Radhika Agrawal
The bruises from my father’s belt
Have now faded, but the scars stay.
Winter came, the powdery snow I smelt
Left me dancing, ablaze in disarray.
When existence is a wretched bane,
Dearth of purpose leaves me dazed.
Dressed in green, along comes Mary Jane
As a warm and calming cloud of haze.
The sight of godmother dying in my arms
Is as vivid today as it was then.
Lucy wipes my eye and with her kiss
Teleports me to lands where I smile again.
The sound of my first heartbreak
Was so loud, it still echoes today.
A golden brown Horse dulls the ache,
She lays me down as I ride away.
I think of how the jolly are gifted.
Tears hit the earth while I lay in grass.
With Spirit in my blood, my spirits are lifted.
Sorrows drown to the bottom of the glass.
I float through the days, emotions amiss,
I’ve stooped as low as one can fall.
The strangest part of the problem is
I don’t believe I have a problem at all.
This work has been published in Beetle Magazine's July 2020 Issue
Illustration by Dhanashree Pimputkar