Imagined Worlds

by Bibhu Padhi (September 2013)

for Milmun

 

There is this wish to recognise

oneself in light, in darkness.

 

During the day, the sun

never leaves me.

 

Night is half-sleep

and dreams.

 

Who tells me

that whatever I see

 

is only a world within me–

close to my heart,

 

light like the air we breathe,

blue like the sky?

 

Who tells me

all of this is fiction,

 

unreal

like imagined worlds?

 

Who tells me

that I belong to only myself,

 

dispersed over 

the earth’s territory?

 

I can almost see

how the seasons

 

are following me, without

effort, spontaneously.

 

Bibhu Padhi's seventh book of poetry, MIGRATORY DAYS A TRAVEL DIARY IN VERSE, was published in 2011. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, the most recent being THE HARPERCOLLINS BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY (2012). He lives in Bhubaneswar, India.

 

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