Kaleidoscope

At first, I did not like you.

It seemed like you blurred my days

into fragmented moments

while I sorted through them, filling

them into small corners of my life.

You knew how I felt about you

and yet, you waited patiently,

till I could hear you from above

the deafening roar, see you

beyond the blazing lights.

I found my comfort in you while

you woke me up to golden

summer days that refused

to let the shadows

of starless dusk peer in.

You whispered to me tales

of a city from a different time.

A time when you and I

were no different than

two strangers in a crowd.

Tonight, I find myself looking

at you from behind the window

panes of my taxi – crowds

of strangers and a distant din.

Yet, we’ve stayed the same,

strangers no more.

*First published by Poets Printery in their anthology, Dilli, an Anthology of Women Poets