Poetry 2018 Longlist, Avantika Singhal

The Truth That I Swallow Every Day
 
It took me some time. But
I eventually understood. Serpentine
roads may look devilish but in
the end, you do manage to go
through. One by one. Each day,
each hour. You battle with an
unknown vice of yours or with the
world. And, the world is still
learning, quarrelling, scattering
breaking and mending. We learn
to deal with it. We grow to accommodate
its flaws with ours. Every day, I become
resilient to fear and mishap. Back home,
I was a flower trapped among the branches of
a potted plant. Here, on foreign soil,
everything is so different as I am now a blooming
and vibrant bud, germinating from one of the
cracks in the pavement. The sun comes out
every day in the same way it did back home
but here, the sun rays tickle my insides
until I am nothing but bliss.