Hollow nights: A poem by Deepti Gupta

I lie awake in bed
Night after despondent night
Stringing dreams on a fragile thread
Until the room is lit with morning light

It’s not despair I feel, I know
As my days are sanguine
With an unhurried pace and mellow
It’s the dusk that brings with it the din

Nights are my propugnaculum; looming large
Dwarfing my effort to sink into an abyssal
Every tucked away memory does surge
Borne out of another eventide so dull

My burning eyes paint the ceiling with stars
Gripped with an insurmountable loneliness
Mulling over how life has become a farce
Aimless, but trudging along nonetheless

I will for the sweet release
Of being cradled in the arms of sleep
Where all thoughts will finally cease

Leaving nothing to give and none to keep