Fading Away

By Ritik Gautam

Foreheads touched, in between a few gasps and sighs.

"Are you gonna miss me?"

"Obviously!" you replied.

The fairy passed the silence,

Time in the glass — adjourned.

Where words failed to gabble,

Only bone knew how to reckon.

An aimless walk, running through the rails,

Blank — the destination; folks to and fro.

Winter fog and fairy lights —

Nowhere to go.

Nearby shop, dispersed queue,

Number — token — time abide.

I turned my head — heave!

There we met — destined.

Hiding weeds in a scarf of civility,

We communed 'bout the best we knew:

Stars — land — winter — sand —

Time stood by, listening too.

Days passed. We met again,

But this time — planned.

Hours taken by the invisible spell:

My drawing, your eyes,

A kiss back on my hand.

When the world paced hell-for-leather,

I wrote letters and collected feathers.

Internet aesthetics — arrayed attic,

People of bandwagon choose to stay classic.

Days of purple, nights — velvet,

Dog days of weary June

Ruin of stones, hindsight.

You stared at sunrise —

I was looking at you.

To navigate you is the — compass.

To read you like a minion — book.

To cherish you like the — water lily,

Waiting for you in lure — amidst falling June.

A stained-glass cup and rusted toys —

Lives were lived in simple joys.

In inexistence — away from the noise,

There's always a recurring voice.

...

Now, I stare at the wall for hours,

An old road — montage blue —

I am out, magnifying searching clues,

Cloud-cuckoo dreams... there's no 'you'.

Where are you? See the grey sky,

Over the 'castle' we built — night and day.

Hold me tighter — I'm holding on to you.

Look above — we are fading away.

To have lived you was a drifting life —

To fight for you was the war.

We both know who wins the ending,

So what's the point of keeping score?

We were bound by 'promises' —

They say they're meant to be broken.

Disguised grief — camouflage,

Misery personified — unspoken.

Where — what — went — wrong?

I have no countryman to tell.

Time to go to the start of the story —

There is no past to dwell.

In the city where we weaved dreams together,

Why was the entanglement only on my side?

Nights — when the candle burnt to the height —

But they always leave the wax behind.

Whenever I talk about the love theories,

A wave of smile in your eyes — blushed.

We were nothing but two heart-shaped candies —

One crushed.

Now I'm standing on the same old road,

With no porch on either side.

Seven months of heaven, declassified.

Distance — design — destiny.

But I’ll never come over to those hazel eyes.

By Ritik Gautam