Nupur Chaturvedi

As I sit across from you
Shadows flit across your face
Such a cliché!
Actually nothing flits across
I fib.

As I sit across from you
Your pupils move from my left to my right
Trying to focus on me but failing
Because actually you don’t want to see
I know.

As I sit across from you
A conversation starts and sputters

“How have you been?”
“Fine. And you?”
“Same. You want to order something?”
“No, just water is good. You?”
“Same.”

Such a shame!
We used to read each other’s silences
I remember.

As I sit across from you
You reach out and hold my hands
The warmth, familiar, the sweat, not
Are you nervous?
I wonder.

What brought us to this point
Across the table
Like two businesspeople negotiating
We used to occupy the love-seat in the private section
And they used to leave us undisturbed.
The private section is being revamped
Just like my heart
I hope.

I withdraw my hands
And get up.
“Wait!”
I stop.
“Meet me where Rumi said—beyond right and wrong”
The fight leaves me.
And…I love.