Do not give me the support of this bitterness
for I cannot yet prevail.
Towards the Great Mosque’s head,
you may riddle me with false proclamations,
for the sake of good faith and His eyes upon you
But do not raise words from the remains
for they won’t prevail.
The new union with Lucknow,
which you have studied well and observed,
walk towards those tender cadences of stories old and new,
wage a war against your bitterness on those lanes.
For I do not prevail
You, too, are far from prevailing.
I have enclosed pollens and floating straws with my eyes,
they emerge in the arms of bylanes,
bylanes with doors and abodes.
Look,
I have trampled memories with the mud and dust,
in this bitter colony of seasons.
Now I have gathered my desires to prevail
for both you and I are still far from prevailing.
So leave behind crutches of bitterness
for this city prevails again.
Let us craft poems from these straws and shared vocations.
A new everlasting poem.
Prithvijeet Sinha is from Lucknow. His writing career includes poetry, essays, anthologies besides a blog dedicated to the intersections of cinema and culture titled An Awadh Boy’s Panorama. Versatility is his strong suit.
Featured image: Faris Mohammed/Unsplash