Issue: Vol. V, No. 1, May-July, 2026
Love is Like a Child
He just said
Love is like a child and all at once
Love changed into a child
Both of them lifted up the child
And placed it on a patch of cloud
And the cloud went on floating
Beneath the blue sky
Like a tuft of cotton
It went floating on and on
The child was overjoyed.
It cried out gurgling and warbling
About the vastness of love
It equals the seven seas.
A Reckoning
Life stretched out a hand
I caught it and walked along
I looked around
Chased butterflies and dragonflies
Colour and light all a dazzling
Joy and laughter seemed unending
Colour of life I picked and chose
Life went on and on
I kept pace and life quivered in buoyancy
Life bubbled in restless energy
Life was in bountiful
Joy knew no bounds
And then it all changed
It was not that I didnot deserve
But things got jumbled up
I was out of key with life
And lost all rhyme and rhythm
I was left in the cold, abandoned
I blamed none and said
The fault was with the stars
Just to keep you unblemished.
Translated by Dr Ananda Bormudoi
Dr. Farida Ahmed is a poet and former Professor of Anthropology in Dibrugarh University. She has published two collections of poems.