2016 Junior Authors Poetry Contest Winner Category 4
Rimjhim Tyagi, Age 14, India
Philately
All minuscule samples of beauty,
or stamps, as they commonly
call them, of my collection
have been picked out with
utmost tenderness, with my
bitten, bleeding nails tracing
their path lovingly, almost
like the way I first held you,
with my eyes gazing into your
big brown ones, and I remember
your sigh at that moment,
that sigh of love, that sigh of
utmost relief, and you looked at
me with warmth radiating from
your body, and I felt like my
philately had finally come to
life; alive. My stamps
are people; people from across the
globe, people with their own stories
scribbling their way through
the weird turns of life, thinking
“I didn’t sign up for this,” when
days didn’t always feel okay and
I’ve flipped through the worn-out
pages of my stamp collection when times
didn’t always seem to work out,
and they’ve been to me what lovers
are for most people, and I’ve confided
my deepest, darkest secrets to them.
Each little stamp, that seems unnoticed
to many, has been examined with my
furtive eyes, so that no minute
flaw goes unnoticed; and that’s
the way with you, love, I’ve
listened to your rants and ramblings,
however incoherent they may
sometimes seem, in the same way
I’ve looked at my stamps. And
however cheesy and weird it might
seem, but you’ve been to me what
philately has been for about
thirteen years to me, knowing each
quirk and imperfection I possess,
and loving me nevertheless.
*
Rimjhim Tyagi
I’ve always found solace in metaphors. I am an observer, and I like comparing inanimate things with human beings. Philately has always been one of my interests, and hence the comparison.
Beautiful poem ,Rimjhim…..
It was a pleasure reading it!