Life’s sitemap

A step-by-step journey;

Etched clear and loud,

On the clean black-board;

Dreams and aspirations –

Running after

Love…Happiness;

**

A yearning for being perfect;

Living life by the book;

Making everyone happy!

..Utopian thoughts!

**

When did I …

During this journey

Allow others

To take control;

To over-write their dreams on mine!

Fingers that fine-tuned my life

Were not mine…!

And my black-board stands before me,

Smudged with many re-writings;

My own dreams,

Crushed and faded

Faintly visible to me,

Raise their little heads,

Every now and then!

**

Let me pick them up,

Nurse them,

Dress them up

In fresh, bright clothes;

Infuse a new life into them,

It’s never so late;

Today …

Nothing matters,

Except what remains of

I-me-myself..

Narinder Jit Kaur is a retired Associate Professor from Patiala,who taught English Literature for 31 Years in various Government Colleges of Punjab. A writer and a translator, she has five books of translations, from Punjabi to English, to her credit Including Voices In The Back Courtyard(Rupa & Co.) -An Anthology Of Short-Stories By Punjabi Women Writers. She writes articles, poems and short-stories in English, Punjabi and Hindi. You can read more from her on narinderjit.com