BEFORE THERE WAS
There was a time before all time,
no reason and no rhyme.
No shore to hold,
no sea to roam,
no river flowing home.
No heart to beat,
no soul to fly,
no bond between you and I.
Just silence,
deep and wide.
Just darkness,
with nothing left to hide.
No eyes to see,
no ears to hear—
before there was
a “there” or “here”.
No song to sing,
no word to say,
no voice to find its way.
No mind to choose,
no will to bend,
no start,
and so no end.
If I could return
to the hush before the spark,
would I know myself at all,
dissolved into the dark?
But in that void,
so vast, so true,
there was no truth there too.
Nothing to remember,
nothing to become,
no yesterday,
no tomorrow,
no place from which to run.
Just nothing.
And perhaps
that is the strangest thing of all—
before there was
a “there”
or “here,”
there was no one
there
to know
that there was
nothing.
Dr. Shamim Akhtar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at ICFAI University Mizoram. A researcher, writer, songwriter, and poet, his work spans scholarly inquiry and creative expression, blending lyrical sensitivity, playful wit, and introspective depth. He is the author of Smoke and Society: The Culture, Consumption and Control of Tobacco in Mizoram.
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