It has been an entire decade
since we all came together.
Laughing like we understood freedom.
Lurid under a kitchen’s yellow light,
as if we’d been dipped in the tea we nursed
after a night of drinking at the pub.
Soon, motoring off our different exits;
paired away As if by sheer chance.
We let go. We went beyond the woods,
blinking into the hot sun
Of Germany, England, America.
Unlocking doors endlessly, promising
to write, call, whatever.
But time rose in smooth columns;
the caves we left behind disconnected.
Then, like pebbles into the far sea:
his news – a baby; her news – we’re done.
And the waters rippled;
and the waves followed each other
Into dark and forgotten corners
of still summer nights;
and receded.
I opened the crammed drawer,
tried to see what I ought to find.
The past was deadly sweet;
the laughter tinsel.

-Jenny Bhatt-