2016-2021
I sat down across from you
Not knowing quite who I was
Two cups of cold coffee
You paid for both of us
Was this the beginning of our love?
I could barely hear your voice
Let alone understand you
Soft-spoken, casual, sweet
With no airs about you
Assured without being an elite
I went home and we met again
Strolling side by side together
But alone in different worlds
No thoughts of forever
a moment in time, chatting with pleasure
You called me very handsome
With not the slightest longing
Hegel appeared in between
Your Mummi brought me tea
Sublating our dialectic
“Is vale se shaadi kar”
“You ought to marry this one”
Startled you turned my way
“She doesn’t quite realize
“A guy and a girl can be just friends.”
Since our first two meets,
we’ve come a long way
especially you
leaving tears in Kolkata
on the shoulders of your kin
Who you’d supported through thick and thin
who said they’d be okay without you
who were as heart-broken as proud of you
Flowering into your own wonder woman
From the time I had first seen the budding stem
Working at home, relaxing, taking a break
From your crusade against the powerful
gaining new perspective
adapting to an election
adapting to my friends and family
dancing in your first snow
The beauty of a house
The promise of a home
A pet replacing your vision of an animal farm
stable job instead of an early sanyas
Letting me be
trusting when it didn’t make any sense to
wisdom is not having any expectations
wisdom is the sound of your voice
the care in your words
the integrity of your deeds
balancing our wants and needs
dominating and tiring of it
sitting back and learning patience
entering a world of calm
cuddling in my arms
2020 didn’t defeat us
it was our greatest year
the envy of our peers
and on we go as one
into 2021
and beyond...
