Charu Bahal: Figures of Thought: Collegiate Voices across Spaces

Old Flowers and Memories

Like an old flower lost in the diary, 

a part of me lies in wait, 

to be re-discovered

to stir up memories, 

and re-ignite emotions…

to make me feel alive again.

Maybe that is what we all need, 

to not bury what we feel without feeling it first,

and later, safeguarding the sweet token, 

to be re-discovered later…

reminding us of who we were and who we are, 

of everything that has gone

but also, everything that has come.

Of course, there is a possibility

to get lost again in the memories

and feel the same old pain of loss, 

But maybe we can also smile gently,

at the beauty of the moments passed.

Maybe both possibilities exist together, 

and all we can do, is hope

that someday we revisit memories without overpowering pain, 

and re-discover the part of ourselves that we wish wasn’t lost. 

Here I am, blurting out words after ages, 

not sure if they make sense to the world.

but happy that like the old flower, I found them again.

Words, that allow me to feel a little something, 

to reflect and smile at all the times gone by, 

and urge me to believe yet again, 

Words, that make me want to hug myself 

and soak in all the love my heart can hold.

***

The Diary and the Pen

An open diary,

blank pages lying in wait,

for the touch of a pen…

And a pen sits half-open,

longing for the fingers to hold it, yet again

to, to just get that one chance,

those few moments of intimacy…

The intimacy that it thrives for,

the love it is made for –

sweet, crazy, all-embracing, wild.

What is life devoid of love?

If not, an eternal wait for that one moment,

that instance of complete-ness,

however fleeting.

Who says love and intimacy are only for the living?

Here, two “objects” wait,

yearning for each other,

while the living merely survive,

as “objects” –

foreign to the touch,

the passion of love,

the food for the soul – lost somewhere,

undiscovered, un-embraced.

***

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Author's Bio: Charu Bahal is currently pursuing MA in Media and Cultural Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. A feminist and an avid reader, she likes to play with words in the forms of poetry and articles on a variety of topics. Though she prefers to not restrict herself, most of her writing revolves around the themes of gender and sexuality, mental health and self-love. For her, poetry is a very intimate, and often cathartic, process of self-discovery.

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Setu, June 2021