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The Stand and Other Poems

by Neelam Dadhwal
(Chandigarh, India)

1) To Stand

The present is
not so the future.

There is nothing we can do
still by the thought of nothing
but then a place is ravished
where you sit and rest.

So you definitely have to
stand and feel the wind.

Sometimes it is the wind
that can tell how is to be brave
bit by bit picking up yourself,
placing together.

2) Muted

The sky yet leavened with the sound of masses
yet another flight of pigeons fills in midst
not a quote or a saying,
the divisiveness will.

A bird flies for a flight,
for freedom in the expanse of the sky
for a similar consensus that
can make it look blue or pink.

The horizon is without a glare
why the silence seeps in
make mute voices more silent,
denser than the night.

3) Counting

The houses look similar
like blocks that a child collects
and frames into,
a certain hour of a day
the tasks are over,
we could scribble
that shapes a cloud and drifts across,
a drizzle in the evening.

We would only be busy,
in talking, in conversation
with the life,
counting the stars to a constellation.

4) The Break

When the sky breaks
into clouds and colors,
over the trees, over the waters

For a long time
always there,
not on a long trail,
I would intently bask
as the grasses sway,
remember this time
when the words would just fall
off the pages.

I would just sit and look
at the sky,
knowing my intention is to
watch the rhythm.