KULDEEP KAUR
On the way…
I don’t know when I lost my innocence.
There was no grand moment, no breaking sound —
Just quiet days folding into each other,
And the soft death of believing too much.
I became wise without wanting to.
Mature, not out of choice — but necessity.
People’s words became puzzles.
Their kindness, a transaction.
Their needs, a trap I walked into — willingly.
I used to believe in any nonsense
if it meant someone else smiled.
I bent myself backwards
just to be the reason they didn’t fall.
But one day I looked in the mirror
and couldn’t find the girl who once
believed everyone had a good heart.
She had disappeared, somewhere between
understanding others too deeply
and forgetting to understand herself.
And that’s how I knew:
Wisdom had come — but at the cost of my softness.
Maturity had arrived — but it took my innocence as its fee.
Still, I believe all are good.
Still, I wish to find my way back to that innocence.
Roots and Wings 