Ritwik Mahbub

Not all who are lost wander
Not all who are lost know it
Not all who are lost show it
Not all who are lost dare wander
Not all who are lost lay unaware
Of where they are.

Not all who are lost care to risk
Barren deserts or stormy seas
They’ve created in their head.

Not all who are lost understand;
The world isn’t out for their blood,
Those seas won’t storm to sink their ships,
That the desert won’t rise to swallow their wandering souls.

Not all who are lost understand
That the world isn’t out to get them (in particular)
Not all who are lost know
That most wandering is
Meandering through placid plains,
Calm seas and half-hearted hills.

Not all who are lost wander,
Not all who wander are lost.

Illustration: Anika L. Ahmed, Sub-editor, MUSE