Friday, January 03, 2014

Companions

Poetry, Jan '14
By Shaleen Rakesh

The wind was growing tired
slowing down with age

Older
it said to the flower

A time will come too
when I will not have the strength
to kiss your petals
and inhale your perfume

The flower replied –

But what about me?
What will I be then?


Shaleen Rakesh is an author and activist based in New Delhi and has been at the forefront of the gender and sexuality movement in India for the last 20 years. He was the primary petitioner to challenge Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 2001. He currently works as Director at India HIV/AIDS Alliance in New Delhi, and is Editor with independent publishing house OpenWord in New Delhi.

Poem sourced from soon to be published The Lion and the Antler, the first collection of poems by Shaleen Rakesh (World View Publications, 2013).

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