Poetry 2018 Longlist, Avantika Singhal

The Truth That I Swallow Every Day.

It took me some time. But

I eventually understood. Serpentine

roads may look devilish but in

the end, you do manage to go

through. One by one. Each day,

each hour. You battle with an

unknown vice of yours or with the

world. And, the world is still

learning, quarrelling, scattering

breaking and mending. We learn

to deal with it. We grow to accommodate

its flaws with ours. Every day, I become

resilient to fear and mishap. Back home,

I was a flower trapped among the branches of

a potted plant. Here, on foreign soil,

everything is so different as I am now a blooming

and vibrant bud, germinating from one of the

cracks in the pavement. The sun comes out

every day in the same way it did back home

but here, the sun rays tickle my insides

until I am nothing but bliss.