“perhaps, it is vanity”

by Tejaswinee Roychowdhury

the river saraswati is lost / they say,

she disappeared underground,

pulled to the earth’s core

when her mother changed course / perhaps, it is vanity,

to flee into the folds of history just so i can

stare at my rippled reflection in her waters / perhaps, it is vanity,

to feel ecstasy in seeing my abandoned face in an abandoned river,

to feel like i matter—like i’m a part of god’s design / perhaps, it is vanity,

but still it is mine.

Tejaswinee Roychowdhury is an Indian writer, poet, and lawyer. Her work is published/forthcoming in Ongoing, Ayaskala, Gutslut Press, Roi Fainéant Press, Borderless Journal, Kitaab, Bullshit Lit, Alphabet Box, and elsewhere. She is currently a Fiction/Stage Editor for The Storyteller’s Refrain. Find her tweeting at @TejaswineeRC and her list of works at linktr.ee/tejaswinee.