Holiday hugs by Ashrita Damera illustrated by Raaga Katta

Holiday Hugs
By Ashrita Damera

When I was a child, a holiday's warm hug,
Wrapped me in my home's blanket, like a snug,
Tickled me with cartoons, sundrops and sand castles,
Chased away school worries and hassles.

As I grew up, the holiday's naughty embrace,
Was a friend's hug, a call to explore places,
Scented with fresh breaths of places I roamed,
Led me away from the routine, home.

Holiday's hug aged with me, into a hurried hug,
As I age into a college student, stay away from home, its fleeting hug,
Carries hugs of lost grandparents, of home, of  stolen memories,
Of what could have been.

Bios:

About the poet:

Ashrita scribbles couplets and doodles between the margins of her notebooks, staring at the gibberish equations in between as she catches up with her thoughts.

About the Illustrator:

Raaga Katta is a former HR turned artist. She is world famous on insta as Grey Brains (@grey_brains). She is a comic artist who adds zindagi to dark, mundane, absurd, weird, funny and cute moments of life with her quirkiness. Her brain only looks at complex situations as stories. Her fictional characters are funnier than her, you'll never see them in real coz they ain't so trivial. Wanna admire her, be a follower. Wanna be her, join her comic making workshop.

*

This poem was selected for the prompt Holiday for the month of Napowrimo - April 2023.