Loneliness

By Tamanna Gupta

The low sound of clothes

spinning in the washing machine

With the windy air in the room by the fan

I heard a call underneath me

Came crawling to the bed

Sheets rustled with the scratching of fingers

A presence, I felt

I turned my back with a thumping heart;

Might, it have sensed

an arm draped over my waist

pulling me into his shape

With no words around,

only a void of darkness

I was lone

with a body close behind me

So close, that the hearts

beating in the cages

took breaths together

Or was only mine imprisoned?

A breath on my neck

sent tingles through the spine

Hair flowing by the wind;

a touch tucked it behind

The touch on the skin

followed over to my cheeks

then to my lips

wonder if… Can I kiss?

To fill in the hollow,

to swallow in the empty,

to cover in the cold,

to-…

Mind if I open my lids

it will all vanish

like,

the secluded life inside me

of reality

I didn’t mean to look back-

For warmth, I sheltered

in my lucid dreams

It’s gone,

and I am deserted with loneliness.

By Tamanna Gupta