MY STILLBORN DREAMS
Clouds have hovered above me
For as long as I can recall.
Perhaps it was their destiny
To shadow me upon every path.
Of all the dreams I once beheld,
None became a rallying call
For those that came thereafter —
So many, yet their hymns elude me.
Beneath the ceaseless drought of light,
None could bloom or bear my name,
None to endure through centuries,
None to crown me with esteem.
A poet haunted by tavern walls,
I have spent a lifetime digging graves
For my stillborn, fleeting dreams,
Lined like bottles along the bar.
A fervent poet I remain, though still
My hands fall short of the desire
To etch a metaphor for each tomb.
Yet those I buried, I cherish as my own.
Pramod Rastogi is an Emeritus Professor at the EPFL, Switzerland. He is a poet, academician, researcher, author of nine scientific books, and a former Editor-in-chief (1999-2019) of the international scientific journal, Optics and Lasers in Engineering. He was an honorary Professor at the IIT Delhi between 2000 and 2004. He was a guest Professor at the IIT Gandhinagar between 2019 and 2023. He is presently an honorary adjunct Professor at the IIT Jammu.
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