('You' here is 'Poetry' personified)


The first time I saw you
was at the funeral
of my dearly departed

You stood afar
with droopy shoulders
age old wise looks
dripping from eyes

You vehemently gazed
at my innocence
for I was ten and too young
to comprehend death

Unable to fall asleep that night
you loomed again
Petrified, I wondered
was I paranoid to having seen
something unearthly

Not accustomed to
your ghastly looks
I shunned my eyes
and shut you out coldly

I never saw you again

Up until

Five years later
I had a heart leak
and needed a fix

Dressed in your best suit
after our last encounter  
you waved from a distance
presenting my tears, bottled

We spent some time together
And you told
you always looked out for me

In my darkest despair
you were always near

Having gone through part of life
I learnt
Sadness is love died

So you and I made a vow
breaking wishbone
to endure evermore

And I wrote you my letter
"A Call for Death"

It was only befitting
of our first meet

Thereafter
we met everytime I broke down
and needed an upliftment
You whispered in my ears
the encouragement

'Place your thoughts
in coffin of books
and bury them'

In my saudade moments
You were the sillage

Ever since when life stalled
I'd write down a solace
and auctioned them
to doom's day

I'd think at times
what would I do without you?

I added miseries than mirth
and the wreck that I am
you'd slip away someday

Grinning from ear to ear, you uttered
I'd be an empty vessel
if that happened

Eleven years passed
and I realised
after all this time
you knew me in and out
but I didn't you  

While I couldn't bring myself
to confront
You planted a kiss on my forehead and said

"I'm YOU
I'm the voices inside your head".