IF I COULD READ MINDS

If I were ever given a superpower,

I would not ask for flight

Or the arrogance of strength

I would ask to read minds….

I would step quietly into the rooms where

Thoughts are kept hidden,

Where cruelty is not shouted ;but reasoned

Where kindness is absent and

Unkindness rehearses its excuses in the

Soft knowledge of necessity

I would read how a heart learns

To pass the poor without trembling,

Have eyes grow skilled

At the eyes not seeing the weak,

how the voiceless become shadows

So conscience may sleep

I would search for the moment

Small almost innocent

When empathy is postponed,

When suffering is renamed-not my concern

Not to judge

Not to condemn

But to understand

How a human being can wound another

And still believe themselves good

I would read the minds as one reads fate

Heavy with silence , dark with blame

There I would find cruelty

Sitting calmly, like an old familiar sin

And I would try to change it, slowly,

So the world might become gentle,

Where no hand is raised in harm,

Neither against humans nor trembling

Voiceless creatures

Then the world would grow quiet and kind,

A world where hearts choose mercy ,

And peace feels ordinary, like breath.

Ibtisaam Choudhary

Jammu

A Bleak Winter Dawn

A bleak winter dawn

Covered in gauze,

Dripping dewdrops

Bring life to a pause;

The sun hides

Behind the clouds,

Cold winds flow

With grinding sounds;

Snow-clad hills

Turn milky white,

Birds puff their feathers

In the absence of Sunlight;

Roads and vegetation

Houses and lake,

All are frosted

Like a Christmas cake;

Winter nights grow longer

Beneath crystal-clear sky,

Whilst the Orion constellation

Shines like a bow tie.

Tarandeep Singh(Teacher)

SinghPura, Miran Sahib.

Things as they are

When I viewed life comprehensively,

I existed with sense and balance.

But when I acted in ignorance,

I became a burden-

to myself and to all.

Being human, ever dynamic,

I searched for absoluteness.

That search turned into constant suffering,

for me

and for everyone around me.

But by accepting things as they are,

without losing sight of

sensible living,

I became a blessing-

to myself,

and to all around me.

Ritik Bakshi

Jammu