Bombay Dreams

Stirring away in the mysteries of thee,

I tried to embrace you and call you out, “Aamchi Mumbai.”

Transcended in the eternal muse of sorrow,

You taught me to yearn for the beauty of tomorrow.

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The beauty of your tiny lanes that confined a thousand lives,

The faint smell of your monsoon scent and your windful smile made me alive.

Built on the shores of the seven seas,

Your beauty never scared me.

Cautioned by the wind, alarmed by the fall,

Pani puri wars, dancing in the local and crying on the marine drive,

With you, I wanted it all.

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In moments of sheer agony,

Where we encounter the depths of misery,

Dripped in the muse of tomorrow,

We galloped into the notions of sorrow.

Bellowed in the yellow wood,

Beckoned by life in the middle I stood.

Plonked in the ballad of the existential dance,

In the nuances of the hustle, tranquility stood a chance.

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Mellowing to the tenderness beheld by the elusiveness that comfort holds,

We often find ourselves wrapped in anxiety as the journey unfolds.

Screeching with the call of self-doubt,

Fear eludes the core of the mind,

Lost in the battle with self,

We shield our souls from the world deemed unkind.

Let this remind you,

You are allowed to stride at your own pace,

To kindle the spirit of thee,

To crawl, walk, run, and embrace steadiness over speed in this race.

In the eyes of an artist, you gleamed with pride,

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But I am a poet, I explored your whims and fantasies through the lens of poetry,

Diving deep into your soul, scarred with tales of sacrifice.

I packed my heart in a box of glee,

I cried when you cried, pouring in the darkness,

Yet facing the looms still believing in all the light we cannot see.

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Glancing over the radiance of your shore kissing the Arabian Sea,

Reminding me of my last forgotten cup of tea,

Where I relished the sight of you through my eyes,

The city of dreams that made me fall in love with the sunsets and sunrise.

As a wanderer without a home,

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As they say in Hindi, “Banjarepan se ishq bhi karke dekh liya,

Trudging on my way into the unknown.

In a world where we do not believe in the unfathomable of all the light, we cannot see,

I hope you believe that you can be as worthy as you want to be.

You taught me to be fearless in the pursuit of what sets my soul ablaze,

Mumbai- a city that captures the beat of humanity that have dreams to chase.

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Transitioning between the phases of white and grey,

Pouring every ounce of me into brightening someone else’s day.

A land where peace prevails, a moment of tranquillity I desired.

In isolation, the realization hails, the lover in me was tired.

Desolation laid its cold hands on me wild and free,

And I turned my pain into poetry.

Agar pana hai manzil toh rehnuma khud bano

Translates to

You seek what you are looking for when you dive inside,

Where life originates from, where your spirit hides

In the crisis of existentialism,

I questioned the grimace, I questioned the glee,

Reminiscing the pain and the poetry,

The question rhetorically answered

The answer I was seeking lay in the precipice of me.

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Exploring the soul of my city through poetry in rhythmic schemes,

I am a Mumbaikar and this is the tale of my ‘Bombay Dreams’._

-Hridya Sharma