White Lies

By Yastika Sharma

There is a single white lie, stashed on the bonnet of your car,

There is a single mango tree, where I saw you for the first time,

Saw the devil on your shoulder, the pack of mystical cash dangling

In between your fingers, there is a single white lie,

waiting to be turned into fumes of antagonistic clubs,

we weaved into our imagination, our conversation would often escalate

from democracy to anarchy, and the soft creases on your forehead

would leave me hypnotized, There is a single white lie

in the way I imagine us moving apart, you pack up your bags,

and I hold the door open, you take all the cassettes,

And I all the letters, which are later put into the fire,

because of which I never liked the concept of handwritten letters anyway,

they remind me of true love ,a concept my generation

hasn’t been able to wrap it’s head around yet,

Our damage begins with typing, and ends with typing.

Before leaving, you linger in the doorway, even though lingering never got us

Anywhere, I wish you wouldn’t have taken the 90’s pop hits cassette,

I had some memories attached to it, I used to pick fashionable dupattas from

Mother’s cupboard and break a leg in the living room, amusing my audience

of two with musicals, commentaries, and later in my teens with emotional

Poetry, because I never knew how to express me until “Words” held my hands,

They made me cross the roads, but you, you just let go of my hand,

moment the traffic increased, you caught your own pace, you forgot about the times

I muted every notification except yours, the traffic I controlled, to let you pass easily,

the fool I managed to be, but Since you have been gone, I haven’t felt alone,

 perspective and words get me through the days, Waiting for the metro,

 I often wonder about the people who jump in front of it, not because of my trauma,

But because there is something oddly strange even highly addictive

in knowing that finally, I can do whatever I want, without waiting for you to join me,

even die or perhaps even live.