THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.

For everything that has been left behind,

All those who have left,

Left their prints in my mind,

For everything that was once essential,

which makes no sense now,

All the fights and grudges for it,feels silly somehow.

For all those fulfilled dreams,

which I hardly treasure;

the ones which were my yardstick to measure.

For the ones who are still with me,

But it isn't the same as before.

Much like your favourite shirt, favourite still,

but doesn't fit you anymore.

For all those moments, when I felt alive.

Those road trips, teenage proposals, my first drive,

favourite sunsets, silly friendships,

mum's cooked food, broken relationships

forming a beautiful story of life.

Looking back I see,

how life takes a bit of me from me.

and more than the people who were left behind,

more than the moments that wouldn't get rewind,

more than anything else I yearn,

for the part of me that is lost to time.