Sonder,

the feeling when you realise that every person is living

a different and a complex life of their own at the same time.

To watch someone else pick out a bouquet of roses,

while throwing away your pile of old flowers.

To be mesmerised by the kids around who know nothing of the world and just find beauty in it,

while shedding your own life of tears.

Hopeful, isn’t it?

To think of the light in a stranger’s life even if your own is much darker.

Realising that in the world full of trenches and turmoil,

you are merely a gentle breeze.

In the universe of prose and words that cut deep,

you are merely one of the poets.

Sonder is to write an empty moment into the verses that feel like magic to everyone else,

while the poet silently wishes for once to be the poem instead.

But that’s the beauty of it,

the poet can turn any image into a verse if it speaks enough to them.

Maybe in the rush of the rest of the world,

us, the poets, are the ones who create the feeling of sonder.

“Poetry is what we stay alive for.”

stated John Keating to group of kids wishing to learn to live.

And in teaching them the beauty of life,

Created a haven of verses and visions that made them thrive.

That is what poets are,

Even in the darkest of times, we live for the hope of it all.

About The Poet

Nilanjana Saha is a Year 2 BBA student and is eager to learn something new. She is self-taught in musical instruments and art. Her poetry revolves around finding creativity and beauty in the ordinary and darker. She finds solace in reading and writing and encourages everyone to look at life from a poetic lens to find magic in mundane things.