SNIGDHA AGRAWAL

 

 

The Wrecked Home

 

This house is not as I designed 

The walls sag with borrowed time

Pipes cough, the wiring is frayed

Foundations groaning through the days

 

The roof, once proud, now stoops and drips

The floors creak with each misstep

And every hinge creaks and complains 

In this wrecked and wondrous frame

 

I scrub the mould from the cracked tiles

Chase stains down the corridor miles

But the more I mend, the more it betrays 

Time’s sly rot; the slow decay. 

 

One time, it felt like home 

Clean and neat

Drains unclogged 

Light pouring in through

stained glass windows

A home, where faith

And happiness dwelt

©Snigdha Agrawal

 

Illegal Immigrant

(in rhyming couplets)

 

I share my home with roaches mean,

And lizards on walls with eyes keen

 

Short-tailed mice in corners creep

They rustle softly while I sleep

 

My meals are served on a tin plate

Warped and dented, black as slate

 

No lamp, no sun, no warming light

Just shadows stretching into the night

 

I lie on a lumpy mattress cover, gone

Foam spilling out; all alone

 

This couple hides me, kind yet grim

Their silence thick, their smiles dim

 

They say they are in touch with them

I do believe, from their faces, solemn

 

No passport, card, or paper name

Persona non grata who fled the flame

 

Years pass like wind through broken doors

I pace, I pray, on concrete floors

 

I once had a home as nice as yours

But war came, erasing its contours

I fled through fire, through smoke and blood

With shoes soaked through, in freezing mud

 

Now trapped in walls that feel like stone

I live, unknown, unloved, alone   

 

Yet in this cage, my soul still sings

 Praising the Lord, seeking His blessings.

 

A voice once proud, now hushed and low

Still dares to dream beneath the woe.

©Snigdha Agrawal

 

SNIGDHA AGRAWAL

 

SNIGDHA AGRAWAL (née Banerjee) brings over two decades of corporate experience to her multifaceted writing career. A versatile author, she writes across genres, including poetry, short stories, prose, and travelogues. Raised in a cosmopolitan environment and educated in a convent school and college run by Irish nuns, she blends Eastern depth with Western sensibility in her work. She is the author of five published books, spanning poetry and short fiction. Her most recent release, Fragments of Time, a deeply personal memoir, is available on Amazon worldwide. Her writings have appeared in numerous domestic and international anthologies and literary journals. In recognition of her poetic craft, she was recently nominated for the 2024 Pushcart Prize. Now in her seventies, Snigdha’s passion for writing and travel remains as vibrant as ever.