the joy of believing everything around you, loves you. that every hand you hold, is leading you to a warm, safe place. A hand on your head, when you're falling asleep, an encouraging nod, every time you agree to eat. the privilege of a comfortable childhood. Things we look back in nostalgia, now feel like a stolen dream of another, who may not have had a hand to hold. innocence needs nurturing, needs protecting, and while we turn pages, and catch buses, I wish we also begin to wonder - about those hands that still need holding, minds that still need moulding... and these hands need not always be little, sometimes it could be your friend, husband, wife, colleague, a poet in a bar, your parent - who may have never had a hand to hold, or a bedtime story told. hold, hold anyone close : stranger, foe, friend, forgotten, stranded, strewn, lost. hold, hold them till that vacant hole in their heart is filled just enough to allow them to feel gratitude, to feel wanted, to feel human. (the second-last line is inspired from @radhidevlukia 's message today on having to create a space within oneself to feel gratitude) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEUzYoCDVQq/?igshid=5drdow9m1nxz