Debarati’s evocative poem on DifferentTruths.com captures grief as love adrift—lingering, stubborn, and achingly homeless.

Grief lingers on my fingers
like the last strands of winter,
bidding adieu to a noisy city —
Coarse as the rustle of dry leaves
on cobbled streets.
It settles in the creases of my palms:
a stain that all the
'perfumes of Arabia cannot sweeten'.
I try to bury it, but it pushes through stone—
A stubborn bloom I cannot kill.
So, we sit together in awkward silence,
like patients in a doctor's chamber,
avoiding eye contact.
Like a stranger in a new city,
It looks for a corner to name its home
Only to realise—
Grief
It is just love with no home to call its own.

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Debarati Sen

Debarati Sen, an award-winning poet from Kolkata, published two solo poetry collections and contributed to more than 10 anthologies. She has recently made it to the top 50 poets in the NaPoWriMo 2023 writing challenge, and her poem, ‘Maple Dreams’, has been selected for the Yearbook 2022 to be published by Hawakal Publishers. Her haiku have been published in Haikuniverse, Five Fleas, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Suspect Device, Pan Haiku Review, and the Horror Senryu journal.