SANGEETA GUPTA, INDIA

Ms. Sangeeta Gupta, a highly acclaimed poet, artist and filmmaker, also served as a to bureaucrat as an IRS Officer, recently retired as chief commissioner of income tax. She has to her credit 36 solo exhibitions of paintings, 25 published books,10 of her poetry collections are translated, has directed, scripted and shot 30 documentary films. She is a bilingual poet and has 14 anthologies of poems in Hindi and 6 in English to her Credit.

SOLITUDE OF SOUL

Invest your soul

in yourself, not in others 

not elsewhere, not in people 

stay detached emotionally 

be sensitive to all 

but save yourself

for yourself only 

empty your cup 

it may be difficult 

almost impossible to let go of

what you had stored in your cup 

since you came to this earth 

but strive and resolve 

to empty fully 

there is no other way 

there is no escape 

so do it sooner than later 

empty and then 

slowly fill your cup first 

with self care 

that is your divine responsibility 

in the process

you will get to know yourself 

that is the only purpose of this life.

---

Solitude of Soul 2023 :: Setu, March 2023