Poetry: Malkeet Kaur

Malkeet Kaur

Evolution

I was young once like everyone else.

Like everyone else once

I wanted to turn into a swan,

Grow wings

Spread arms

Turn into a ballerina

Pirouetting gracefully

Overnight

And fly off to a land-

More lush and fresh.

I waited and it outgrew soon-

The yearning for conquering the skies to

Taste the forbidden in the distant terrains.

I befriended my finite boundaries

As the wings never materialized.

Then I found myself slowly

Evolving into a deep-rooted tree

And then I was at home with

Having roots

And being wingless-

Not to move, yet

To shelter and welcome the roosting birds from

Those far-off lands.

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Bio: Malkeet Kaur resides is Navi Mumbai and works as a TGT English in a renowned public school. She loves writing poems and teaching. Many of her poems have been published in online journals.

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Setu, July 2024