Where is my path

Where Is My Path

MAYUR VED

(Research Scholar English, Vivek Anand Global University, Jaipur)

Why do I wander, lost amid the wood, Where lengthening shadows blur each narrowing trail? Am I delayed, while others—swift as flood— Move on, untouched by doubt that makes me fail? I chose a road; it seemed secure and fair, Yet soon it thinned and vanished into air. Perhaps no path was promised from the start, And all my striving mapped the restless heart.

At crossroads now I stand; the questioning wind Moves through the trees, murmuring choice and fate— This way or that, with countless ways to bend, Too many doors, and none that indicate.

Still on I walk—though weary, bruised, and worn; In seeking self and soil, my path is born.

• Author’s Note

This poem draws upon the metaphor of the forest and the crossroads to reflect the existential uncertainty experienced by individuals negotiating personal ambition, social comparison, and cultural expectation. Situated within the tradition of Indian English poetry, the poem engages with themes of inward journey, self-fashioning, and the belief that meaning is not inherited but forged through persistence and self-inquiry. The concluding assertion affirms movement and searching as acts of quiet resistance against disorientation and doubt