Faith Badri Narayan

I am mortal
but the book that I write so meticulously
is more mortal.
I am mortal
but my photographs kept in this album
are no less mortal than me,
penned down over so many years
these diaries of mortal-me
are even more mortal –
and how fleeting is my faith
that I would take these along beyond time.
I order my statues in my own lifetime
all made differently
these statues of mine
are no less mortal
which are forgotten immediately after anniversaries.
These letters that I write
are still more fleeting
they would be burnt up
with matchsticks, at the year-end.

Whatever I gift
falls apart in a few days
a gift lasts a year
good wishes last four days
I desperately endeavour to prove that
the inert, indestructible and immortal things I possess,
are beyond time
but all disappear gradually
like snowballs.
Words are immortal
someone says,
but how do I believe my own words
which dissolve in merely a couple of water drops.

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