The summer was white hot
The power of the sun peered through the leaves
The roads felt like a desert
The air washed out of its coldness
I was sitting outside the lab waiting for everyone
Everybody was leaving today
But I was leaving for forever
Never coming back to this place ever again
And when everybody came out of the lab
With open arms, engulfing my body
I thought how hard it must be for them
To pretend to care that I’m leaving
One after another, wrapped their arms around my torso
I was waiting for you
I could have hugged you forever,
It was, of course, our final embrace after all
How’d it go? I don’t remember
Funny, I think it didn’t even happen
And through the golden haze, in the barren café
We sat for our final drinks
Stirring the ice in the cold mango milkshakes
Gripping my fingers hard out of contempt
Even in the last day, I can’t talk to you
We sat in silence- no, I sat in silence
While you talked to people who mattered to you
And I listened, like I always did, like I always do
Before I could begin counting seconds
The time was up
You were leaving, so I thought maybe I should too
I watched you walk further and further away
‘’Look back’’, I thought, ‘’just once’’
You didn’t
So I began to tread on the rough path as well
Watching you stride across the road
Through the holes between the leaves
I watched you leave
Like I always did, like I always do
We began to walk in different directions
You, towards the rising moon
And I, towards the setting sun
There are so many things you could’ve said
To make me feel at least something mattered in the end
But now I walked in the blazing heat, towards my home
Looking at my quivering, sweaty hands, thinking
''If this is how it ends
I wish it never began''
