Poem: College Trip

I was broken.
He was broken.
Broken by different people
we met on a college trip.

He wanted to cycle.
He didn’t want to do it alone.
I wanted to cycle
But I could never do it alone.

He told me wait, wait, wait…
until he comes back.
He told me don’t, don’t, don’t go
with anybody else.

I, I, I.. waited till he came back
Asking my friends to go, go, go on..
Four pedals went circling
Two wheels moved on, on, on..

We finished a round.
We went for one more.
I saw my friends at a distance
friends who wanted to ride with me.

We saw a white horse.
We saw a brown horse.
I took the white, he took the brown
We went riding, laughing at each other.

I bought him a Kulfi.
He shared it with no one.
He bought me lemon sweets,
scattering half on the road.

There was a boat in the harbor.
He asked me if I wanted to sail.
I looked at the river.
I looked at my friends, they were far.

“May be some other time”, I whispered
and ran away.
I felt him looking at me
from long away.

I ran, ran, ran…
Because I couldn’t fall, fall, fall again so deeply…
I ran, ran, ran…
Because my wounds hadn’t healed yet..

“Maybe some other time”,
the whispers ran with me..
Like my shadows
on the ground…