Hope

"Rush!"

"Rush," I tell myself

I hasten my bath

I speed up my chores

Feed the cats hurriedly

I put the water to boil

I finally sit down

With the steaming cuppa 

At my table

I look outta the window

I am several knots of feelings

Anxiety rules I think

The biggest knot makes of work

Work and endless pile of work

Depression hides I guess

Like a carbonated bubble

It's evasive of the surface

It's hearkened by the long, dark path

That has snaking all of us through

Since more than a year

That still has us in its hold

Oh, where is deliverance?!

This knot has an unusual smell

And yet I know what it is

It smells of common human misery

Like hair burnt somewhere

You know it's hair burning

For you have smelt it before

Brown hair, black hair, grey hair

Long hair, curly hair, matted hair

Whatever hair!

Smells the same as it burns

Money is another knot

A pulsing knot

Of incessant calculations

Skip, keep skipping

Keep doing the dance

Ahead a step or half

Or this knot could become a noose

I look at the light outside

Bathing the plants, the road, the vehicles

I am greedy for these

These last snatches of sunlight

I have a naive wish upon them

I believe if I sit with them

If I sit with my work

My burdened body

These rays will carry me through

I could latch on to their momentum

Like a cyclist onto the back of a truck

Be accelerated 

Be given that extra push that I crave

And helped through this patch of my path

This one patch

And then tomorrow I could muster

For the next one

I take a sip of my tea

My dry eyes turn on to the screen

My fingers roll up their sleeves

I type my first word. 

- 

Chandni Girija

April 06, 2021

Day 06 of 30 | 30 Poems in 30 Days | National Poetry Writing Month #napowrimo #napowrimottt2021