Vidushi Pragya: Figures of Thought: Collegiate Voices across Spaces

An Uncalled Battle

I'm talking too loud

speaking too fast

words falling on words

sentences colliding 

fumbling

stumbling 

covering up for myself

trying to cover

the voices

the noises

inside my head

which nobody's listening to,

anyway.

***

Grass from the Other Side

You see me from a distance.

You see me resting my head over a cushy pillow,

my body,

snuggled in a fancy mattress.

You see me stretched in calmness, serenely poised.

Beholding me holds you at peace.

And without another thought,

you begin to seek my life.

You crave pleasure.

You desire the comfort of my pillow under your head.

You urge to warm yourself in my bed.

But darling, caution on the way,

Or shall I pull my guards down to let you see through?

To let you see that living my life is also living under my skin.

Let not my warm bed deceive you for I've been freezing ever since.

Every time I rest my head over this pillow, I wonder, 

how long my mind can resist the truth.

How long it has to be before I lose my Serenity to exhaustion?

How long can my body hold the symmetry before it starts to tremble?

How long the pretence must go on before the ultimatum arrives?

How long can ignorance be my shield?

How long before I'm breathless?

***

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Author's Bio:  Vidushi Pragya is currently studying for a bachelor’s in English from Patna Women’s College, Patna. Ardently in love with reading and writing poetry since ages, her romance for it seems to grow younger every day. Hoping to make a career in Journalism or Finance someday, she looks upon poetry as her mainstay in life.

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Setu, June 2021