Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, Canada (Winging through Gloom: Poetry of Hope and Recovery)

Sangeeta Sharma

Dr. Sangeeta Sharma, a Toronto-based academic, is the Associate Editor of Setu, a bilingual, international peer-reviewed journal and the former Head, Department of English, in a degree college affiliated to the University of Mumbai, MMR, India. She has authored a book on Arthur Miller, two collections of poems, edited six anthologies on poetry, fiction and criticism (solo and joint) and two workbooks on communication. She has free-lanced for The Times of India for 15 years. A book of hers is a reference at the Clayton State University, Georgia, USA.

HOPE OVER GLOOM

When dark and swelling are the clouds in eyes

And unceasing the downpour

The throttled throat trying to hold back the saline secretion of profuse tears

The heart heavy with gloom and grief like the emerald garden blanketed under the icy sleet

When life gets tough and as splinters prick

Hope trudges in like a sweet promise

With silent steps and feeling hands, of a valued friend

That opens up doors ajar to a surreal, lyrical, haloed, plausible world

Like a feisty carol that lifts up the sagging spirits

Or the delight at the sight of a sun-kissed, blazing road surrounded with white ready-to-harvest fields

Or driving on the winding pathways amidst olive pastures

Scented breeze caressing the façade and playing with open tresses

Or the kind, soothing words of a trusted guardian who truly cares through thick and thin

Hope touches and tickles each sinew

Spirits soar and sparkle!

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Setu, March 2022