By Rizwan Saleem
Covered, closed and sealed
Fist after fist of moist sand
Laid to rest
The walk back now for the living
A drive to return to an empty abode
Wouldn’t it be so much better to also bury the memories behind
Carry on now i must, and still be near the places where we used to dwell
Incomplete, left to repeat a single wish
If only you had taken me with you
My eyes stray on the barren shelves
Where you kept your clothes
Residues of your perfume still linger in the air
The very scents that stirred my lusts for so long
Now make it so hard to breath
i must wake still, every morning and pretend to be alive
Though, i know i went in that grave much before you
What remains now is a quest
To seek answers for infinite questions that are left for me
All of them beginning with “why”
The finality of it all, this surcease
Becomes too much to bear
My heart beats on my chest like a hammer on a condemned wall
And when i can take no more, i fall to my knees and cry
Sob tears that rise from an abyss
Very deep inside
For the love lost to me
The warm embraces now cold as artic snow
The kisses owed but never collected
The words that i felt but left unsaid
Maybe you’re in a better place now
Better than this living, breathing hell
That caves in around me
Maybe you’re happy now
Or maybe, simply, this is what i deserved all along
So now that you’re with others i see
Everyone else but me
I’m taken back in that cemetery
To a cold dark corner, tranquil in perpetual shadow
Far away and sequestered
On a little piece of hallowed ground
Where broken hearts are buried
Rizwan Saleem is a Banker based in Dubai UAE. The thoughts and expressions detailed in his works are of his various escapades suffered through life, and of the profound surprise of having survived long enough to pen them into words. His poems and prose have appeared in anthologies Twenty Seven Signs by Lady Chaos Press, Self Portrait Poetry Collection by Silver Birch Press, E fiction India, Scarlet leaf Publishing as well as Colors of Refuge.
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