Lucknow

Another dawn at Awadh–
Take it in, as much as you can
Enjoy this beautiful evening
Because all the nymphs and angles
Dance around and turn the sky pink
There is cupid himself sitting at the banks of gomti
Lucknow was made for lovers
"Lover's city" I'd like to call it.
Maybe cupid was born here
Somewhere deep in the lover's lane
Oh the young love!
Don't underestimate the kisses of 
those beautiful and oh so handsome-
Eros and Phileo in school uniforms.


There you see is a trifle
needing ten seconds
To sort out his rattling brain
Trying to seek comfort 
In the arms of these ebullient
Yet tired out Hazratganj streets – up, down and about.
Yet no ends met today, made some talks to himself about the evening spent
 yet again, felt like faded paints
Of the old buildings
But holding rich remnants of past.


The bazaars. Oh the bazaars.
I don't even know where to start
The most appropriate synonym of life.
The bazaars of Lucknow will teach you- Life.
Bazaars of Lucknow–
where everyone want to find the one place for themselves
wants to find out The Way 
Till they run out of their last breath.
Bazaars –
where an epoch of crowd strolls past,
Streets –
with no space to anyone's name,
You have to claim your space 
While you should know;
You shouldn't make it a race.
Hustle and bustle with no cause or aim.


My beautiful city is a preacher
Wanting to tell you numerous stories.
The moment you step into Lucknow
It will welcome you -
"Smile! you're in Lucknow"
Smile because here you'll unfolded 
What was a celebration of learning and the arts,
a mingling culture and an unabashed love
for all things beautiful.-
The jasmine-scented courtyards
The slender arches of the imambaras
The sheer poetry of the spoken language
The lilting fragrance of saffron and kewra 
The delicacy of pulao,
The Nawab, adaab and kabaab.
  - Shreshtha

Chemical reaction

You and me
and our chemistry.
Our chemistry so tangible.
Our love oh so chemical.
Some might say its scary
because if you mix us together-
they make something fantastic
or something destructive.
To warn you; might blow up at you face.
And then, when you'll try to come out of it,
It will leave you with burned marks
and scars, only to remind you-
of what a wonderful mess it was.
That scar won't make you promises
but may want to stain you forever.
As the temperature drops down
the molecules, they'll get closer.
Closer, till they form a solid shape
but a good chemistry with a bad timing 
would shatter your heart
and will strip you off all those
protective layers of yours.
But you won't want to stop it;
The excuse- 'The laws of nature, you know?' 

-Shreshtha.

Sunflower

Here you are- Another Star.
Beautiful, splendid stars like You
come along to do me wrong.
What my last memory knows
is that I was a Rose.
A Rose o' so painful to grow-
so fickle, so slow.
It grows at night.
O' so evil, elegant Rose.
Mysterious, murderous Rose.
A symbol of love, shielding itself with thorns.
Yet here I stand;
the crimson petals turning all yellow.
Yellow, 'A happy color', they say.
The thorns melting off my body-
A Sunflower you may call me.
Now, You have all of me.
You- unsatisfied sucker Sun.
my heart is drying
trying to quench your thirst
but also, it isn't cold for Once now.
Just for a little while.
Turning my back on you,
I cannot do.
For, i'll find myself ;
suffocating , dying, left in the dust.
So, the fear of the night grows deeper in me.
Now, I know what people mean
when they say-
'The sunflower causes her own pain
as the sun begins to set
The sunflower realizes what she's done
she faces the darkness with much regret
realizing she cannot live without Sun.'

- Shreshtha.

Self Love

I hope you find yourself at ease 
'cause you weren't born in a soft spring breeze.
A hailstorm it was-
The winter's rage.
And your mother thought
she'll loose her first child in vain.
You, my dear are born out of 
a broken, unsettling universe 
where everyone pointed out the flaws in you.
But, oh your body! is a home of sunflowers 
that grow despite the winters.
You are a thunderstorm
 carrying water for the thirsty
'cause you, yourself have seen the drought,
one that empties the ocean.
Now, every inch of your body and soul
has reached out to you.
'We are here to help you reconstruct they say',
and YOU, you don't need saving.
So, stop attracting conditional lovers.
Today, plant a flower of self love 
and see its possibilities 
of growing into a stardust tree.
and dare you pluck it
or
let someone take its space ever again.

