Endurance
a feeble flame
does not illuminate
my path on this
dark night
I must stop
until day breaks
and shows me the road
that lies ahead
if there be one
in such dolorous times
© Neetu Malik
Fences
now
as then
we draw lines
build and rebuild
fences
with new wire
cut of the same steel
forged in
new factories
still owned and run
by warped minds
© Neetu Malik
A Parting0 0 Read more
I hold fragments
of you
in my ash-grazed hands
to put them
in an urn
they sound like
empty shells as I
drop them one by one
the fullness
in my heart leaves
no room for echoes
I know your footsteps
will never return.
© Neetu M
The Gardener
You water me
that I may grow
lush and luxurious
you prune me
when my branches stray
too far out or too high
you mulch me when
you think I may
wilt or die
you nurture me as if
I’m too frail to stand
on my own
as if without you
I may fail to thrive
in truth, maybe it is you
who needs me,
to survive.
© Neetu Malik
Listen to Neetu read The Gardener
I carve words in the sand
I know the tide will rise
and wash them away
but I write them
until my hands are gritty
and the color of sand
I speak to the waves
I know they don’t hear
but I let the words roll out
of my mouth anyway
until they sound
like the waves
I listen to the wind
even when it is still
I can hear silence in the quiet
it utters words I wouldn’t
otherwise hear—they come
from within
© Neetu Malik
First published in TAT Poetry, December 2016
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Heartfelt stories with a mix of joy and sadness, love and loss, celebrations of all seasons, and a bit of mystery and magic
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More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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