MIND OVER TIME

by Shikhandin

Here lives a very young girl

trapped

in an old woman’s body.

Don’t mock me. Please don’t.

Why are all your senses

focused on the façade alone?

Aren’t you curious? Don’t you

want to know what lies

behind? What lies behind is

a very long life stitched

all over this ravaged body.

The soul though sits unscathed.

That’s why my soul sings in spring

and thrashes about

when winter howls; murmurs

seduction in the blind heat of summer.

My body dies. Every day, ashamed

of my soul that refuses to grow old.

Don’t mock me. Please don’t.

I am troubled as it is. My wrinkles mock

me enough. They are vicious busy bodies

slyly peeping through

the cracks. They gossip.

They can never understand

How wonderful it feels to feel so young,

even as this body dissipates.

* * * * *

"Mind Over Time" was first published in 2001 in the now closed poetry journal Poetry Niederngasse edited by Pasquale Capocasa.

Shikhandin is the nom de plume of an award-winning Indian writer who writes for both adults and children. Books include, among others, Immoderate Men: Stories published by Speaking Tiger, India, and Vibhuti Cat, an illustrated book for children, published by Duckbill. For more on Shikhandin you can visit her Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/author/shikhandin and her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorShikhandin/