Dr Roopali’s poem explores loneliness, isolation, and the transient nature of existence and contrasts it with a tree’s yearning, exclusively for Different Truths.

I have never felt so lonely as I did today. 
I am as alone as this road, 
Which runs through the dwindling forest.
It has no name.
It takes a bend here and then goes straight elsewhere. 
I have often wondered what the road feels like 
All by itself going somewhere where there is nowhere?

There is something very lonely about being a road. 
Some roads are busy; others are quiet and solitary. 
Either way, they are alone and very lonely. 
Many walk to wherever it 
is going some return some never do. 
We trample the road ingratitude a constant.
Today I too feel like this nameless, lonely road. 
It’s deep and stark this aloneness. 
It’s a dead volcano crater. 
Unlike the desperate tree, 
Which is trying to reach out and embrace 
I seek no one. 

Picture design Anumita Roy

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.