If he was a blast,
She was the light.
If he was sound,
She was his laughter.
If he was silence,
She was his thought.
That's Derek and Clara..
Best friends forever,
Drifted apart over years..
Married to different people.
Neither sad, neither happy,
Missing the zing in their lives.
With the thought....
'What if....'
Two similar people,
Who took different paths,
Living a life which seemed exquisite,
But in reality was ersatz..
The quotidian moments of life,
Was just wrinkles and creases of habit..
Six years later, a college reunion,
She hopes to see him,
He wants to hold her tight.
Age has added grace to her,
The auburn curly hair tied loose.
Age has taken away the boyish charm,
Replaced with calmness and depth.
He sees her, she walks to him,
He panics, she smiles, his lips seal.
An awkward silence,
More awkward hug.
The raspberry shampoo,
The Eau de Cologne.
The familiar comfort zone..
Reality check. Old buddies,
It's been six long years,
They have a secure life.
She has a caring partner.
He has a loving wife...
What's wrong they wonder...
In each other why do they find comfort?
Solace in the silence between them.
Why does she want to be with him?
Why did he fly 16 hrs. for a college reunion?
Was he wishing she would be there?
Just to know how is her life?
Apart from the coffee table in her backyard,
One of her desires she had shared,
Long ago, now materialized...
The proof of it on a social site,
As she sipps coffee with Ryan...
Was there a glint of sadness in her eyes?
Or was he reading too much between the lines...
Why did he see himself in Ryan's place?
The coffee table,the Rose shrubs on the side...
Perfect as she wanted it to be....
Happily married he sighed...
She saw him.Clumsiness gone,now replaced,
with Chivalry, very conscious of her,
What was it in him that made her laugh?
That made her feel light as a feather,
When he spoke her name in his deep voice,
A voice she had heard a thousand times,
And yet today when he called her name,
Oh she fell for him like timber.
She was falling and he was gravity.
It's stupidity, it's absurd, it's wrong.
She was sailing smooth in the flow,
Now caught in the narrow reflux of memory lanes.
A whirlpool of thoughts..
If her life was plotted on an axis,
She was at a point of intersection,
Of the past, the present and future.
He felt choked by looking at her,
The words never left his mouth,
Smothered by her smile and calmness.
They talked, she spoke, he listened,
And in the deepest chambers of his restless heart,
Dichotomy of feelings engulfed him..
And he drowned in them,
Like a swollen tide gently closes over a stone..
Time elapsed...,
He saw the sunset in her eyes..
Time stood silent,
The beauty of dusk dawned
Time seemed inaccessible..
Just like the distant mute stars..
Pinned to the surface of the sky...
It was time to say goodbye......
Time to walk away into the heart of setting sun..
Courtesy – Mr Vikram Seth
