Once a Man, Once a Shadow

And you came then,

To the happy grey mist.

You came when I said-

“Let us go.”

I took your hand,

Larger than life.

As we walked,

Down road from road,

Just the way you’ve always liked-

Forest then fork, forest then fork,

I noticed a secret alibi.

You had a tail,

Which lacked detail

But was tall, dynamic,

And dizzyingly busy,

Unstoppable, in and out of the limelight.

Just like you,

Physics was once a man to me.

Telling tall tales,

Of how falling trees lack sound,

And that everything that goes up

Just has absolutely to come down.

I was charmed,

Until you crudely demystified.
 

The resemblance you bear one another,

Is uncanny .

Skipping heartbeats and conscience.

Assuring me of a dreadful lack of the magical

Only to soon reveal it within yourselves.

You cast your net,

And pledge no allegiance,

In the comforting knowledge

That your tangles are a formidable snare.

But you only came when I said,

“Let us go.”

A happy cloud to seed,

I needed assistance.

And what did I know of your deviance?

I only ever knew of mine.

It is your great fortune,

To have that dark, formless alibi.

For it is easiest to learn to love

What one themselves colours in.

Will you not come if I say:

“Let us return.”

I perceive your reply.

“Madam, it fears me, that I…”

“…I never left.”

-Khushboo Shah