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"Excuse me," she said.
"Pardon me," he said.
"Certainly," so said, El Presidente.
I'm in town
And we need to talk
'Meet me in the gardens
Where Wilhelm used to
Walk with die Kaiserin'

She told me that she
Got married last September
To some hotshot politician
(People say he's the future
Prime Minister)

And that there's
A baby ******* the way
And how they're moving
Back to London to
Start a family

To which I politely
Congratulated her

She took a deep breath:
'We should have
Run away to my father's
House in the Spanish Jàvea
When we had the chance'

'Yes, maybe we should've
But it doesn't matter now'
A fragment of a dialogue
Charlottenburg, May/2018
 Jun 6 Traveler
R
I woke up today a zombie
Walking around with dead eyes
Legs dragging through their course
Feeling like dead weight without useful force

I miss a girl
For her hugs and the fact she pitied me
She was warmth to my dead body
But she didn't actually want me
It's been a year and she doesn't know

I thought I had close acquaintances
But they just laugh at me
The familiar clown pacing unknowingly
The hanged man and the fool

Everywhere I go it's always the same
I get up each day hoping for change
But something's gotta snap me out of it
As my happiness is an illusion painting

I go up, and suddenly it's down
Never right, no one understands my frown
Or anything I ever do at all
But no one says anything as they tower over me so tall

The council has decided
Decided a slow sentence
A delusional death
Penitence for a past life's sins
 Jun 6 Traveler
Breann
Today, I let you go—
not because it’s easy,
but because I can’t live
in the shadows of almost
and what-if anymore.

I was your spare time,
never your choice.
I carried love like a burden
you never asked for.

But this time,
I choose me.

Let them watch—
I will not shrink to stay wanted.
I will not ache to feel enough.

Because I am.
And I will be more than enough
for someone who sees me clearly.

This is the ending.
But it’s also the return—
to myself.
I used to think that without a partner
I wasn't whole
that I needed someone to complete me
what I didn't realize is that
I am 100% by myself and
a partner should also be 100%
200% combined
I am complete by myself
I don't need someone to make me whole
I am whole
a partner should be an addition
not a completion
I am whole by myself
I am complete
(Maddy’s Music challenge:
“Write a poem based on three words from a song.”
Song: 'Words of love' by the Beatles 1964
)

I’m the harshest critic,
the truest of nonbelievers,
when words of love are used.
Soapy words will not deliver
so please stop trying to be smooth.

Don’t compare me to a summer’s day!
I know that’s from some Broadway play.

Waste not flattery’s rose
praise not my grace,
at least not to my face,
you’re better off praising my clothes.

Forgo sweetness, promise nothing
then you may be onto something
say it, straight up, I won’t faint
trust me, sir, I am no saint.
.
.
A song for this:
Words of love by the Beatles
The matchbox
was hers—
bright red
with a tiger on it,
its head tilted
like it knew the ending.

One match left.
He kept it
in the drawer
beside loose buttons,
an eye drop bottle
half full,
a packet of salt
from a meal
they never finished.

He never lit it.

Not when
the bulb blew
above the stove.
Not when
monsoon took the power
three nights straight.

He’d reach—
then pause.
Then close the drawer
softly.

Until
the day
her number stopped ringing.

He struck it.

Once.

It flared—
brief, bright,
then gone.

The drawer
still smells
like her.

- THE END -

© 2025 June, Hasanur Rahman Shaikh.
All rights reserved.
A poem about memory, grief, and the small things we keep — and finally let go.
 Jun 6 Traveler
1DNA
Go away
502 Bad Gateway
This is so annoying!
 Jun 6 Traveler
1DNA
Trying to feel feelings
'Cause theres feelings feelings everywhere,
Feelings that I don't feel.
I.
Don't
Feel.
Anything.
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