long walk
such have been the vanities of our time
we forgot the long walk and its debilitation
we loved and thought once was enough
we asked and did not wait for the answers
and now here we are taking for granted again
these mercies, our gifts and love that comes
once, maybe twice but withers as we fade
march on hold my hand take me along
let the wind sing or roar the road turn rough
the skies darken even as i sing and hum
the tunes of our long forgotten song
let me pretend i remember the words
my voice is the only one you won’t forget
it will be here when you listen for me
i mind not this harshness
nor paying every price
for showing up every time
dulling my memory but not my passion
erasing this time of living but not my will
arresting all glory but not our desire
go, live, love…
Reena Kapoor, a techie-turned-writer, grew up all over India as an “army brat”. That wandering sensibility is reflected in her debut poetry collection Arrivals & Departures: Journeys in Poems. For over a decade, Reena has been a Citizen Historian with The 1947 Partition Archive collecting oral histories from witnesses of India’s Partition. Reena’s poetry and fiction has been published in The Bluebird Word, Potato Soup, Ariel Chart, 433 Magazine, Literary Yard, Academy of the Heart & Mind, Tiny Seed, Visible, and India Currents. Four plays by Reena were produced by EnActe Arts in 2021. Reena can be found at https://arrivalsanddepartures.substack.com/
