Seated in Silence

BY GAYATHRI KALLEPALLI 

I didn't know that solitude

could be both haven and hell,

Until I I found myself drowning

in it—

Seated in silence,

In the middle of an endless 

ocean.

No storm, no sun,

Just the slow rhythm of

waves,

Lapping like forgotten

lullabies

Against the bones of what

once was me.

I came here seeking peace,

A quiet the world could never

offer—

But silence, when it

stretches too wide,

Begins to echo with ghosts.

Time dissolves in salt and

sky,

And still I sit, waiting for

nothing,

Wrapped in the arms of a sea

That neither loves not 

leaves.

There is beauty in stillness,

But also a cost—

For even the soul

Needs a shore.