Chances

By Rudra Pagar

When I came back to this life,

asking strangers for directions,

petrified, with a map

inscribed on my palm,

you said your heart had healed

and that left a tiny crack in mine

along an ancient fault line

what kind of four-leaf clover am I

lucky charm for everyone but myself?

you probably knew this already

because my eyelashes

told you everything

I couldn’t say

with all their insistent fluttering

"Being with a heart that is taken

leaves room for an imagination

that wants to kiss

your singing mouth on a street,

show you off to everyone I meet,

paint you in my sleep,

make your body sigh,

turn up the heat",

whispered the moon to tides,

“come a little closer tonight

fill me up

with intricate spiderweb of lullabies

laced through your mouth

flood me,

when I sleep next to you

and wake up on a riverbed

loveless and dry"

Growing up in a disintegrating home,

I try to build mine intact

with my first moves

and your love spells

which keeps me reacquainting with

homesickness.

By Rudra Pagar