gulab khandelwal selected poems

Do you avoid taking me in your arms
That I am soiled and dirty?
That I play with paper dolls?
‘Am mad after flowers and butterflies?

But you ought to have thought this before
When you created me from earth, air and water
And rolled me down from the sky.

Had I remained with you,
Why would have I borne the kicks of the world?
Why would have I to pray for my deliverance?
Why would you have cared for my going astray
And stretched your hands to grasp me.?
Why would have my heart run after transitory forms?

I can only raise my hands towards you,
I can come near you only when you call me.
The earth-worm can only crawl on the earth.
It will rise only to the extent
It is raised.