Sometimes unexpected moments help us find hidden parts of ourselves. What started as a way to avoid chores during retirement and lockdown turned into a journey of drawing, writing, creativity, and joy.

This is the story of how a simple pencil revealed the artist in me and brought me many reasons to smile.

# Dance of a Pencil #

I picked up a pencil
to escape the chores,
not to become an artist.

A blank sheet once frightened me—
I was the boy
who asked his friends
to draw my school projects.

But then life slowed down
as retirement arrived.

The world grew quiet,
the days grew long,
and I had nowhere to go.

So I began to draw.

A crooked line,
a doubtful sketch,
a picture that wasn’t perfect—

but it was mine,
and somehow,
it gave me a smile.

One drawing became two,
two became many,
and somewhere between
the lines and shadows,

I discovered
a part of myself
I never knew existed.

Then came the compliments—

“Beautiful!”
“Wonderful!”
“Keep going!”

Strange, isn’t it?

Sometimes a few kind words
can give an old heart
the courage of a young one.

“Perhaps talent doesn’t arrive late;
perhaps we simply discover it late.”

Today, I don’t draw
because I want to be an artist.

I draw because
the pencil makes me happy.

I write because
words give my memories a home.

And I continue because
there is still so much
left to discover.

The lockdown may have
closed the doors of my world,

but a pencil
opened a new one.

And perhaps
that is life’s little secret—

what begins as a way
to pass the time
can quietly become
a reason to smile.

(Vijay Verma)
 www.retiredkalam.com

Categories: kavita

Tags: #creativity, #emotion, #poem, #wellness, featured, writing