The Wrinkled Veins Poem by Shahid H Khan

The wrinkled veins
On the back of my hand
Look ugly;
Aged, wilted, worn out
In colours of disharmony;
Blue, grey, green;
A sight, better unseen;
Entangled with each other
Beyond retrieve;
Going in circles;
Reaching nowhere.

I looked again
The wrinkled veins
Looked like the roads
That meandered
The canvas of my life.

Of the roads that I traveled
In the journey of life:
Like the wrinkled veins,
Some were smooth;
Some had bumps;
Some had dead-ends
Some were beautiful;
Some were hurtful.

I realized
The wrinkled veins
Are wrinkled,
Because they worked hard
For so long,
To give my hands
The strength
To carve the roads
That I traveled to reach
Where I stand today.

I looked at the back of my hand—
Once more —
The wrinkled veins looked beautiful!