The Parting

By Thomas Thottungal

Tonight, we shall go down to the riverside

and burn the dreams we built together

and scatter their ashes in the sacred streams

that will forever run down our cheeks.

Tonight, we shall wash our memories in tears

and when morning comes

we shall dry them in the sunlight of another day

and fold them neatly away in their coffins.

Tonight, we shall take one last look

at the might-have-beens

before they are forever shut

in the silent vaults of not-to-be-born time.

Tonight, we shall remove

the no-room signs from our hearts

and hang nothing else in their place.

Tonight, we shall board the midnight train

with a one-way ticket in hand

and get off somewhere beyond the sunset

and then we’ll lose ourselves to the darkness

and go our several ways

not trying to forget

but trying not to remember.

By Thomas Thottungal