The Chosen One
written by: Kokila Gupta
I woke to someone else’s heartbeat–a fierce and foreign drum
Is this the way in an upbeat heart, feelings twirl and hum?
They surged within my borrowed chest with a lightness I’d never felt
Was this the song of an unscarred heart when dawn on snowdrops melts?
I woke up to a different rhythm where the world is a gilded reel,
And rendered speechless to realize how much joy a heart could feel!
I peered through the eyes of someone else and found the world all gleam
But why through mine, now dim and worn, did laughter twist to scream?
I reached for her—my mother’s arms, so firm, so soft, so near
Yet cold to me, her daughter’s touch, but fierce for sons she’d cheer
I wept and wailed. I tried and failed, so I sang blithely while I mourn
As thundered through my borrowed ribs, a song that wasn’t my own
My arms flailed to hold her once again, she spurned my tender face;
She called this child her universe, while I was half erased
I stepped away from specious talks, my heart as if of stone
In those moments, I glimpsed what all the life I’d lost– now gone
I gave her back her graceful life, my brow a burning sun;
And in that blaze, I almost wept, too late to be the chosen one.
- The Chosen One - February 24, 2026
- The Season of Divinity - February 9, 2023
