Poetry 2017 Longlist Sumedha Biswas

Voices

What is shivering in the woods?
Have you ever stopped to listen
to the silent voices.
The sing, they babble,
They chirp, they laugh.
Have you heard
the voices?
They are flowing in the wind,
You felt it once.
Do you remember?
They once talked to you
when you were alone
sitting at the desk,
wondering about something
that could have been, but isn’t.
Were they not in the impulse,
to provoke you?
Did they not once let your emotions
find beauty and life,
in the pages of your notebook?
Have you lost them?
Those silent voices are scared.
You have cut them apart from your soul,
in the rush for a life
that was never yours.

Yet at present you are living.
Living through the dreadful reality
you created.
You lost yourself.
Somewhere between growing up and childhood memories
you lost the person you used to be.
Just to fit
in the world of ordinary.

Don’t let your uniqueness die

Or you will lose your identity!