Hometown

In my hometown, stories are broken pieces of glass,
Strewing the road like flaming rain drops,
Smiles echo on the lips of multiplying leaves,
The resplendence of each day grows, murmuring
In the ears of the flowering labor of town -
“You only know the vigor of your heart!”
The extant town strives to resurrect,
After a tempestuous lightning struck its branches,
However, it could not decimate
The quintessence where my memories grew,
Shielded by the air smelling of her cares,
Against the grimy clouds of the past,
That still rain in my blood, I seek to forget,
So in the winters, I swallow the moon lest it disappear,
And I should become a desiccated leaf sliding to doom,
Or a broken, deranged star darting across the cosmos,
A melting rime, whispering into the cavity of time.
Dreams now seem to me the best abode,
Where a face continues to bring me a teacup,
Each morning arrives in a necklace of her smiles,
It bears a breeze, dissolving ambrosia into my breaths,
Nudging me to climb backwards up to the clock,
Holding out her frail hands yet smiling cogently,
Frowning if I try to descend, so I step towards her,
But that deciduous smile breaks away in fragments of glass,
A story from my hometown glistens again.
The remainder of me shall travel between this earth and hers,
Through words and my free spirit in dreams and wakefulness,
I realize I am time reproduced from time,
I am at the edge beyond which I see no clock!

Richa Sharma is an Indian national residing near New Delhi, India. She loves reading and writing poetry in her leisure time. As for her livelihood, she is qualified as an Assistant Professor in the field of labor relations. Her first short story ‘Helping Hand’ was published by Reader’s Digest India in 2016 as a part of their cover story ‘Better Together’. She is in the process of submitting her poetry to different literary magazines. Her poem ‘The shadow dance’ is forthcoming in issue 6 of ‘The Pangolin Review’. She wishes to pursue her interest in writing and believes that poetry is the best refuge a human heart can seek and the best way to influence our society towards peace and prosperity through thoughtful compositions.