Abhey Gupta

Category: Poems

Free verse and quiet poems — in English and Hindi — on love, longing, loss, and the slow work of healing.

  • I Hold Her Dreams

    I look at her and lose myself, and she smiles and laughs at my madness;
    I hold her dreams as if I were her dream. She watches me in secret and never admits she did;
    I weave a dream, and she travels through it, never wanting to turn back —
    and love goes on, with my every word.

  • She Comes from Dreams

    She comes from dreams and sits beside me as I sleep;
    she hides, yet her world seeks my eyes as they glance at her. She lingers, trying me with her smile, till I am lost in its depth —
    she speaks in silent words, and I wonder, and I listen.

  • When I Wonder

    I am slowly stepping into your shadow in the moonlight,
    and the wind is blowing wild tonight;
    I am alone, searching for you in every thought,
    wondering what it would be like if you were here.

    I wish to hold your arms
    and kiss you till the last ray of moonlight;
    I pause every moment just for you,
    wondering — how would it be, if life got this real?

    I stare back at the moon, again and again,
    just to catch a glance of your eyes;
    they pierce through my every thought a while,
    and make me wonder how deep I am lost in them.

    I look around for you, but you are everywhere —
    in my breath, in my soul, in my eyes;
    and I close my eyes and wonder
    how I wake up in your arms every time.

  • The Girl

    She has the most charming smile in my life,
    and how, with her eyes, she rules my heart;
    without uttering a single word, she owns my everything —
    she is the girl I love most in the world.

    She is no magician, and no player,
    and she doesn’t even know the world of hate;
    how a single touch of hers is enough to complete me —
    she is the girl I have always desired.

    She holds me in her caress and warmth,
    and calls me mad in her charm;
    but I know what she feels for me,
    and how, every second, she misses me —
    she is the only girl I hold in my heart.

    With just one kiss, she can lift me into heaven,
    and with one smile, out of sadness;
    she knows it all, yet loves to hear it from me again —
    she is the girl I never want to lose in my life.

  • Crowd Has Many Faces

    I am someone’s lover,
    and bereft of another;
    I am a teller of truth,
    and an edge of sham.

    I am a crowd of people,
    yet aware of none;
    I am a dream to people,
    and a nightmare to the lonely.

    I am a hunger and a sorrow,
    starving for my desires;
    I am a hope and an agony,
    and the pretender of life.

    I am the part of a few mornings,
    but in lieu of some mourning;
    I renounce the grimaces —
    yet still, the crowd has many faces.

  • Best Memoirs

    Step over step, as I move further into my life,
    I find one name written across my memories.
    Winds and floods of troubles passed over you,
    yet it stays intact — my finest memory.

    Someday, somehow, it was meant to be:
    that we would meet, and become good friends.
    Now, when I pour out my silence,
    I always remember you, my friend.

    In a moment of darkness,
    you hold me in your caress;
    and in a moment of dullness,
    one name draws close to me again.

    Some of my greatest memories are these —
    those little but sweet fights with you,
    the whispered words of love,
    and how I loved to share my everything with you.

  • Your Answer

    This is for someone I have come to know — someone who has become a part of my world. To give a name to every relationship is difficult, so in the verse below I try to express a few of my untouched memories with that person — without, of course, disclosing her name.

    I often say a few words,
    but your answer silences my world.
    When I stand, sad, in a corner,
    your unspoken touch heals me.

    I set things wrong for myself,
    but you correct them, and feel me;
    I hide, trying to run from life,
    and you come close, and love me.

    When I ask, “Who am I to you?”
    I hear your unanswered, eternal truth.
    My friend — do I matter to you?
    Your eyes ache just to hear it.

    I searched for a truth, and for you —
    and God gave me both, in you.
    And when I call you with my silence,
    once again, your answer silences my world…

  • I’m Falling Again

    I walked past my barriers and flew,
    moving through the world I always desired;
    slowly it is drawing close to reality,
    and I am falling in love with life again.

    I poured myself deep into a dream,
    drank down all the hate, and was left with peace;
    this time it is not the same old faith —
    and I am falling in love with life again.

    No longer measuring my needs and pride,
    wondering what it all would have been before,
    fiery-eyed, and waiting for thee —
    and I am falling in love with life again.

    There is still a way to go, a shore to reach;
    loving every second, I live a little more.
    I come around alone, but not the same —
    and I am falling in love with life again.

  • Silence

    When peace takes hold of me,
    far from anything I desire,
    alone, at my very best —
    I hear the words of silence.

    I ask: is this it?
    My soul echoes back: live it.
    Sitting in the corner, unfelt,
    I feel the power of silence.

    I lay my speech bare,
    with a tender flinch;
    but something empowered me,
    and I found it in a crowd of silence.

    I am lowered by the feelings,
    and settle back into the voyage;
    but a charisma is meant to happen —
    and I am travelling through peace, in silence.

  • I Owe a Change in Me

    I tried, and cried, and cried again,
    but I never said goodbye;
    afraid of losing what I’d already lost,
    I kept hoping for one more try.

    A different way to start the fight,
    to seek another exit out;
    failing in every single attempt,
    I kept recalling my hollow pride.

    The this, the that, the why, the what —
    I made up every excuse;
    outside the box, I poured out my lies,
    still hoping to keep you by my side.

    Once, I made a mistake,
    and I paid for it a long, long way;
    I didn’t find a slope, but hope —
    something that might heal my wounds again.

    I gave it one final try,
    until the day I finally realized:
    I had hoped, but was never welcomed,
    and possession was no medal to win.

    But a miracle was meant to happen —
    to meet someone, and to matter;
    and I came through it changed, and now I know —
    I owe a change in me.