Cities

Humans build shining, beaming cities.
When it suddenly floods,
time pours on their faces
people no longer resemble themselves,
behaving like their own estimates
living in blur, amidst angry waters,
men and women walk with a
heavy day loaded on their shoulders
like worms squirming for food,
on liquid streets with drowning shops
the cold rain freezes on the warm desire
the hard tick of the clock gets louder,
deafening the inner voice of the cities

Curtain raises after a few years:
The tethered cities sprout up again.
Devastation sometimes births new desires.
Bouncing back up, like it never was,
Because humans have the spirit of labor
By dragging their bodies in wet shoes,
On piercing streets leading to tore offices
Like the tedious ants trailing on wetlands,
Lifting speck by speck with their tiny necks
Rebuilding from scratch- a new world with
More shining, more beaming cities, humans build.

Shailja Sharma (Ph.D.), USA, is a mental health provider and a multilingual author. Apart from scholarly publication and editorial service, her literary writings have been widely published. Dr. Sharma’s publications have appeared in many literary journals/forums of repute across USA, Canada, UK, and Asia. Her writings have appeared in #1 Best Selling anthologies published nationally and internationally. Dr. Sharma’s poetry book, “Dear Mama: An Immigrant’s Secret Cry,” has been critically acclaimed. She was awarded a special literary honor for her writing contributions in international languages. Read other articles by Shailja.