Can I utter what my heart does?
Lub-dub, lub-dub, the palpation sounds;
Noising like silent rocks sputter
On the Cliffs high,
Thundering the forest calm,
What, to many like me, science this is!
No passerby, no stopping by
The voices go unheard
I listen every beat unfurled
Volumes of an amalgamation of tunes
As of the Sitar that leaves
An ambience,
Whirling- in unforgetful of every other thing around
Shedding, otherwise, drops
Offering the tips of the fingers to be bathed with
So vivid for one who could
Listen, if not, read through the screens two
Transparent as water crystalline
That has; tiny, large and even the largest
Blue, white, black…..and green pictures so many
Dancing in mirth or weeping on burial
For the sky above to witness
Every beat;
So subtle yet so clear
Pronouncing aloud,
“I ache for none does:
Moving; strange, straight
In the rays their aspirations fall,
Avoiding images in darkness along the sides”
Naheed Akhtar
© Naheed Akhtar 2023
About the Author
Naheed Akhtar is an accomplished Assistant Professor of English, Writer and Poet based in Hyderabad, Southern India. She has published three poetry collections, namely ‘Phantasms of My Heart’, ‘The Earth’s Love’ and ‘The Morphine’. Naheed’s literary works have received several prestigious awards, including the Gujarat Sahitya Academy Award, which she was honoured with for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022. Naheed has been actively participating in various literary festivals and her third book, ‘The Morphine’, was launched at the National Kolkata Book Fair on the invitation of the Sahitya Academy and the Department of Culture and Language in association with the government of West Bengal. Her poems have also been published in various National and International Magazines. Apart from writing in English, Naheed also writes in Urdu and has participated in Mushairas from different parts of India, receiving Certificates of Participation. She can be contacted at naheedakhtar123119@gmail.com.
