Virat Nehru

Ghazal: After you

The nest that’s in tatters since you’ve been gone;

Look! A dove flies in to build it anew once more

Our destinies are intertwined such that; Whenever your name is mentioned, mine follows right after

The pain -- who can say -- whose is greater? The one who leaves or the one who gets left Why this wall of propriety and formalities, you ask -Some walls are meant to keep people out, others to keep people in

At times -- a sadness -- that loneliness is what awaits this heart for eternity; At times- - a fear -- what if this heart falls for someone again?

About the poet

Virat Nehru, 30, was born in Delhi, grew up across Lucknow, Prayagraj, Meerut and Bhopal, and now lives in Sydney, Australia. He turned to poetry, he says, as a response to bullies, when he was growing up. “You want to know what our history truly is? Read poetry,” he says. “I like to think that astute poets are actually historians. The world around us is constantly in flux – how we interact with each other, socio-political issues, the language we speak, surviving a pandemic – poetry is a witness to all these changes.”

And the lines between some art forms are blurring, again. “People can no longer recognise if something spoken has lyrical or poetic meaning unless it’s accompanied by guitar!” he says. “I say this facetiously, but there’s some kernel of truth to it. No one has time to read poetry. No one actually buys poetry books anymore. Performance poetry, at least, gets bums on seats. But my goodness, 90% of it is goddamn insufferable!”