They were never alone, those white wildflowers, those gatherings of kans grass forever leaning close, forever trading secrets. The riverside wildflowers had traveled farther than anyone knew, from wet banks to thirsty dunes, from open plains to wounded hillsides broken by the road builders. Still, they huddled together, their white blossoms brushing shoulders, absorbed in Read more…

I’ve thought about the future enough to have built a road towards it, pebble after careful pebble, with the blueprint of my years folded inside my pocket. But one day, inevitably, I’ll wake in a funny white room and none of it will matter.

I watched you, Mother, Step beyond your silver hair And aching knees, Leaving those seventy-five years Behind you. Suddenly, You were the little girl again, Pulling on a frilled frock, Quarreling with your younger brother Over a rag doll That belonged to neither of you, Or a basket of sour mangoes Neither was willing to Read more…

She was an old woman, a regular visitor with a pot tucked beneath her arm and another balanced on her head. A dusky skin clung to the few remaining bones that aging had spared. A white saree brushed her knees, while her walking stick carried a hunch much like her weary back. Her shrill voice Read more…

I am afraid of my own tears, Afraid they may fall too fiercely, Hot as confession, Heavy as centuries of hidden pain, And burn the softness from my face. The mirror has always known me As the obedient girl with the practiced smile, The one whose lips bloom on command Like prayer offered before an Read more…

In the middle of mustard fields, where yellow flowers stretch farther than the eye can hold, she stands— a lonely girl, as if she has always belonged to this quiet. The wind brushes past her, lingers a little, moves on. The flowers lean, almost like they know her story, almost like they’ve heard it before— Read more…

The empty streets were patient that night. The hurried feet of day had disappeared, and the old bends of the road seemed to wait— as if they knew someone like me would eventually return. April had been cruel again. The thunderstorms came and went, yet even they failed to disturb the stubborn calm of those Read more…

The land inside me was fading for a long time, slipping into deep, quiet seas where even hope felt too tired to swim. Then he came — not like the heroes in stories, not with crowns or shining things — just a gentle love that didn’t need me to pretend I was strong. He noticed Read more…

I went walking under trees that didn’t care whether I noticed them or not. Green everywhere. Too much, maybe. Monkeys argued in bursts, sharp sounds cracking the evening open, as if they knew something the rest of us were late to understand. The light thinned. The sun slipped away without ceremony. Standing there, I felt Read more…

People keep telling me how I should look, as if the mirror belongs to them. They say a girl should stay gentle, polished, never drift too far into dreams. And whenever I try embracing individuality, someone asks me to tone it down, to come back to their version of “real.”