of my Depths

Posted on June 30, 2021 by axelle

These are tears of yesteryear
Trailing the frowns etched ‘cross a lifetime
This is a mess of bitter words
That ego-clenched hearts left behind

Tracing the passage of the years
I cast every sulfurous word aside –
An attempt to conciliate maturity
That leaves my sanity mortified

Inside, a storm brews strong and fierce
Unrelenting in its intensity
Whilst my lips purse in a smile
And uncrease my brows with acridity

– Akanksha Gupta (poem)

Fearless

Posted on December 22, 2018 by axelle

The stars are in your eyes
The clouds under your feet
And at your fingertips
The skies seemingly breathe

Their breath tickles your face
With sprays of sand and salt
As the clouds disintegrate
And into the sea you fall

The sea’s swallowed the sun
And the tears of the night
Now the night is on the run
Here creeps in the morning light

Through the canopy of leaves
The netted sunbeams prance
They prick away the sleep
And fill awe in every glance

– Akanksha Gupta

Beautiful

Posted on December 1, 2018 by axelle

The Night is mine;
Its tranquil undergrowth
Its eerie loveliness
Its wayward melody
Whose every haunting note
Hides
The silent screams
That seize my lungs,
That claw out but in vain,
Clinging onto sheer desperation
In the madness of this moment
That seems to have
Frozen
Into a brief ‘forever’ –
One of the many
That sulk and skulk
About the sidewalks of my nights
Casting their shadows smooth
Upon the dark and the deep
That glide
Into its mystery –
Like friends of old
They greet
To meet before,
Again, they part
There is a stark comfort
In this that though the Day’s
Disguise is yours,
The Night is mine,
For me, mine alone –
Its louring scaffolding
Its liberating anonymity
Its untold lore of yore
Its unabashed beauty