“Another Day”

‘I think there are more notebooks,

that I have kept track of,

in my house that I reside in,’never touched once after,

buying & bringing them home.

but I know this…

every inch of my body does,

every bit of my heart does,

that one fine day,

I’d turn to them,

broken in pieces,

inside my gut feelings,

deep inside my mind,

thinking,

‘God!

How could I just leave these like this?

How pretty these little things are!’

Smiling to myself,

then, writing my own name on one of them,

only to leave them all over again,

scattered across the house.

To live another day ahead,

and another one like that,

Someday again,

if not soon after!”

©Nisha

Notebook & I

“My notebooks are in the corner of my room,

Staring at me, I guess,

How I distance myself,

When I should be exploding to them,

Telling them…

How everything is falling apart,

And I can only stand and watch,

Writing them….

Stories that I could have had,

But didn’t,

Couplets that I never written,

My notebooks are lying across me,

Like every other day,

Wondering…

What I’d do?

Will I get back to them?

Like I used to?

Or be oblivious again?

Like I have been for quite some time,

Like I don’t see them,

I don’t know them,

My notebooks are in the corner of my room,

Listening to my heart beating…

More loudly when all the noises stop,

Watching me struggle with sleep,

Every night,

Worrying probably…

That why won’t I go to them?

Why not vent?

Maybe a little, if not a lot,

My notebooks are lying across me,

Like every other day,

Wondering…

What I’d do?

Why won’t I do?

What I definitely should do!”

©Nisha

‘मुलाक़ात’ (Meeting)

“कभी आओगे न तुम मिलने मुझसे?

तो ख़ाली हाथ ही आना,

कुछ काग़ज़ मैं लाऊँगी,

एक पेन….

तुम अपनी शर्ट-पाकेट में रख लाना,

मिलकर ढेरों बातें करेंगे,

हंसेंगे और थोड़ा घूमेंगे,

तुम बताना…

क़िस्से मुझे अपने आफिस के,

मैं भी तुम्हें…

कहानियाँ कुछ सुनाऊँगी,

शाम को अलविदा लेने से पहले…

मत भूलना तुम…

अपना पेन मेरे हवाले करना,

मैं याद रखूँगी वो मुलाक़ात,

काग़ज़ में लिखकर फिर…

पते पर तुम्हारे?

सब कुरियर कराऊँगी,

सुनो?

मिलने आओगे न तुम मुझसे?”

(ख़याल: मुलाकात)

© निशा मिश्रा