self portrait

So there you are,
Nearly twenty-four and feeling like,
a well-thumbed book,
a few forgotten petals in a diary
a map made by an apprentice who has just learnt to hold the pen,
and the peepal* tree barely shooting through the concrete.
But that is what you are,
beautiful, sturdy and brave.
So don’t be afraid if the nib bleeds too much ink or the petals take on the pages
Or the map doesn’t have clear borders
and the peepal is too small.
It’s you.
It’s always been all you.

– a self portrait in words because I suck at art

*peepal – a species of fig, native to the Indian subcontinent.