At the End of the End
He found it exceedingly difficult,
To bring himself to look her
In the face
And smile lovingly at her
Like he’d have done then,
With tender, caressing glances.
The pain of theold wound,
Still so raw even after so many months
That it felt like it’d all happened just the day before
Maybe, shattered trust hurt much worse
Than the shattered glass.
They strolled along the familiar road
And turned into the compound
Of the new administration complex
And then along the narrow tarmac
Flanked by the big earthen pots
Spaced out almost with mathematical precision,
Where the palm trees flourished like love in his heart
During their friendship of four years.
His memories were vivid as the green grass
On the manicured meadow to their left
And he spoke so little
As though theyhad to speak in a foreign tongue now
In which he knew but few words.
Now relieved of her former weight
That had weighted his heart
Like a big round stone
All through the last month
Of their final semester
In the final year
She ascended the flight of wooden stairs
To the library
As sprightly as a little girl.
All documents having been duly signed
And letters handed in
They retraced their steps to the start
Of their walk,
To part.
As always, he foundher eyes
And her childlike smile
Belying all guile:
The fault must have been mine, never hers
He still fought the truth plain as the day As it was.
In the backseat of the green-black tuk-tuk
Cradling on her neighbour`s bonywrinkled hands
Was the precious little thing,
That was her world now
Which walled them further apart.
Their long earnest companionship,
His unspoken, but unhidden love
Boundless as the ocean
And her betrayal
Were all things of history now.
At that point of no return,
He walked away
Proud, resolute, and invulnerable;
Not a soul would hear
How his heart shattered like a wine glass
Dropped on a tiled floor.
