Art by Marc Chagall
Space now has assumed a new meaning,
It has now grown wider than space,
Space between words
Written, spoken
Space – blank, left unattended
Between what is said, unsaid
Spaces now have a lot to be desired.
Widening spaces
Between hands unshaken
And the gaps left between fingers unraveled
Lot of empty spaces everywhere
Empty, hollow spaces
Sprawling hearts and minds -
Prime real estates
Unattended, hardly desired.
Safe distance maintained -
Those who were always distant
Have remained so
Those within safe distance, drifting apart
Nobody at arm’s length now
None within embrace
Now, I only have space to grapple with
Everything else is distanced
All the pride, hubris, ego kept at bay,
What space will they acquire now?
Shafaat Shahbandari is a documentary filmmaker, journalist and poet, based in Bengaluru. As a poet, Shafaat touches upon a wide range of subjects, from mundane daily stuff like death and hatred to serious matters such as beauty of a crow. He is the founder of Thousand Shades of India, a web-based platform for untold stories of unsung heroes, folklore, culture, heritage and traditional craft told through documentaries, photo features and travelogues.