Abhey Gupta

Category: Poems

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

  • My Purpose, Her Smile

    Just like another day, I was wondering about my purpose in life, and I lost myself into sleep with a deep thought — and woke to find my arms wrapped by another’s: though invisible, yet so invincible; though bitter sometimes, yet sweeter than any sweet. And I found myself in another complex — yet I found my purpose: her smile.

  • Myself in Your Poem

    I feel joy, I feel high, I feel zeal —
    but I cannot find one word to express my feelings.
    It may seem a quiet moment,
    but surely it is full of love, and of happiness.
    I am here, reading it all over again —
    some words written for me.
    I don’t want to hide, but I don’t know how to express it;
    I am short of words to make my feeling pure.
    I may write a book — or maybe not even a word;
    but my eyes are looking for only one thing:
    myself, in your eyes — and now, in your poem.

  • An Outage of Sight

    An outage of sight leaves me blind — but it opens me up:
    to see, to witness; to feel, to know
    what it is like, being loved and hated,
    alone in a room of darkness,
    counting my own possessions, and wondering at my life.

    How far the outcry; how seldom I try —
    but on the closest side, I realize there is a hope, a light.
    But where is it leading? How soon will it be another day,
    with a new mystery, a self of a new realm?

    Still, on the corner of that street,
    I am walking down, in the hope of catching her glimpse,
    and whispering a few words;
    and with the rain, I hide my tears —
    seen, to unseen, I figure it out, another time;
    but, overlapped and collapsed, here and there,
    I am everywhere — but with the confusion, and despair, of a call.

  • I Am Here to Stay

    You are the shore; I have anchored my ship —
    though I shall keep moving, I will not move alone:
    I shall keep her, and sail my way.

    I am here to stay, but in love with one —
    in the dreams of one, in her every moment, and in her life.

    I am here to love —
    till the end of the sea,
    till the end of time,
    till the end of love.

    I am here to stay —
    to the end of the circle,
    to the end of memories,
    to the end of human desires,
    to the start of a new life.

    I am here to stay here —
    as her friend, her beloved, her husband,
    her mentor — her life, and hers.

  • More Than Words

    I need more than a word to define your importance in my life,
    your love in my life,
    your beautiful eyes when they look at me in love —
    not in the finding of chocolates, nor of roses,
    just me, and my smile.

    I need a word more than “myself” to define you in my life;
    I need words more than “wife” to define our bond;
    I need words more than “together” to explain what we are to each other;
    I need words more than “one” to define you in me, and me in you;
    I need a life more than this one, to tell you how happy I am with you;
    and words, to define my love for you.

  • Some Day

    Some day I try to understand life;
    some day I try to forget my mistakes;
    some day I try to keep myself low;
    some day I try to hide my happiness;
    some day I just like to watch time go;
    some day I stay back, and watch people go;
    some day I look into my own eyes, and call myself a winner;
    some day I forget what I am, and what I want to be;
    some day I just destroy my every thought;
    some day I want to hold my breath, and feel myself fading;
    some day I want to fill myself with endless food;
    some day, I just write for her.

  • Under This Night

    Me, myself, you, and the night —
    I will address my love to myself, and so will you;
    I will call to the moon, longing for your embrace,
    and walk down a few steps, to hear your voice in my heart, only.
    No matter how far I have to go,
    or whether I may not move even a step —
    today, I will walk with you, and me, alone,
    under this night, forever and ever.

  • I Want You to Be Me

    I want to hold your hand till the end.
    I want to love you till I breathe.
    I want you to love me every second of life.
    I want you with me in every phase of life.
    I want to hold every tear, and make a pearl of memory out of it.
    I want you to be mine — just mine — always, and always.
    I want you to become my name, my fame.
    I want you to read a novel to me, when I am old enough to lose my sight.
    I want you to travel with me, to every corner of the world.
    I want you to be me.

  • Myself with Myself

    With a silence of yours,
    I sleep with my dreams;
    with the end of the day, you —
    I wake up, all for her.

    With a joy of yours,
    I hear people singing aloud;
    with an end of yours,
    comes another day, to you.

    With every effort to understand you,
    I surrender myself, deep into the darkness;
    with every wonder of you,
    it shines with the full moon, and turns magical.

    With every hour about you,
    I am lost — of memories, and of mind;
    with every cry of yours,
    I lose myself, and become myself.

  • Two Swords

    Soon a day will come, when the phone will ring,
    and one voice will echo in my ear:
    “Panda, I can’t take it anymore —
    she talks too much,
    she sneaks too much,
    she cries too much,
    she gives me competition.”

    Though I am not jealous,
    I am a little scared of her;
    and though I enjoy the madness with her —
    how can two swords survive in one sheath?

    The voices will echo, and my brain will ache;
    time will pass,
    from evening to night,
    from night to day.
    Those voices are coming, from far away —
    I can hear them coming soon,
    I hear them whispering, soon.