By Sunil Sharma
A rose blooms
on a dump in Delhi
It sways in the morning wind
the way drunk girls sway and swear
on the predatory Indian streets and
restricted cultural zones to express happiness and
freedom from
stifling familial
and patriarchal constraints
In Mumbai and other metros
on long Saturday nights.
The morning light plays on the petals
and creates a colour combination
of stunning pattern and beauty—
reds of different shades and tones
on that high-rise of unmanageable waste
that attracts the vultures, eagles and crows from
the smoggy skies and polluted roads full of vehicles
obscenities and rage.
A rose of pink-red variety
on a thorny and slender stalk
in electric green
fascinates the rag-picker
a girl-child of slim build
who stands still
and watches the flower
dance merrily
in that urban hell
of a new kind.
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Bio: Sunil Sharma is a college principal, freelance journalist, author and editor. Mumbai-based, he has published 19 books—solo and joint. His prose and poetry have appeared in many places in the world.
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Academy of the Heart And Mind 