UNBROKEN

I am a broken vessel, a burden and a chore

I refuse to believe that

I am cherished and I’m wanted anymore

I am lost within the silence and the cold

It is a lie to say that

I have a story that is worthy to be told

I am ugly in the shadows of my fear

I’ve lost the heart to think that

A miracle is finally standing here

I am drowning and the world is far too wide

Never again will I tell myself

There is a light that glows inside

I am unloved and I am meant to fall

I will never truly feel that

I am the greatest gift of all

Nandita Khajuria

When my pen bleeds

Whenever I reach for pen and page,

a storm curls behind my eyes--

pain flashes like heat lightining in my brain,

a silent scream spilled through lines.

It feels like rain on glass,

uncertain but urgent,

a pouring down of what I cannot say aloud-

and still, it hurts to let it go.

I find that same corner,

that dim-lit refuge of my room,

where shadows stretch and time folds.

There, I write--

not from peace,

but from the eche of not sleeping,

from the weight of dreams that won’t come.

Pen and paper,

my earliest companions,

know the sound of me bleeding

without a wound.

They hold the ink of thoughts

too jagged to speak,

too loud to silence.

I tell myself--

Someday, I’ll write from joy,

from mornings warmed by laughter,

from the quiet of a heart unburdened.

But that day never arrives.

Happiness leaves no urgency behind.

I only write

when I’m heavy with all can’t carry,

when my bitterness boils,

when silence tastes like ash.

So I write--

not to be heard,

but to survive

what I dare not say.

Tabishi Sharma

(R S Pura)

                  That One Smiling Face

A little aggressive,

Yet far more impressive,

Nowhere have I found

A smile as lovely as that one.

Sometimes he cries aloud,

And my heart feels tightly bound.

I long for the happiness

Of that one smiling face.

The movements of his tiny hands and feet

Find a place and dwell within my heart.

I pray that he may always live happily

And never shed a tear.

That smiling face, like the moon in the sky,

And those little eyes that shine

Like twinkling stars divine,

Fill my heart with endless joy.

His playful and lovely movements

Bring delight to every moment.

Living far away from him at times

Makes my heart ache deeply.

The pain is hard to bear,

And words cannot fully capture it.

Vanshika Sombria

Class 8

Bright Future Academy, Kunchi Ukhral