Not The Only One

By Samriddhi Gogoi

You say I think or contemplate too much.

That the complicated windings of my mind

Can even compete with grandma's tangled yarn balls.

But I could sense it alright.

Maybe it was in the way your eyes twinkled again,

And the craters of your dimples deepened more now as you smiled.

Like the almost re-advent of my college sweetheart ten years after. Almost.

Or maybe, in the way I started ordering Chinese takeout only for one, at night.

As you attempted to wash away in the bathroom, the sins/souvenirs of your 'late

night shifts.'

"It's all in your mind. "

I've recited this to myself in the mirror uncountable times.

It's just that my reflection refuses to accept,

Ricocheting the words back like bullets.

But hush love, don't let them see it.

Just keep on matching steps with the Devil again.

I've been beating myself black and blue,

But need to get back to stitching smiles with those gold threads.

Till then, silently still, let me just pat my back,

And croon along to Sam's- "I know I'm not the only one."

By Samriddhi Gogoi