Rajnish Mishra

Life-long Have I Envied Others Many A Line

Life-long have I envied others many a line.

Will someone ever envy

One of mine?

My verse born now,

Fresh – dead until read.

Someone, anyone, yes, you –

If only you read it!

Would you call it just fine?

Would it not be dead.

Not dead if read?

Not when, but if?

Not good or bad just read?

I thought of writing lines for you:

Of beauty, of strength, of truth.

A song, just one;

Of hope, of inspiration.

Lines on those themes come rarely now,                                                                                                                                               To write that way in these times is a sin.

These vacuous, vacant, little, listless times.

What use of such pursuits,

In a world like ours,

What’s false, what’s true?

Hate, anger, frustration:

Are themes right for you.

My poems although shallow

From my heart’s depths rise.

They lack in the mass of meaning

Have volume of words.

Not style but sense, nor craft but art.

Who wants to say

Just what they want to say, and stop,

When it’s just begun,

Not half the distance run?

When how it’s said,

For how long heard, is half the fun?

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Rajnish Mishra is a poet, writer, translator and blogger born and brought up in Varanasi, India and now in exile from his city. His work originates at the point of intersection between his psyche and his city. His work has now started appearing in journals and websites.