Abhey Gupta

Category: Poems

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

  • She

    She speaks little, but her eyes hold a whole sea of the world;
    she holds me seldom, yet her heart is always full of the lover;
    though she knows me little, she loves me for all that I am —
    but she does not know: I will be everything she ever desired.

  • Hunger

    I look around through my doomed eyes:
    brighter than the sun, the night is now;
    I travel my memories once more,
    and find one child, waiting, counting,
    and another, counting on survival,
    who offers more happiness than mine.
    The city is filled with bulbs and sweets,
    and a melancholic mind, like mine.

    I open my arms to reach him,
    but the silence of my own stands between us;
    those gleaming, shimmering eyes, staring at me,
    leave me worthless, and full of thought.
    What is the meaning of my life, my brightness,
    when all around, in one, I see only darkness?

    I reach for my wallet, out of pity —
    but pity itself dares to hope;
    I close my eyes, and think:
    when all of this is around — but not happiness;
    those sweets, those crackers,
    waiting to burst, and to laugh,
    a day to love, a joy for one and all —
    but all day long, he goes without.

  • Inside and Outside

    It graces out the pride — the sky,
    with a glimpse of the forever past;
    and this world rejoices in pain,
    but not the one who has claimed the self.
    Take the ray, and make it a prayer,
    till it shines — outside the dark,
    inside, and outside…

  • Journey of Self

    Wake up, into the close of night,
    when dreams are of the morning;
    love and peace all around,
    and the euphoria of a new day.
    With the sun’s height,
    hope, and waving tides,
    some players around the corner,
    others waiting for another morning.

    Wake up, into the start of the day,
    with the aim of walking again to the destined;
    to the endless, but known, roads —
    one with the glorious red lights,
    and another, of endless desires.
    But the time is right with the dawn:
    new day, new hope,
    just like a sun ray, soaking everything.
    Today is the day — when it starts:
    the journey of self.

  • She Comes and Goes

    I am far through the sea’s depth, but still lost within;
    I reach my thoughts and speak to myself — but of you…

    I ask her to come in dreams, not in life — though I want her there;
    I wonder at her eyes each day, despite the tears I collect every time…

    I asked her to come and live again, for all the love that still remains;
    and she makes her moves, while I waste my time…

    She comes, and goes, and whispers — sad, this time;
    but I know, alas, she is the one — I laughed through all my past, with a cry.

  • Dreamer

    Like the memoirs of a day,
    I welcome these winds;
    like your breath,
    I breathe this night, every day.

    And like the night that comes every day,
    I come with the hope of you;
    and like the silent whispering of love at night,
    I love you, each day.

  • Farewell to Love

    I fly to the sky,
    and pass my dread aside;
    I walk upon the cloud,
    and find you by my side…

    I open my arms,
    hold her eyes, and cry;
    she whispers nothing new,
    but I hold her tighter still.

    I dive to the ground,
    and lose her now;
    I pray for her to come with me,
    but the goddess has her refusal.

    I cross my heart and weep alone…
    but she never comes to see me by;
    time goes, and her love with it —
    yet I am still here, to see her by my side.

  • Forever Smile

    She looks around, and flies away;
    out of her wings, she brings her memories;
    through a day and a night, she murmurs —
    like a walking shadow, she lives each day…

  • Day with Self

    Before the moon dwells, before the sun rises,
    I watch the shore after night;
    glimmering in the shadow of light,
    wherever my eyes rush — to you.

    And I keep on talking to you, until
    you wake up in the light of the sun;
    and I find you everywhere,
    but I am never going to stop it,
    till I am in your arms, and out of the existence-race.

    And the raindrops keep on falling on my head…
    and I am lost in you — my mother, nature.

  • Height of Evening

    Silence all around,
    when the birds aren’t chirping aloud;
    I come by, then, at the time
    when you reach the height of evening.

    Utter a sincere lie,
    and lay yourself down in the town,
    where there is no one around,
    and darkness reaches the height of evening.

    You come, surrendering to the soul,
    gripped by a differential thought;
    you whisper a name, but no one knows —
    in the silence of the evening, and its height…