We were lying on your charpai
under the late autumn sky,
splayed out on the surface
of your terrace
like sacrifices to be made,
above the dying leaves
crunching beneath your dangling feet,
wind kissed, your face
a shade deeper than red,
you were dressed in a cheese-stained cardigan
beside me, the ever-distressed teacher's pet
in her TS sweats,
waiting for the afternoon sun
to make its appearance.
And you turned to me,
your eyes bereft of sleep,
breaking me free
of my afternoon reverie
to take me
back
to the good old days,
spent
chasing after you
in crowded hallways,
back when I still dreamed of
becoming a slam poet,
skipping classes to write sonnets,
reminding me of all the unfulfilled promises made
from the far end
of my parents' landline.
And as you continued to speak,
playing with your cardigan,
threadbare,
I stared at the veins twitching underneath
your cheeks and the afternoon sun
that finally made its appearance,
emerging out of the clouds, closer to the horizon now.
But you went on and on, unconcerned,
about how life never did us any wrong,
your voice, thick as smoke
but your words, clear
like rosewater,
colouring the wind with your dreams and imagined scenes,
sharing your plans
to paint the town pink
in your pyjamas,
leaving behind a mark
on this Earth
like lipstick stains
on coffee mugs.
And I listened, at first
without interruption,
in quiet contemplation
but then with increasing exasperation
and open derision
for it seemed like 'tis was the season
of all rhyme, no reason,
second guessing all my life's decisions,
nestled under an afternoon sun
that gave no warmth
But you took my diatribes in stride
and as my weary sighs filled the autumn sky,
I finally removed my rose coloured glasses, cracked from side-to-side
to realize for the first time
that the sky wasn't blue but a shade of grey
and so, the epiphanies I long kept at bay,
resurfaced, one by one,
following each other
like lambs to slaughter,
pressing down on me
like invisible weights
only to dissipate, evaporate
and disappear with the afternoon sun!
And So, we lay
and watched the day decay
and then fade away,
two fickle figures
in the evening calm,
waiting for a time that would never come
nor could ever return,
nostalgia-tinted pasts and glorified futures,
as the afternoon sun went lower
and sank below the horizon.