Dear Self ...

Dear Self…

It’s been so long since we last met,

A quiet truth I can’t forget.

I lost you in the morning light,

Where dawn once held you warm and bright.

I missed you in the evening’s gold,

When skies would burn, and stories unfold.

And in the night, beneath the moon,

Your silver shadow faded too soon.

Dear self…

When did I let your heartbeat stray?

When did I start to drift away?

Your breath once felt so soft, so near,

Now lost beneath the weight of fear.

I silenced songs you longed to sing,

The quiet truths you used to bring.

A melody deep in your soul,

Left incomplete, no longer whole.

Somewhere within the rush of days,

I wandered off in endless maze.

I chased the stars for borrowed light,

And lost myself in endless night.

Yet all along, unknown, unseen,

A flame in you still burned serene.

So small, yet fierce, it chose to stay,

While I kept turning far away.

But I will find you once again,

Beyond the loss, beyond the pain.

In silent dawn or moonlit skies,

I’ll meet your truth without disguise.

And when I do, I’ll finally see—

The universe lives inside me.

- Soudamini Nayak,

Bhubaneshwar