'Fernweh

By Sahil Kudchikar

She glanced her phone and took a deep sigh.

The credited salary was lower than her aspirations high.

Some smoke and coffee helped her to ease through this pain,

Till the ants crept under the table to labour away the sugar grains.

A memory of her home address burned in the ashtrays,

Unchained to any belief, there was solace in her lost ways.

The walls spoke through images that of her wanderlust,

And smileys drawn on the window panes faded into dust.

She may change plans of traveling in spurn.

The bills and receipts tame her hearts yearn.

Still the cover of her phone has a faded Eiffel tower.

Hope never fades, chances still glimer.

So days will change, and she will walk on those foreign streets.

In the company of her passport she will continue living offbeat.

Dear Judges,

Fernweh is a word of German origin, it means distance sickness or a form of wanderlust. While all of us have always felt fernweh at some stage of our lives,it's about the places we always dreamt of traveling to ,but could not because of either a hectic work schedule, family responsibilities or financial reasons, or it could be any other reason. The character in this poem is of a woman who wishes to travel but unfortunately is not due to financial conditions and lack of motivation, she stays far away from her home.

By Sahil Kudchikar