Locked Longings
By Urmi Chakravorty

Listen to Podcast
 

The chipped raw wood door to my heart

lies bolted with a rusted lock.

I peep in through its cracks and crevices -

a dank, musty whiff greets me

with vignettes of long forgotten moments

gnawing at its soft, spongy panels,

burrowing through the layers

of an all-pervading oblivion

to follow a breadcrumb trail of days gone by

when love was young and the heart, naïve.

Was it perfidy? Or an impasse, that shut

and soldered the door tight,

locking in the echoes of an obliterated youth

within its shrouded nooks and niches;

languishing and wilting like flecked, fetid shrooms –

unhallowed umbrellas sprouting on the

chipped raw wood door to my heart.

Urmi is a freelance writer, reviewer and editor living in Bangalore, India. Her opinion pieces have been published by The Hindu and The Times of India. Her short stories, non-fiction, and poetry have found space in about forty domestic and international literary magazines and anthologies, which include Tell Me Your Story Review, Muse India, Madras Courier, among others. She has won accolades instituted by Rupa Publications, Women’s Web, S7, TMYS Review, and Wordweavers.