-SHRESHTHA.

You will heal ❤️

You will heal,

For our hearts are full of zeal.

I’ll sew the tendrons

Of your body,

I’ll wrap it in words.

Full of love and care.

Let me feel your pain.

Allow me to

Drive you insane.

Love is a feeling

So light, so tender,

So fresh.

Will appease your soul

And soothe your flesh.

I’ll sew them all,

Like a dress.

For you don’t treat me

Like the rest.

You heal me with 

Your glance.

I’ll let my words

Do the dance.

You be the sunlight

On my raw grain.

I’ll be your

Gentle autumn rain.

And never will you

Paint your walls

Blue again.

– Shreshtha Awasthi

Musings and Snippets

.

The first thing I ever wrote online was a Musing… 

Thus musings and Snippets evolved into poems..

But now I’ve continued again with snippets.

This was the first musing I wrote. A page on Facebook and Instagram named “tell.a.tale” posted it.

then, I wrote some more. 

Then I started using this amazing app Mirakee.

 http://www.mirakee.com/shreshthaawast

If you liked my musings.. check more of them by clicking on this link above. 🤗❤️

Out of the kaleidoscope.

Out of my kaleidoscope dream,

To this numb scream.

Where colors used to collide,

Saturating, till all of it was grey.

Like the drug they gave you,

Before you drowned into sleep.

Except, I couldn’t wake up.

Blocked and shunned,

I began to paint it all,

With the dark, black and grey.

All the music of the world

Got frozen and feckless.

The demons in my head,

Persuaded me to stay.

Numbness crawled like a centipede,

Fingers, they touched the sacred places.

Running in pain,

Needed the sun to shut the rain.

Now that I’ve grown up, 

I don’t like the coloured token,

Which once pleased my eyes.

Look at that river which flows direction less,

Rocks and mountain and sands and gravel,

They are a family now. 

                                        – Shreshtha 🌸

Trapped.

I’m trapped within myself

feeling like mannequin 

Wanting to be there with you

towards the horizon

under the stars

beyond these windows ceilings and bars

My mind is not small trap to escape

Scariest things I’ve seen

Alone, as I screamed

The urge to touch the sun

The appetit to have some fun

But the perspective of the time

This place isn’t a shrine

So I shouted at the clouds

Only to hear my voice aloud

Echoing of the rim

Circling back to me

Nobody’s home 

My mind and me

I have a world of imaginary friends

Scribbles so energetically

It just comes out poetically

Pondering on thoughts, tiniest

But to someone else

Soul trapped in the body

Creating its own heavens and hells.

______Shreshtha._____

🌞💖🌚

Let me tell you the love story

Of the Sun and the Moon.

As I gaze them lovingly,

Through the window of my room
‘Who is this lady?

A silver subtle saint.”

Said the Sun, deeply observing

Her dents and craters and pain.
The Moon is dark and cold

But oh! Sun’s gravity,

For him, this move is bold.
The universe has always been dark

Then there is Sun,

With raging fire and spark.

Moon, she knew, 

She owed her beauty to him.
The awe of their love

Though, they were miles apart!

Little did the Sun knew,

Moon was his part.

Numb faces.

Numb faces

Illusion mask.

Toring them down

Is a difficult task.

Painful and burning,

I pulled harder

Through all the odds.

If only I can understand that face

In time I could uncover god.

The eyes; deepest section of library

Old books, all in peace and merry.

How relentless are those demons

Travelling through the tunnel of my eyes.

To know the forbidden truth and not cry?

Well, atleast they tried.

                        _Shreshtha.