The Wildflower | Shaily Agrawal

When I die, Don’t cover my grave with stones or epitaph.

Let me feel the seasons on my skin.

Don’t tend it everyday—let life take over.

Let weeds grow—wildflowers of every colour,

So, you’d think of me in death as in life–

A splash of wild colour in a bleak world.

When I die, Don’t bring fresh flowers everyday.

I won’t meet you, anyway.

I’ll be somewhere sitting in a sunny nook,

Thinking of a lost song or an old book.

So, you, too, better move on—let life take over.


This poem was first published on The Drabble.
Shaily Agrawal is a small-town Indian and a working mother. Her skewed perspective is apparent through her stories on her blog: https://fishinthetrees.home.blog/ You can read her first short story collection, The Forest Bed on Amazon Kindle.
Selected by the editor as a featured submission, May 2022

Little Things | Shaily Agrawal

I had always been like that–

Building shrines

For dead butterflies,

And visiting

With the freshest flowers.

You had been like that too,

Loving me for little things,

Until you grew up

And I didn’t.


Shaily Agrawal is a small-town Indian and a working mother. Her skewed perspective is apparent through her stories on her blog: https://fishinthetrees.home.blog/ You can read her first short story collection, The Forest Bed on Amazon Kindle.