The Moment, The Lifetime

Imagine an age, an era, cramped into a single moment. We're bridges and buildings, burning, falling, rising, touching skies then falling again. Nothing remains forever. But the remains are forever to stay.

It's an age cramped into a single moment.

It's in one moment, which you pick up your pen. Inside you, you dust off the corners of your brain, search for the right words, the right depth, the right freefall. For that spot on the paper, which will be the beginning of your story. Blink, blink again, or close your eyes altogether and feel your soul searching, picking, and scratching in your flesh to find the right idea, the right treasure.

Drink. Drink while you still can, drink everything you see. Drink the emptiness of the glass, the whiskey bottle, there is still some inspiration wandering. Drink the smell of your ink; drink the feel of the paper against your palms. Drink the passion of the love you just made. Search for more. You're still thirsty.

Your palms smell of the rush, the energy that flowed in your words, between spaces, between pages. Your feet know the value of the space between one word and the next. It knows how many days you've walked, ran, and crawled, just to get the right word, just to turn another page.

And your eyes, love. Your eyes have seen too much. They're a thin sheet between what is reality and what ought to be real. They're timeless, and they see more when you close them.

And look, everything is happening at once. And I can see it, your body can hold you no more.

Every part of you is dying to tear off from your grasp, and one day, you will no longer be able to hold any of it together.Is it good? It's real.

Your words are too heavy they will never make it on paper. Your hands can but put the words in right places.

You're the master. Your mind tells you so. But the world keeps asking you to be sane.

That is why, you're stupid.

That is why just a while ago, you built bridges. Now the remains are poisoning the river.

Like an age cramped into a single moment. The single moment that stretches itself into a lifetime.

- अनुश्रुति अधिकारी (Anushruti Adhikari)