mirage

crescent sand dunes

clenching my feet, 

scorching sun overhead

burning my skins, 

dried hollow throat 

clutching me like thorns, 

counting the miles if

i had crossed the 

abandoned town, 

calculating the hopes

if i could have asked

and drunk water, 

i died knocking at

the first door in

far flung desert, 

i died screaming at 

second door where i came

flying from the first, 

i wished to turn to

the third house, but wait

thanking to the light

of the desert, 

i saw the lake 

enough fresh and full, 

hallucinated eyes and

empty hands running

towards it, with all 

burning scars on my body, 

i came nearer, it kept vanishing, 

this thirst, this deception

and my third wheeling hope

was it a false image or illusion? 

I saw a Mirage in the desert. 

- chetna 🌻