The one I chase with eyes shut
Running around. Running around with my eyes shut. Don't think I will lose my way. I think I didn't. But I tripped over something and fell. Oh man, are these thorns? Pressing deep and happily into, my arms and my cheek. Probing opportunistically, my sides and my feet. Scratches and stings. Peeled-up skin and skin-deep pins. Thorns alone to grab to free me up, From new and all-too-familiar embraces. Scene of a mock crucifixion. Sheen of a mocking soul. Shining through punctured limbs. Gaping through unseen holes. Grabbed hold of them thorns finally. The sort no one else could. Pulled the pain away. Shorn of the 'pins and needles' at last. Running around. Running around in my mind. Have put off looking for you. My eyes are still shut. (Note: This is one of the five entries that made me break into the top 50 writers in India in Hashtag Kalakar's Poetry and Creative Writing Competition Season 1, held in 2021)