Jhanvi Vipin shares an autumnal poem in celebration of the UK’s National Poetry Day 2022 (6 October).

Hollow

By Jhanvi Vipin

the winds of change are finally here

and I feel like a maple tree

firm and true

changing colour every season

in the fall, there were certain seeds

the locals would call them ‘helicopters’

because they would spin, spin, spin

to the ground

my friends are like them

they spin until it’s time for them to burst

i’m a little different

i just stick to my roots

there are moments where I feel hollow

unable to see tomorrow

unable to move

afraid that I won’t be standing by my people

a hollow maple tree

unmoving and still

older and full of memory

but roots far below, seeping into the soil

perhaps that’s where I belong

lying in the meadows of mother earth

touching the life that grows by me

at my own pace

but in this world of spinning seeds

maybe it’s alright to be a maple tree