You're standing in a crowded bookstore.

Your fingers land on this spine,

and the weight feels different,

as if it's breathing.

You open a page.

The air shifts.

Somewhere, rain begins to fall,

and the paper feels heavier,

like it's been waiting for you.

Inside, chapters move like seasons:

the bloom of love, the burn of loss,

the wild hunger of an artist's mind,

the cliff edge of madness.

God is questioned.

The world laughs, cruel and absurd.

Memories collide with dreams until you can't tell

which haunts which.

Every verse, born in Hindi/Urdu,

carries its own translation,

so nothing is lost between lines,

and the meaning finds you,

no matter the language you breathe.

It doesn't ask permission.

It lingers as you read,

asks questions you can't unheard,

and finds the part of you still trembling,

long after the last page turns.